Aviation Automation and CNS/ATM-related Human-Technology Interface: ATSEP Competency Considerations

<p><strong>Abstract</strong></p>
<p>The aviation industry has, no doubt, undergone profound transformations ever since the first powered aircraft flight on December 17, 1903. An especially noticeable aspect of the transformations is in the area of automation. Remarkably, aviation operations are becoming increasingly automated and it is expected that the wind of change sweeping through the industry will be getting stormier as new technologies emerge especially within the context of the emerging prospects of intelligent technologies, which may ultimately enthrone complete automated or technology-based intelligent decision making. Perhaps, in no sphere of the aviation system has there been, in recent times, a much more lively and sustained exhibition of the spirit of automation than in the realm of communications, navigation, surveillance/air traffic management (CNS/ATM). This scenario, invariably, imposes far-reaching obligations on and have wide-ranging implications for air traffic safety electronics personnel (ATSEP) – the ICAO-recognized nomenclature for personnel involved and proven competent in the installation, operation, and/or maintenance of a CNS/ATM system. This paper explores, based on a systematic review of extant literature, the concept of aviation automation in the context of the broader conceptual and theoretical underpinnings of automation and with an emphasis on automated CNS/ATM systems. The primary aim is to examine the implications of an automated CNS/ATM environment on aspects relating to the roles, tasks, competence, and training of ATSEP within the framework of the safety-criticality of air traffic management. Based on arguments regarding ATSEP competency considerations in the context of an automation-rich CNS/ATM environment, a conceptual model of ATSEP competencies and a model of competency-based, human-technology ATSEP task flow are proposed.</p>