Projects

CARE Innovative Action is a long term programme, aiming to investigate innovative ideas for ATM that could be applied from now up to 2050. Some preliminary studies have been commissioned by Eurocontrol.
The main objective of our preliminary study is to define an inter-disciplinary approach to design in ATM that encourages intersections between art, design and technology borrowing from each discipline practices, methods and experience for the definition of innovative concepts. For this reason we set up an inter-disciplinary team where architects, graphic designers, interaction designers, musicians, human factors experts and ATC context domain experts are called to envision innovative concepts for air traffic management setting.
Based on a co-evolutionary design process, our workshops aim to analyse, transform and enhance existing controllers' work practices by means of new media and define scenarios for envisioning new ways of working.

The preliminary study defined a level of envisioning, pointing out three hypotheses of transition from the current ATM scenario to more visionary and futuristic scenarios:

• control scenario: the current situation where controllers act mainly as air traffic managers.
• advisory scenario: the future free flight situation where the responsibility of traffic management is mainly moved on board and the controllers play an advisory and support role to the pilots.
• the service scenario: a completely futuristic scenario where the traffic management is decentralised and totally moved on board. In this scenario the controllers play the role of connecting air services to ground services.They becomes "service and information brokers".

Starting from these assumptions the study produced a set of scenarios composed of five main elements/tools:

• the flag: a public display that can be used to extend the action/communication area of the single user and support awareness by visualizing the processes,
• the trittico: as the main interface for the operational work,
• the hard book: a personal tool that permits both to focus on specific processes and to share information and activities with others,
• the cameo, a personal ID tool that allows both to set up the system according to the individual preferences and to manage the communication processes,
• the osmosis skin: flexible and adaptable partitions to organise working and resting areas

These elements/tools were integrated in a common definition of space of interaction where they communicate each other. The main characteristics of the space are:

• openness and horizontality, facilitating the visual interaction among the different people;
• flexibility and adaptability, in order to permit interoperability and task driven configuration of the environment
• "theatre setting", the disposition of the different elements on the scene and the role of people contributes to the fluidity of the processes.

A first attempt of tools evaluation with air traffic controllers was made at the end of the study developing very rough mock-ups of the general ideas. The controllers appreciated the solutions we proposed and expressed their interest to be part of the design team to continue the work.

The work was coordinated and developed by Deep Blue in collaboration with a team of independent experts, subcontracted by Deep Blue, including a musician, an architect, a viasual designer, an interaction designer.

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