On January 1, 2023, the iNOTAM (Integration of digital NOTAMs) project was launched, involving three project partners. Under the consortium leadership of HFC Human-Factors-Consult and in collaboration with project partners m-click.aero and Berlin-Brandenburg Airport, the creation, processing, and provision of NOTAMs (Notice to Airmen) will be digitized. NOTAMs are brief, manually created messages for pilots and airport operations personnel regarding flight operational restrictions, such as construction sites, maintenance, or other equipment failures. Current NOTAMs are formulated by operators and are currently only readable and interpretable by humans due to abbreviations or lack of context. The project will utilize the existing digital database of air traffic infrastructure to create georeferenced, fully digital NOTAMs at the airport. These digital NOTAMs can then be provided to all authorized traffic participants, such as pilots in their assistance and navigation systems.

Thank you very much for the trust you have placed in us, the inspiring exchange, and the successful cooperation in 2022.

We wish everyone a peaceful turn of the year and, above all, a healthy and happy 2023!

We are very happy to announce that we launched the rokit project last week. Together with leading partners from science and application, we are working on rokit to develop a center of excellence for robots in public spaces. We will team up to develop services and tools for manufacturers and customers that promote the beneficial, ethical, safe, and economical use of robots in public spaces.

In the project AdaptKI-Assist, an assistance system is being developed that uses artificial intelligence to facilitate the setup and operation of packaging production machines.

The production of packaging materials made of paper or film in production chains with different degrees of automation currently requires particularly experienced personnel. However, the shortage of skilled workers makes it necessary to quickly enable inexperienced employees to set up and operate the machines. For this purpose, together with the partners COVAC Elektro und Automation, Heinrich Ludwig Verpackungsmittel and the Fraunhofer Institute for Integrated Circuits IIS, an assistance system will be developed which provides adaptive support during machine set-up and operation. The assistance system is trained with the help of the latest machine learning methods in order to provide information and recommendations based on the production parameters but also on the knowledge of experienced employees. In the project, we are responsible for collecting implicit and explicit knowledge as well as user needs, designing the XR user interface and evaluating the system.

Take the Europe wide survey on civil drones.

We are happy to announce, that ADACORSA`s survey on public acceptance for the use of drones is now live!

It is the most extensive survey of the kind, as it is available in 16 languages!

The survey will take 15-20 min and will refer to your personal opinion on the industrial and commercial use of drones. The survey applies to everyone, and all responses are anonymous.

To access the survey please click on the link below or scan the QR code. You will also find more details on our project and purpose in the introduction of the survey.

http://adacorsa.human-factors-consult.de/

We had a splendid week full of inspiring discussion at WATMC. Thank you for visiting our booth and taking an interest in multi-airport control, digital NOTAMs and Human Factors in Aviation. Farewell Madrid, hello Geneva!

Hope to see you at Airspace World in 2023!

The World ATM Congress will take place for the last time in Madrid on 21-23 June. We will present the newest developments of MasterMAN, our assistance system for remote tower control, at booth 1119 together with our partner m-click.aero.

Since 2017 we are cooperating with Saab, the remote tower control pioneer and market leader for the related remote tower solutions. Saab is supplier of LFV, the Swedish ANSP. Saab and LFV are the first cooperative, which brought remote airport control into operations at several airports in Sweden.

We are very much looking forward to welcoming you in Madrid.

Automation and digitalization of control rooms through the use of more modern technology is also changing the working conditions for the operators who are working there. Some tasks will be omitted while other tasks will be changed or added. This entire interaction of technology, operating procedures, training of the operators as well as teamwork and communication requires a comprehensive human factors assessment in order to verify the new work processes and to ensure the safety of the monitored systems.

Together with our partner MTO Safety GmbH, we have conducted such a human factors assessment in a nuclear power plant in Finland. Details of the study will be presented in the lecture “Human Factors Assessment of a new control room system in a Nuclear Power Plant” at CISAP 10 (10th International Conference on Safety & Environment in Process & Power Industry, Florence, Italy, 8-11 May 2022).

https://www.aidic.it/cisap10/

In 2023, Berlin will host the Special Olympics World Games, the world’s largest inclusive sporting event. Between June 17 and 25 approximately 7,000 athletes will compete at several locations in Berlin.

As part of Berlin’s sustainability program Inclusion ’23, the Berlin-Brandenburg Transport Authority (VBB) is working on the project Olympklusion – mit Bus & Bahn inklusiv zu den Special Olympics World Games. The project is taking the Special Olympics World Games Berlin 2023 as an opportunity to develop a mobility app that is as easy to use as possible for the largest possible group of passengers. Information in easy-to-use language, digital guidance systems and a digital video navigation assistance system are among the features to be integrated into the app.

HFC contributes its expertise in the fields of accessibility and UUX of digital systems to the project, and will accompany the app development accordingly. We also support the user research, and will conduct the evaluation of individual system aspects as well as of the app’s beta version.

Many thanks for a good cooperation despite adverse circumstances in the past year.

We look forward to a eventful, inspiring – and above all healthy – 2022!