NASA-Ames Voice Recognition and Response Evaluation Report Released
Woburn, MA (April, 2007) – UFA, Inc, a leader in simulation software for air traffic control and management, reports that ATVoice® Voice Recognition and Response (VRR) product was recently integrated with ATCoach®, the Embedded Test & Training Simulator for STARS, at Boston Consolidated TRACON. The FAA then commissioned an independent Evaluation Study to determine if VRR is acceptable for TRACON instructional purposes.
The VRR Evaluation Study was conducted by a team led by Richard Mogford, PhD of NASA- Ames Research Center. The VRR Evaluation Report summarizes the results from this study.
This is the first, and the only known, formal study independently conducted evaluating the efficacy of Voice Recognition and Response technology in an Air Traffic Control training
domain.
• The Evaluation Report makes the following significant points:
o VRR is acceptable for TRACON instructional purposes.
o The Report recommends the deployment of VRR to other STARS sites.
o VRR performed well as compared to the existing Pseudo Pilot (PP)-based system.
o VRR really came into its own in complex, high demand situations.
o VRR may shorten the time required to develop exercises and may improve the quality and flexibility of FAA terminal training programs.
o VRR errors tended to be less disruptive with easier recovery than PP errors.
o VRR always acts in accordance with its read back; not so for PPs (e.g., command entry errors).
o 90% and 110% capacity exercises were utilized in order to stress VRR.
o Only two minor edits are required to existing exercises for VRR readiness.
As the evaluation focused on the efficacy of VRR, it did not evaluate other very important points that deserve mentioning regarding the application of VRR technology in this domain:
• Major reduction in training costs are foreseen by eliminating or significantly reducing the number of PPs required.
• Training is available 24 hours per day, 7 day per week.
• VRR does not take leave or receive other assignments as humans do.
• Approximately two-thirds of the integration effort addressed required improvements to the simulator to make it “voice-ready” / “response-ready”. The integration of VRR is quite straight forward.
• Controller and PP tend to train as a team helping each other through busy periods and recovering from errors. With VRR, Controllers are more careful with their phraseology and listen more intently to the read backs – a significant training advantage with VRR.
• Using different Pilot voices for aircraft substantially increased the realism as compared to the same voice for all aircraft with PP-based systems.
With operations in MA and MD and two sites in Germany, UFA, Inc. (http://www.ufainc.com) is a global leader in simulation systems for the ATC and ATM markets. Its ATVoice product, acclaimed by many customers as the most advanced system available, is integrated with UFA’s radar and tower simulators. ATVoice may also be integrated with third party simulators and other applications in and out of the air traffic sector.
Contact:
Rajiv J. Sood
UFA, Inc.
101 Lake Forest Blvd, Suite 401
Gaithersburg, MD 20877
USA
+1 301 216 2717
+1 301 216 0725 FAX
soodr@UFAinc.com
www.UFAinc.com
www.towsim.de