Proposition of an Ontology Supporting Context Modeling in Operational Scenario Development

Air traffic control systems are complex sociotechnical systems that do not comprise solely technical elements but also have human and organizational dimensions. Recent approaches to systems engineering, and in particular human systems integration, are placing increasing emphasis on incorporating these nontechnical considerations into the design processes of complex sociotechnical systems. In particular, one crucial aspect in design is to understand the operational context of the system. There is a lack of tools and languages expressive enough to include contextual information into system models. This is especially true for the air traffic control field, as the operational context of a control tower and the tower itself are deeply intertwined and interdependent. This paper is a step toward the achievement of better integration of context-related knowledge into system design processes. We conducted a case study analysis based on a literature review and feedback from civilian and military air traffic control practitioners, and we propose an ontology of the contextual elements that characterize the context of air traffic control operations.