Immersive user study at Dubai air traffic control tower, shadowing controllers as they performed their duties, and scheduling interviews at the end of duty periods to understand the pain points faced by them. In these pictures from 2011, you can see that the tower has antiquated infrastructure. This has been updated since then with the installation of modern systems, including the Honeywell surface movement guidance and control system that I worked on.
Quick sketch of the proposed workstation design, made during conversations with controllers at Dubai tower. The immersive user research activity involving the controllers at Dubai ATC tower yielded a lot of insights that were not readily apparent, and led to a more effective design and prioritization of features.
Main screen of the surface movement guidance and control software. Envisioned for a large touch screen. Menu buttons at the bottom to prevent hand obscuring the screen while using the menu.
Traffic de-confliction UI using touch buttons that move with the aircraft position.
The final deliverable was a fully annotated UI specifications document that the development team took forward with visual design support.
Air Traffic Control Software for Dubai Airport (2010-11)
Advanced Surface Movement Guidance and Control System, or A-SMGCS, is a system used by air traffic controller to guide aircraft movement on the ground, between runways and ramps via taxiways. In 2010-2011, I led a three member team working on the design activities for an A-SMGCS pitch made by Honeywell's airports business to Dubai Airports. Pre-sales design work was done in conjunction with the sales team, and involved user experience workshops with air traffic controllers at Dubai airport to understand their needs, and the sales pitch involved the presentation of a concept system tailored to the needs of the controllers that emerged from our research. We were successful in our pitch, and the design team's final deliverable was a fully annotated UI specification document which the developers took forward, with visual design support.
