An Empirical Study of Digital Taxi Clearances for Departure Aircraft

This article presents an experiment that examined the use of digital-taxi (D-Taxi) clearances for departure aircraft under three levels of data link equipage (Voice Only, 40% Data Comm, and 75% Data Comm). Sixteen controllers participated in a high-fidelity, human-in-the-loop experiment to assess the effects of D-Taxi on controller communications, workload, and performance. D-Taxi reduced the time that the participants used the ground control radio frequency when 75% of the aircraft were data link equipped. The participants preferred D-Taxi compared to voice because it reduced their communication responsibilities and removed the potential for readback and hearback errors. Airport system efficiency measures did not provide additional support for the D-Taxi concept and workload remained stable across conditions. Usability measures of the Tower Operations Digital Data System that enabled D-Taxi supported the use of an integrated air traffic display. Overall, the results support the implementation and use of ...