Applying automatic speech recognition technology to Air Traffic Management

Controller-pilot voice communications are a critical component of the Air Traffic Control (ATC) system, but outside of the human listening and responding that occurs with each transmission, they are an underutilized source of information for automation systems in the ATC domain. Automatic speech recognition is a continuously improving technology that can be used to tap into this information source for potential system benefits in a variety of ATC applications, such as monitoring live operations for safety benefit, conducting analysis on large quantities of recorded controller-pilot speech, or enabling automated simulation pilots to facilitate training and Human-in-the-Loop (HITL) simulation experiments. This paper describes how automatic speech recognition can be used in the ATC domain, the characteristics of the automatic speech recognition process and the ATC domain that make the problem unique, and the engineering process for effectively applying automatic speech recognition to ATC systems.