Display concepts for en route air traffic control.

Details

• Creators:
  Ahlstrom, Ulf ; Rubinstein, Joshua ; Siegel, Steven ; Mogford, Richard ; Manning, Carol
• Corporate Creators:
  William J. Hughes Technical Center (U.S.)
• Corporate Contributors:
  Civil Aeromedical Institute. Human Resources Research Division
• Subject/TRT Terms:
  • Air traffic control
  • Information display systems
  • Monitoring
  • Radar displays
  • Air traffic
  • Air traffic control
  • Air traffic controllers
• Publication/ Report Number:
  DOT/FAA/CT-TN01/06
• Resource Type:
  Tech Report
• Geographical Coverage:
  New Jersey
• Edition:
  Technical note
• Corporate Publisher:
  William J. Hughes Technical Center (U.S.)
• Abstract:
  Previous research in the domain of air traffic control (ATC) has explored factors that describe the complexity facing a controller. ; Based on this research, new technologies and procedures have been developed that may aid the controller and reduce the complexity in ; ATC. Most of these technologies were designed to reduce ATC complexity associated with air traffic density, identification and ; resolution of conflict situations, and the operational efficiency of the human-machine interface. The purpose of the present study was ; to explore and prototype new display enhancements that may reduce complexity in ATC. A team of researchers from the Human ; Factors Branch (ACT-530) of the Federal Aviation Administration William J. Hughes Technical Center and the Human Resources ; Research Division (AAM-500) of the Civil Aeromedical Institute (CAMI) identified four complexity factors as being suitable for a ; graphical enhancement. These factors were the effects of weather on airspace structure, the effects of active Special Use Airspace ; (SUA), the effects of the number of transitioning aircraft, and the effects of the reliability of radio and radar coverage. We conducted a ; user evaluation of the display enhancements and their possible impact on ATC complexity. Two supervisors and 13 Full Performance ; Level controllers from the Jacksonville Air Route Traffic Control Center participated as observers in this evaluation. The results of the ; user evaluation showed that the controllers supported earlier research that identified weather, SUA, transitioning aircraft, and reliability ; of radio and radar coverage as factors that increase ATC complexity. The controllers favored the proposed display enhancements. ; More importantly, the controllers predicted a substantial reduction in their job complexity from the enhancements. Based on these ; findings, we recommend a formal test simulation of the proposed enhancements to determine their efficacy for reducing task ; complexity in ATC operations. We also recommend further studies to determine the optimal colors for each display enhancement for ; use in operational systems. ; 17. Key Words ; Complexity Factors
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• Format:
  PDF
• Download URL:
  https://rosap.ntl.bts.gov/view/dot/16684/dot_16684_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 262.82 KB]
• Collection(s):
  US Transportation Collection
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha256:0322b323ce71c052b473b1da1656bd34fe1016729d9d0efd2f17030c04bd93ef