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Federal Aviation Administration Jonathan Rein -TG O'Brien Nicole Racine -TG O'BrienResearchers conducted a human-in-the-loop simulation to determine the minimum information required for a supplementary traffic display to effectively support Detect and Avoid (DAA) procedures. Unmanned Aircraft System (UAS) pilots were asked to detect and avoid surrounding aircraft with the aid of a custom-built traffic information display with four configurations (Position, Direction, Prediction, and Rate). The comparisons between traffic display configurations indicated that the minimum information required to support effective DAA procedures corresponded to the Prediction configuration and included the following seven information types: a) aircraft ID, b) position indicator, c) relative altitude, d) heading indicator, e) climb/descend indicator, f) collision threat status alert, and g) visual projection of future position.

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Air traffic controllers continually monitor the traffic situation in their sectors and take action when they detect potentially hazardous situations. Automation systems simultaneously and independently monitor the situation and provide alerts when the situation meets defined criteria. The decisions made by the controllers and the automation systems may agree or disagree. Signal Detection Theory (SDT) provides a theoretical framework for understanding how controllers and automation systems make these decisions. However, traditional SDT provides an incomplete explanation of decision-making in the real-world ATC situations. In this paper, we examine instances where controllers take actions independently of the alert and where controllers take actions in response to an alert, but delay their actions until more information is available. Results from this study are applicable to other domains where operators are tasked to monitor situations while simultaneously monitoring the output of an alerting system.

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Nuisance alerts can cause many problems in operational settings. They are distracting and can lead to desensitization. In Air Traffic Control (ATC), there has been much anecdotal evidence regarding the high rate of nuisance alerts in facilities, but there have been few formal studies to evaluate this problem. In this study, we measured the rate of nuisance alerts in en route and terminal ATC facilities. After calculating the average duration of alerts, the percentage of alerts that receive a controller response, and the timing of responses to these alerts, we estimate that 62% of Conflict Alerts (CAs) and 91% of Minimum Safe Altitude Warnings (MSAWs) in en route, and 44% of CAs and 61% of MSAWs in terminal are unnecessary. Using human factors principles, we make recommendations for improving the accuracy and utility of ATC alerts.

The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) Human Factors Team - Atlantic City conducted a usability assessment of the www.fly.faa.gov Web site to examine user satisfaction and identify site usability issues. The FAA Air Traffic Control System Command Center uses this Web site to provide information about airport conditions, such as arrival and departure delays, to the public and the aviation industry. The most important aspect of this assessment was its use of quantitative metrics to evaluate how successfully users with different levels of aviation-related expertise could complete common tasks, such as determining the amount of delay at an airport. The researchers used the findings from this assessment to make design recommendations for future system enhancements that would benefit all users. They discuss why usability assessments are an important part of the process of evaluating e-government Web sites and why their usability evaluation process should be applied to the development of other e-government Web sites.

An Information Display System (IDS) provides access to many types of information. It consolidates data to one source and eliminates the need for multiple displays. An IDS provides a logical structure and uses a standardized information display format. We present a set of design principles for IDSs in Air Traffic Control (ATC). We conducted an investigation of information and usability requirements in each of the ATC domains. Based on the investigation and on existing design guidelines and standards, we developed design principles that capture the critical components of designing an effective IDS for ATC. In order to be useful and usable, an IDS and the information it contains should be accessible, current, comprehensive, and standardized. We discuss each of these principles, the motivation for including them, and some specific examples of how they can be implemented in an IDS. We also discuss the methods used for collecting data from the field, refining, and validating the principles.