Though it has been reported that air traffic controllers' (ATCos') performance improves with the aid of a conflict resolution aid (CRA), the effects of imperfect automation on CRA are so far unknown. The main objective of this study was to examine the effects of imperfect automation on conflict resolution. Twelve students with ATC knowledge were instructed to complete ATC tasks in four CRA conditions including reliable, unreliable and high time pressure, unreliable and low time pressure, and manual conditions. Participants were able to resolve the designated conflicts more accurately and faster in the reliable versus unreliable CRA conditions. When comparing the unreliable CRA and manual conditions, unreliable CRA led to better conflict resolution performance and higher situation awareness. Surprisingly, high time pressure triggered better conflict resolution performance as compared to the low time pressure condition. The findings from the present study highlight the importance of CRA in future ATC operations. Practitioner Summary: Conflict resolution aid (CRA) is a proposed automation decision aid in air traffic control (ATC). It was found in the present study that CRA was able to promote air traffic controllers' performance even when it was not perfectly reliable. These findings highlight the importance of CRA in future ATC operations.
CRA aid offers benefits across traffic densities, regardless of its imperfection, as long as its reliability level is set above the threshold of assistance, suggesting its application for future ATC.
The effects of air traffic conflict geometry have been well investigated in prior studies, particularly in the context of the pilot, though little in the context of the air traffic control officer (ATCO). No study to date has investigated the effects of conflict geometry on human factors variables of ATCOs through objective and physiological approaches. This study examines the effects of conflict geometries on ATCO situation awareness, stress level and brain activity during conflict resolution. Fifteen participants were instructed to resolve six different conflict geometries: crossing level, crossing non-level, converging level, converging non-level, overtaking level, and overtaking non-level. The results indicate that converging and crossing conflicts led to lower situation awareness (SA), higher stress level, and higher theta activation at the temporal and parietal lobes. Level conflict led to lower SA. The findings offer two implications, providing insights for the formal guidelines in ATC conflict resolution training and provision of inputs for the conflict resolution aid development.
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