Mode awareness has been suggested as a critical factor in safe operations of automated aircraft. This study investigated mode awareness by measuring eye-point-of-gaze of both pilots during simulated commercial flights, while recording call-outs and tracking aircraft performance. Hardly any crew follows manufacturer-or air carrier procedures on mode monitoring and call-outs. However, this does not seem to have a negative effect on flight path or safety. Crews exhibit a proliferation of strategies to keep track of automation status and behavior, with little reliance on the flight mode annunciations of the primary flight display. The data confirms the limitations of current flight mode annunciator designs, and suggest that mode awareness is a more complex phenomenon then what can be captured by measuring EPOG and communication alone.
The execution of teamwork varies widely depending on the domain and task in question. Despite the considerable diversity of teams and their operation, researchers tend to aim for unified theories and models regardless of field. However, we argue that there is a need for translation and adaptation of the theoretical models to each specific domain. To this end, a case study was carried out on fighter pilots and it was investigated how teamwork is performed in this specialised and challenging environment, with a specific focus on the dependence on technology for these teams. The collaboration between the fighter pilots is described and analysed using a generic theoretical model for effective teamwork from the literature. The results show that domain-specific application and modification is needed in order for the model to capture fighter pilot's teamwork. The study provides deeper understanding of the working conditions for teams of pilots and gives design implications for how tactical support systems can enhance teamwork in the domain.Practitioner summary: This article presents a qualitative interview study with fighter pilots based on a generic theoretical teamwork model applied to the fighter domain. The purpose is to understand the conditions under which teams of fighter pilots work and to provide guidance for the design of future technological aids.
Swarms of autonomous and coordinating Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) are rapidly being developed to enable simultaneous control of multiple UAVs. In the field of Human-Swarm Interaction (HSI), researchers develop and study swarm algorithms and various means of control and evaluate their cognitive and task performance. There is, however, a lack of research describing how UAV swarms will fit into future real-world domain contexts. To remedy this, this paper describes a case study conducted within the community of firefighters, more precisely two Swedish fire departments that regularly deploy UAVs in fire responses. Based on an initial description of how their UAVs are used in a forest firefighting context, participating UAV operators and unit commanders envisioned a scenario that showed how the swarm and its capabilities could be utilized given the constraints and requirements of a forest firefighting mission. Based on this swarm scenario description we developed a swarm interaction model that describes how the operators' interaction traverses multiple levels ranging from the entire swarm, via subswarms and individual UAVs, to specific sensors and equipment carried by the UAVs. The results suggest that human-in-the-loop simulation studies need to enable interaction across multiple swarm levels as this interaction may exert additional cognitive strain on the human operator.
CCS CONCEPTS• Human-centered computing → Human computer interaction (HCI); HCI theory, concepts and models; Interaction design; Interaction design process and methods; User centered design; • Applied computing → Computers in other domains.
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