A Non-Linear Relationship between Controller Workload and Traffic Count

Lee, Paul U.

doi:10.1177/154193120504901206

Cited by 23 publications

(51 citation statements)

References 2 publications

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“…The relation between aircraft count and ATCo-perceived difficulty is a nonlinear one [20,28]. The best fit between aircraft count and the subjective workload ratings is found using an S-shaped curve: workload can jump to a higher level when a certain number of aircraft is reached.…”

Section: A Aircraft Countmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Solution Space Based Analysis of the Difficulty of Aircraft Merging Tasks

Hermes

Mulder

Boering³

et al. 2009

AIAA Guidance, Navigation, and Control Conference

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Air traffic controller workload is considered to be a limiting factor in the growth of air traffic worldwide. In this paper a new method of assessing controller task demand load will be developed and tested. Based on the hypothesis that operator workload is primarily caused by the difficulty of the task to be conducted, the concept of the solution space is described. For any particular air traffic control problem, the solution space describes the constraints in the environment that limit (and therefore guide) air traffic controller decisions and actions. The difficulty of that particular control problem can then be analyzed by considering the properties of the solution space. The task of merging an aircraft into a stream of other aircraft that fly along a fixed route is considered. An experiment has been conducted in which subjects were instructed to solve several merging problem scenarios of varying difficulty. After completing each scenario, subjects were asked to rate the difficulty of their task. High correlations are found between several solution-space properties and self-reported task difficulty.

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Section: A Aircraft Countmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The validity of this method is questionable, however, since the scenarios that are being analyzed might differ heavily from the baseline scenarios used for the regression analysis. ATCo task demand load has proven to show nonlinear behavior [20] and can vary greatly due to slight changes in the situation being controlled [1].…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Solution Space Based Analysis of the Difficulty of Aircraft Merging Tasks

Hermes

Mulder

Boering³

et al. 2009

AIAA Guidance, Navigation, and Control Conference

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show abstract

“…Many task factors can affect traffic management workload, with a major contributor being traffic density. According to Lee (2005), the relationship between workload and traffic count is non-linear: ATCo workload increases from low to high only when a certain traffic threshold is reached, indicating that workload cannot be predicted from traffic counts simply. Traffic management, which includes the detection and resolution of potential traffic conflicts, increases threefold with a linear increase in the number of aircraft (Wickens, 1992).…”

Section: Impact Of Wor Kloadmentioning

confidence: 99%

Impact of Conflict Avoidance Responsibility Allocation on Pilot Workload in a Distributed Air Traffic Management System

Ligda

Dao

et al. 2010

Proceedings of the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society Annual

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Pilot workload was examined during simulated flights requiring flight deck-based merging and spacing while avoiding weather. Pilots used flight deck tools to avoid convective weather and space behind a lead aircraft during an arrival into Louisville International airport. Three conflict avoidance management concepts were studied: pilot, controller or automation primarily responsible. A modified Air Traffic Workload Input Technique (ATWIT) metric showed highest workload during the approach phase of flight and lowest during the en-route phase of flight (before deviating for weather). In general, the modified ATWIT was shown to be a valid and reliable workload measure, providing more detailed information than post-run subjective workload metrics. The trend across multiple workload metrics revealed lowest workload when pilots had both conflict alerting and responsibility of the three concepts, while all objective and subjective measures showed highest workload when pilots had no conflict alerting or responsibility. This suggests that pilot workload was not tied primarily to responsibility for resolving conflicts, but to gaining and/or maintaining situation awareness when conflict alerting is unavailable.

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“…7. Actually, several researchers have commonly pointed out that the performance of human operators (e.g., air traffic controllers or car drivers) decreased when they passed a certain point or region in terms of the amount of workload being imposed (De Waard, 2006;Hah et al, 2006;Lee, 2005;Lee et al, 2007;Paxion et al, 2013). This insight is very important for investigating the feasibility of the TACOM measure as a tool to objectively identify the level of a task complexity because a linear regression result depicted in Fig.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 98%