ATC-lab: An air traffic control simulator for the laboratory

Abstract

Air Traffic Control Laboratory Simulator (ATC-lab) is a simulated air traffic control (ATC) environment that supports the investigation of human performance of complex tasks. ATC-lab was specifically developed as a tool for which formal models of operator performance, including error, could be constructed and empirically tested. The simulator is dynamic, placing competing demands on operator attention, and it allows tight control over experimental conditions. These task characteristics allow a controlled examination of variability in performance under different air traffic scenarios, as well as the measurement of the conditions that lead to human error.ATC simulation is currently a popular vehicle for human factors research concerning performance in complex realworld systems. The aim of ATC is to ensure the safe, orderly, and expeditious flow of air traffic. Air traffic control involves a range of activities, including conflict detection and resolution, traffic sequencing, workload management, and coordination with other controllers (Wickens, Mavor, & McGee, 1997). ATC-lab provides a simulation of the conflict detection and resolution components of the job. Aircraft are considered to be in conflict if they will, given their current respective speeds and bearing, violate the minimum requirements for separation at some time in the future. A number of different separation standards are used in ATC, some of them expressed in distance, and some in time. In ATC-lab, the participants are given a distance standard and are instructed to either (1) identify the aircraft that will violate this distance standard, or (2) prevent the loss of separation by changing the speeds of the aircraft.In this article, we describe two general versions of ATC-lab. The first represents a medium-fidelity simulation of en route ATC. In the medium-fidelity version, participants monitor a radar-like screen. There are typically several aircraft on the screen at once, some of them in conflict. These conflict events have variable onsets and durations and may overlap in time. As is typically the case in real ATC, however, the majority of aircraft are not in conflict. The task, therefore, has a visual search requirement, and it requires selective attention and prioritization, as well as decision making.The second version of ATC-lab is a lower fidelity simulation that allows the experimenter to isolate specific components of the task, in the absence of a visual search requirement or competing demands on attention. The task requires participants to make decisions regarding pairs of aircraft presented in isolation. These decisions can include identifying whether a given pair of aircraft are in conflict or not, and deciding how to resolve such conflicts. The second version of ATC-lab, therefore, allows the experimenter to examine in detail the factors that influence judgment and decision making in real time.The aim of this article is not only to introduce ATC-lab, but to indicate how the simulator can be used in applied cognition research. First, we wi...

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