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Human-computer interface

3D in 2D Planar Display Project : Cockpit - Display Design Evaluation

This technical report No.2009 007 was published by the Eurocontrol Experimental Centre in April 2009 and written by S. Gaukrodger, F. Han and W. Wong. The document reports on the outcome of the evaluation we conducted on the concepts that were prototyped in Year 2 of the 3D-in-2D Displays for ATC project. [Taken from abstract]. The full text is available in PDF format soAdobe Acrobat software is required in order to read it.

3D in 2D Planar Display Project : CWP Design Evaluation Report

This technical report No.2009 006 was published by the Eurocontrol Experimental Centre in December 2009 and written by S. Gaukrodger ...[et al]. We have developed an overall system concept, where the current 2D radar display is augmented with two additional screens: a multi-conflict display to aid separation and another display that helps controllers ensure compliance with target windows. [Taken from abstract]. The full text is available in PDF format so Adobe Acrobat software is required in order to read it.

A Designer's Guide to Human Performance Modelling

This report, AGARD-AR-356, dated December 1998, under the NATO Research and Technology Organisation, was prepared at the request of the Aerospace Medical Panel. Working Group 22 was convened in 1995, jointly sponsored by the Aerospace Medical Panel and the Flight Vehicle Panel to investigate the use of Human Performance Models within the specification, procurement, design, qualification and certification of military systems. In particular the group focused on the selection, application and use of HPMs by the system designer. An expert system approach was selected to ensure that the designer considered all the relevant factors when selecting a new model or tool. This was implemented using a commercially available expert system shell. The user is asked to select options that most closely describe his resources and requirements and the Human Operator Modelling Expert Review (HOMER) then rank-orders the HPMs in its database and suggests the most appropriate model. The group carried out some walkthroughs of existing models/tools to demonstrate typical uses in the analysis of specific issues. These are included as case studies. These were included to give potential users some insight into the ease or complexity of use in order to evaluate the required aspect of human performance. In addition the group also considered the model developer community by examining the limitations of existing models, commercial implications and usability issues in order to guide any future development. A table of contents, and the full text of the document can be accessed online in PDF format. The document is contained in the RTO's Full Text Publication Library.

A Human Factors Simulation of Required Navigation Performance Converging Approach Procedure

This technical report (DOT/FAA/TC-07/12) was produced by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) in August 2007 and was written by Anton Koros, Randy Sollenberger and Pamela Della Rocco. The National Airspace System Human Factors Research and Engineering Group (HFREG) Human Factors Team – Atlantic City,ATO-P, assessed a proposed Required Navigation Performance (RNP) procedure into San Francisco International Airport (SFO).RNP technology offers several operational benefits including more efficient utilization of airspace, reduced flying time, and reducedair-to-ground communications. The simulation focused on human factors issues affecting Air Traffic Control Specialists (ATCSs)when operating a converging runway approach procedure into the SFO Runway 28R during reduced visibility conditions. SixteenATCSs participated in the simulation that we conducted at the Northern California Terminal Radar Approach Control in December2004. The simulation assessed the controllers’ ability to identify blundering aircraft using an Airport Surveillance Radar-9 (ASR-9)display. It also evaluated the propensity for nuisance breakouts, communications options, No Transgression Zone placementoptions, and the impact of high traffic levels. The simulation comprised a reaction time task and a series of high fidelity operationalscenarios designed to assess the viability of the proposed approach. The study confirmed that monitor controllers identifiedblundering aircraft accurately and timely when using the ASR-9 display. Sector performance remained high across all conditions,and controllers demonstrated no serious operational deficiencies. Overall, the controllers provided positive ratings and commentsregarding the proposed 28R RNP approach and procedure. The simulation resulted in two primary recommendations (a) incorporateAir Traffic procedures for RNP approaches into Federal Aviation Administration Order 7110.65 to ensure that ATCSs receive RNP-specific training and (b) present Flight Management System/RNP equipment information in the datablock. [Taken from abstract]. This is a PDF file, so Adobe Acrobat software will be required in order to read it.

A Model for Procedural Knowledge

This technical report (NLR-TP-2002-602) was written by NLR (the National Aerospace Laboratory of the Netherlands) in 2002 and was written by N. Basjes. Knowledge Management has become an important issue in current businesses [Ref 1]. It's purpose is to retain and reuse the available knowledge within the business. One way to preserve knowledge is to encode experiences and knowledge in procedures within the organisation. A procedure is simply the description of a path from 'Situation A' to 'Situation B'. Several advantages can be mentioned for this policy. Procedures contain the solutions for problems that have been solved before. Therefore a person performing a task using a procedure, won't have to 'reinvent the wheel' anymore. From the perspective of the company this means more work can be done in the same time with less problems. New employees are capable to perform a required task more quickly and with less training if they are guided by a procedure. If more tasks can be performed in the same time, the total costs of documenting, training personnel and performing the tasks can be reduced. In this paper a model is designed that allows procedural knowledge to be stored and retrieved in an automated system. Many procedures in businesses can be represented in a procedural or in a declarative form. A procedural representation is useful when a procedure is relatively static and the level of complexity is limited. A declarative representation is useful in a more dynamic situation when fragments of procedures need to be reordered depending on the problem that needs to be solved. Many procedures can be modelled very well in either a procedural or declarative way. In the three examined cases, one fictitious and two found at the National Aerospace Laboratory, some procedures were observed that would benefit from a more hybrid approach where procedural and declarative representations can be mixed together. The existing tools for managing procedures that have been examined use either the procedural or the declarative representation, but not both. Based on these observations a model has been designed that allows mixing both procedural and declarative representations for representing a procedure. This model allows for a more flexible representation of business procedures. This additional flexibility results in a wider range of possible applications than the examined existing tools have shown. To what extent this model is more practically applicable is a point for further research. [Taken from abstract]. The full text is available as a PDF file.

Advanced Aircraft Interfaces: The Machine Side of the Man-Machine Interface

This is Research and Technology Organization (RTO) AGARD-CP-521, dated October 1992. This Symposium explored the use of three of man's senses (sight, hearing, touch) to improve the man-machine interface in the cockpit. The seven sessions included Defining Concepts and Design Issues, Maintenance for Advanced Cockpit Systems, Panoramic and Virtual Cockpits, Helmet Mounted Displays, Voice Technology, System Design Concepts and Tools, and finally Device Technologies. As the demands placed upon the aircrew by the modern battlefield continue to increase, this Symposium attempted to effectively blend the technologies available to decrease the workload. For individual titles, see N93-19758 through N93-19785. Bibliographic and abstract details are available in HTML format. A table of contents, and the full text (91.99MB) of the document can be accessed online in PDF format. The document is contained in the RTO's Full Text Publication Library.

Advances in Vehicle Systems Concepts and Integration

This web site provides access to a NATO Research and Technology Organization (RTO) document titled: Advances in Vehicle Systems Concepts and Integration, RTO-MP-44, March 2000. The report contains the proceedings of a joint symposium. Syposium (A) was titled: Aircraft update programmes: the economical alternative; and Symposium (B) was titled: Warfare automation: procedures and techniques for unmanned vehicles; held in Ankara, Turkey, 26-28 April 1999. The topics covered in symposium (A) included cockpit, sensor, engines, overview and lessons learned. Symposium (B) included Operational requiremnts for unmanned vehicles (UAVs), Integration and mission management, Platform management and critical technologies, and System concepts and mission experience. The citation and abstract information are in HTML format, and the full text is available online in PDF format (76 Mbytes).

Aerospace 2020 Vol. II

This is Research and Technology Organization (RTO) AGARD Advisory Report, AGARD-AR-360-02, Vol 11, dated September 1997. Volume II, the main volume, of the report of the NATO Advisory Group for Aerospace Research and Development (AGARD) study: 'Aerospace 2020'. This study explored the most advanced technologies, relevant to aerospace, being researched and developed in laboratories today. The study focused on the most promising current technologies and the organizational and tactical consequences they will have at the field and system levels, over the course of the next 25 years. Topics include: a discussion of the impact of proliferation, human-machine interaction, synthetic environments, directed-energy weapons, information technologies, unmanned tactical aircraft, suborbital launchers, hypersonic missiles, and a discussion of affordability issues. Technologies are assessed from the viewpoints of both potential capabilities and threats. Observations and recommendations are presented. Volume III contains technical papers in support of the conclusions reached. Volume I is a short summary of the conclusions. Bibliographic details and an abstract are available in HTML format and the full text is available in PDF format from the RTO's web site.

Aerospace 2020

This is Research and Technology Organization (RTO) AGARD Advisory Report, AGARD-AR-360-03 (volume III), dated September 1997. It was sponsored by the Advisory Group for Aerospace Research and Development. This study explored the most advanced technologies, relevant to aerospace, being researched and developed in laboratories today. The study focused on the most promising current technologies and the organizational and tactical consequences they will have at the field and system levels, over the course of the next 25 years. Topics include: a discussion of the impact of proliferation, human-machine interaction, synthetic environments, directed-energy weapons, information technologies, unmanned tactical aircraft, suborbital launchers, hypersonic missiles, and a discussion of affordability issues. Technologies are assessed from the viewpoints of both potential capabilities and threats. Observations and recommendations are presented. Volume II contains the conclusions of the report. Volume I is a short summary of these conclusions. Bibliographic details and an abstract are available in HTML format and the full text is available in PDF format from the RTO's web site.

Air Traffic Control Electronic Checklist for the Design and Evaluation of New Systems

Developed by the Volpe Center and FAA (AAR-100), this checklist presents human factors issues that should be considered in the design and evaluation of air traffic control (ATC) systems and subsystems. Using this method, the assessment of ATC equipment is based on human factors principles, standards and guidelines and also considers computer human interface (CHI) issues. This is a zipped file, and is approximately 4.5 MB in size which will increase the download time.

Air Traffic Control Specialist (ATCS) Performance Measurement Database

The database is produced by the Human Factors Branch of the Federal Aviation Administration's (FAA) National Airspace System (NAS) System Engineering and Analysis Division. The database provides a compilation of techniques that have been proven effective for use in human factor research related to air traffic control. The site includes an overview of the database, a description of its value to ATC, and its main features and layout. A technical note which serves as a user manual is available for downloading. The database itself is available for free download on completion of a registration form. The file is in Microsoft Excel 97 format and is approximately 350Kb.

Air Traffic Management: Support for Decision Making Optimisation - Automation

This is Research and Technology Organization(RTO) AGARD Report, AGARD-R-825, dated December 1997. It was sponsored by the Advisory Group for Aerospace Research and Development. As a contribution to the increasing cooperation between NATO and former Warsaw Pact countries, the Mission Systems Panel of AGARD organized a Workshop on Air Traffic Management, held in Budapest, Hungary on 27-29 May 1997. Emphasis was placed on the fundamentals of air traffic handling and an effort was made to establish a fruitful dialogue between experienced experts and young mathematicians, physicists and engineers, offering a fresh approach to the on-line conduct of traffic management. The main characteristics of Air Traffic Handling were outlined; it is a large-scale, international, multidisciplinary and complex system. The aircraft, the basic element of air traffic, was given considerable consideration: the manner in which it is flown and its dynamics, the potential role of the on-board flight management system, the current and expected level of automation, and the advent of unmanned military aircraft. Could Air Traffic Handling become a discipline in itself as part of the academic subject of aerospace? What assistance could be made available to the human controller in the present types of operation? Finally, if it was intended to make major improvements to the management of all flights, what optimization techniques were suitable for on-line operations? These important questions were debated in a session devoted to the fundamentals of air traffic management. An attempt was then made to illustrate some trends in the optimization and automation processes: arrivals management in the PHARE programme; application of genetic algorithms to mid-air collision avoidance; the detection and resolution of conflicts using coupled force field techniques and a broad look at global traffic optimization. Plans and prospectives were presented: human-machine interface in the Hungarian MATIAS project; a US view of the situation as seen by the FAA; the CNS/ATM concept as an ICAO prospective and the EATCHIP-EATMS concept offered as a European perspective. The Round Table which ended the meeting offered strong encouragement to the academic and scientific communities to inform their members of the nature, complexity and interest of the problems - numerous and varied - raised by the need to improve the presently critical air traffic situation. Examples of outstanding doctoral dissertations were included in this Workshop programme. Bibliographic details and an abstract are available in HTML format and the full text is available in PDF format(81 Mb)from the RTO's web site.

Aircrew Fatigue : A Review of Research Undertaken on Behalf of the UK Civil Aviation Authority

This is UK Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) CAA Paper 2005/04, prepared by the CAA's Safety Regulation Group (SRG), 31 October 2005. This report reviews the programme of work related to the sleep and wakefulness of the airline pilot that has been carried out by the QinetiQ, Centre for Human Sciences (CHS) and its predecessor organisations (DERA, DRA and RAF Institute of Aviation Medicine) for the UK Civil Aviation Authority (CAA). The results of the research have been used to develop and validate the 'SAFE' (System for Aircrew Fatigue Evaluation) model. The text of the document is available online in PDF format (1.2 mb) from the CAA's web site.

Alternative Control Technologies : Human Factors Issues

This web site provides access to an Educational Note produced by the Research and Technology Organization (RTO), RTO-EN-003, dated October 1998. The material was assembled to support a Lecture Series (Lecturer Series 215) under the sponsorship of the Human Factors and Medicine Panel and the Consultant and Exchange Programme of RTO presented on 7-8 October 1998 in Brétigny, France, and on 14-15 October 1998 at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio, USA. The main aim of the lecture Series was to review alternative control technologies such as voice, and head and eye movement commands, and to provide for discussion on their main characteristics, benefits, and limitations. Bibliographic and abstract details are available in HTML format. A table of contents, and the full text of the document (17.5 Mbytes) can be accessed online in PDF format. The document is contained in the RTO's Full Text Publication Library.

Alternative Control Technologies

This web site provides access to a NATO Research and Technology Organization (RTO) document titled: Alternative Control Technologies, RTO-TR-7, December 1998. This technical report is produced by the RTO Human Factors and Medicine Panel (HFM). It presents an analysis of the various human factors related to the introduction of alternative control technologies into military cockpits; as well as an assessment of the state of the art enabling technologies. Citation and abstract details are in HTML format and the full text is avaialbale online in PDF format (25 Mbytes).

An Analysis of En Route Air Traffic Control System Usage During Special Situations

This technical report (DOT/FAA/TC-TN06/11) was published by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) in 2006 and was written by Kenneth Allendoerfer, Shantanu Pai and Caroline Zingale. The Federal Aviation Administration is developing the En Route Automation Modernization (ERAM) system to replace the legacy en route air traffic control automation system consisting of the Host Computer System (HCS), the Display System Replacement (DSR), and the User Request Evaluation Tool (URET). Because controllers will use ERAM to respond to both routine and special situations, it is important that ERAM be evaluated in a variety of conditions. This technical note provides an analysis of how controllers use the legacy system during special situations and corresponding evaluation metrics. The special situations include weather, traffic management initiatives, emergencies, and outages. The metrics may be useful in future evaluations of the effectiveness of ERAM as compared to the legacy system. We used a qualitative analytic method in which we interviewed subject-matter experts (SMEs). The SMEs characterized each situation and provided information about the actions controllers typically take to respond. We discuss how the results of the analysis can be applied to ERAM testing and provide guidance for future studies to create a rich set of human factors metrics for system testing. [Taken from abstract]. This is a PDF file, so Adobe Acrobat software will be required in order to read it.

Application of Color to Reduce Complexity in Air Traffic Control

This provides access to a Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) report, DOT/FAA/CT-TN03/01, by Tanya Yuditsky, Randy L. Sollenberger, Pamela S. Della Rocco, and Carol A. Manning, dated November 2002. This research examined the application of specific information coding techniques to ATC displays as a method of reducing complexity in the en route environment. The full text of the report is available in PDF format, from the online catalogue of the FAA William J. Hughes Technical Center Library.

Automatic Dependent Surveillance- Broadcast/Cockpit Display of Traffic Information: Innovations in Aircraft Navigation on the Airport Surface

This provides access to a Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) report, DOT/FAA/AM-04/11 by Veronika Prinzo dated July 2004. In 2000, the FAA’s Office of Runway Safety made a concerted effort to reduce runway incursions. The Safe Flight 21 Program awarded contracts for CDTI avionics development and an operational demonstration that included a surface moving-map capability. An operational evaluation was conducted in October 2000 to assess pilot use of varying types of CDTI devices and how surface-map information could aid pilot situation awareness when taxiing. Complex taxi routes were designed to examine how well pilots navigated their aircraft using an electronic surface-map display (north-up, track-up) or a paper surface map. This study was designed to determine howthe useofthesedisplaysmight aidsituational awareness andinfluence operationalcommunications. Pilots navigated their aircraft during 3 day and 2 night operations, resulting in 31 structured and 37 unstructured taxi routes. As subject-matter experts listened to 15 hours of audiotapes and read verbatim transcripts, they identified operational concerns and noted problems. Communications involved in progressive taxi routes and routes instructing pilots to follow another aircraft were excluded from analysis. A Type-of-Route x Type-of-Map ANOVA revealed that more problems occurred for structured, compared with unstructured taxi routes, and more messages were exchanged. A statistically significant interaction indicated that most problems occurred for the north-up map during structured taxi routes, and the number of problems encountered was comparable for the other maps when pilots navigated along unstructured taxi routes. When designing electronic surface-map displays, providing a north-up map orientation appears to create more problems than either track-up or paper surface maps — especially when taxi routes are complex (or unfamiliar). The full text of the report is available in PDF format from the online catalogue of the FAA.

Changes in ATM Safety Culture due to new Technology

This technical note (Number 2005-13) was published by the Eurocontrol Experimental Centre in June 2005 and was written by Jamie Henderson and Rachel Gordon. This report describes a small-scale project about the impact that future ATM technologies may have on safety culture in ATM. The overall objectives of this project were to: 1. gather evidence for the impact of recently introduced systems on safety culture, and 2. examine the potential impact future ATM functions may have on safety culture that could potentially affect safety. This was undertaken in three stages: literature review; controller survey of how recent changes in ATM technology had affected safety culture and how future changes could affect safety culture; and interviews with system developers regarding future changes. The findings from the literature review helped to identify some of the relevant safety culture factors that were used in the controller survey. These were chosen on the basis of being relevant to safety culture at the operator-level as well as to changes in technology. Very little research has attempted to predict how safety culture may be affected with new technologies. The safety culture factors used in the survey were: team-work; communication; trust in people; trust in equipment; understanding of risk; understanding of competence of others; personal responsibility for safety; job pressure and job satisfaction. The interview survey was carried out with 33 controllers at four European ANSPs during October-December, 2004. Changes in safety culture were discussed with regard to recently introduced technologies (such as OLDI, STCA, Human-Machine Interface) and future technologies (such as MTCD (medium term conflict detection), CORA (conflict resolution assistant), datalink and ASAS (airborne separation assurance system). The main findings suggest that teamwork and communication appear to be particularly vulnerable to change, although controllers also indicated that there is high chance that their understanding of the risks and their job satisfaction may change with new technology. Controllers trust in equipment, personal responsibility for safety and job pressure were also predicted to change with the implementation of new technology. Two lines for future research in this area have been identified as: 1. further investigation regarding the safety culture aspects in ATM and development of a tool or method to measure safety culture, and 2. focus on aspects of the ATM 2012 at risk. [Taken from abstract]. This is in PDF format so Adobe Acrobat software will be required in order to read it.

Cockpit Automation and Mode Confusion : The Use of Auditory Inputs for Error Mitigation

The site provides access to an Air University Air Command and Staff College Research Report, by Major Charles F. Spencer, Jr., USAF, AU/ACSC/167/2000-04, dated April 2000. format. Based on current levels of cockpit automation, classifications of mode confusion, and clinical knowledge concerning human cognitive and attentive processes, the report examines whether an audible attention step might help mitigate unrecognized mode error. The Software-Hardware-Environment-Liveware model provides a framework for the analysis of government and academic research concerning pilot automation experiences and use, cognitive models, information and decision processing, and the auditory attention channel. The text of the report can be accessed in PDF format.

Cognitive Task Analysis

This web site provides access to a Research and Technology Organization (RTO) Technical Report, RTO-TR-024, dated November 2000. The report was sponsored by the the RTO Human Factors and Medicine Panel (HFM). Cognitive task analysis is defined as the extension of traditional task analysis techniques to yield information about the knowledge, thought processes and goal structures that underlie observable task performance. Cognitive task analyses are conducted for a wide variety of purposes, including the design of computer systems to support human work, the development of training, and the development of tests to certify competence. As part of its Programme of Work, NATO Research Study Group 27 on Cognitive Task Analysis has undertaken the task of reviewing existing cognitive task analysis techniques. The Group concludes that few integrated methods exist, that little attention is being paid to the conditions under which methods are appropriate, and that often it is unclear how the products of cognitive task analysis should be used. RSG.27 has also organized a workshop with experts in the field of cognitive task analysis. The most important issues that were discussed during the workshop were: (1) the use of CTA in the design of new systems, (2) the question when to use what technique, and (3) the role of CTA in system design. RSG.27 emphasizes: (1) that is important for the CTA community to be able to empirically demonstrate the added value of a CTA; (2) it is critical for the success of CTA to be involved in the design process from the start to finish, and to establish clear links with methods that are used by other disciplines, and (3) recommends that more research effort be directed to the issue of the reliability of CTA techniques. Bibliographic and abstract details are available in HTML format. A table of contents, and the full text of the document (3.4 Mbytes) can be accessed online in PDF format. The document is contained in the RTO's Full Text Publication Library.

Collaboration Crew Performance in Complex Operational Systems

This web site provides access to a Research and Technology Organization Meeting Proceedings, RTO-MP-004, Paris, December 1998. The documents contains papers presented at the RTO Human Factors and Medicine Panel Symposium, held in Edinburgh, United Kingdom, 20-22 April 1998. Research and applications in human factors has frequently only considered individual operator interfaces, for limited work domains in well-defined scenarios, as evaluated by unitary measures. As we progress towards the next millennium, complex operations will increasingly require consideration and integration of the collaborative element wherein crew performance becomes a critical factor for success. This symposium brings together a global perspective on issues and factors that need to be understood when systems design is focused on the crew operating in a complex environment. Hence, the proceedings give a broad, multidisciplinary view of needs, requirements, ongoing research and development projects, and various research agendas that will bring about new technologies, approaches, and measures with regard to collaborative crew performance. The papers and multiple perspectives provide a baseline for understanding many elements of crew performance which will be valuable for the human factors specialist that must now design for the collaborative element and be concerned with the broad bandwidth of complexities within the operational setting. Additionally, the volume provides information for researchers, scientists, and engineers in many different areas who find themselves immersed in collaborative systems design. Bibliographic and abstract details are available in HTML format. A table of contents, and the full text (1 Mbytes) of the document can be accessed online in PDF format. The document is contained in the RTO's Full Text Publication Library.

Color Analysis in Air Traffic Control Displays Part II : Auxiliary Displays

This provides access to a Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) report DOT/FAA/AM-07/5 written by Jing Xing dated March 2007. This report presents the second part of our analysis of color use in Air Traffic Control displays. Part I of the study focused on operational displays, while this investigation focuses on auxiliary information displays with which controllers acquire additional information to make decisions. We chose three frequently used decisionsupport displays for the analysis. Those are: User Request Evaluation Tool (URET), Traffic Management Advisor (TMA), and Integrated Terminal Weather System (ITWS). For each display, we documented the background and default colors, color-coding, color usage, associated purposes of color use, and color complexity. With this systematic documentation, we were able to assess compatibility across displays. Using the color checklists we developed earlier, we also analyzed the effectiveness and shortcomings of color use in these displays. The results revealed a number of instances where the use of color might not be effective for its given purpose and where a color could have potential negative effects on task performance. The results of this study can benefit design prototypes and acquisition evaluation for new Air Traffic Control technologies. [Taken from abstract]. The full text is available in PDF format so Adobe Acrobat software will be required in order to read it.

Commercial Multimedia Technologies for Twenty-First Century Army Battlefields: A Technology Management Strategy

Produced by the US National Research Council Committee on Future Technologies for Army Multimedia Communications and published by the National Academies Press in 1995. This report describes how the battlefield of the future will be full of digital networks carrying vast amounts of information. Multi-media technologies that already exist, or are emerging in the civilian sector are also considered here.

Complexity and Automation Displays of Air Traffic Control:Literature Review and Analysis

This provides access to a Federal Aviation (FAA) report DOT/FAA AM-05/4 by Jing Xing and Carol Manning dated April 2005. This report reviewed a number of measures of complexity associated with visual displays and analyzed the potential to apply these methods to assess the complexity of air traffic control displays. Through the literature review, we identified three basic complexity factors: numeric size, variety, and rules. Essentially, all the complexity measures could be descirbed by these factors. Through the analysis of available complexity measures, we showed that neither information complexity that focused on the sysltem nor cognitive complexity that aimed at observers could provide a complete description for ATC application. the great variety in complexity measures reflected the fact that the contribution of each of the three factors to overall complexity depended on lhow information is processed by users. We generalized that complexity is the integration of the observer with the three baisic factors. Therefore, to develop objective compexity measures for ATC displays, the methods presented in this report need to be integrated with the ATC display specifications. [Taken from abstract]. The full text of the report is available in PDF format from the online catalogue of the FAA.

Complexity in Airport Traffic Control Towers: A Field Study. Part 2. Controller Strategies and Information Requirements

This technical report (DOT/FAA/TC-06/22) was published by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) in 2006 and was written by Anton Koros, Pamela S. Della Rocco, Gulshan Panjwani, Victor Ingurgio and Jean-Francis D'Arcy. This two-part field study investigated sources of complexity and their incidence within Federal Aviation Administration Air Traffic Control Towers (ATCTs). Human Factors Specialists from the William J. Hughes Technical Center selected six sites representing a combination of high traffic volume, traffic mix, and/or converging runways. Sixty-two Air Traffic Control Specialists participated in the study, providing ratings and descriptions of the complexity sources from a local- and ground-controller perspective. The first report represented a key step in identifying and characterizing the primary sources of complexity within ATCTs and assessing their relative incidence and importance. The second report identifies the strategies that tower controllers use to mitigate complexity, the types of information that they require, and the sources of this information. The participants reported relying on two to three core strategies, which they supplemented with ad hoc techniques. Results from this field study hold implications for future tower automation equipment design. Future research efforts should systematically investigate tower controller information needs and focus, in particular, on sources such as high traffic volume and frequency congestion, which are among the most prevalent sources of complexity within this environment. [Taken from abstract]. This is a PDF file, so Adobe Acrobat software will be required in order to read it.

Core Commands Across Airway Facilities Systems

This provides access to a Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) report, DOT/FAA CT-TN 03/15, by Vicki Ahlstrom and Robert Muldoon, dated May 2003. This study takes a high-level approach to evaluate computer systems without regard to the specific method of interaction. This document analyzes the commands that Airway Facilities (AF) use across different systems and the meanings attributed to the different commands. Human factors researchers collected data on AF systems and equipment, identifying 25 different systems monitored and controlled by AF specialists. Different AF systems had different means of interfacing with the computer (e.g., graphical user interface, menus, and command line interface). The researchers summarized data on the interaction types across AF systems to find that most AF systems used menus as the primary means of interaction. Among the 25 systems monitored and controlled by AF, they uncovered more than 1500 options for accessing, interacting with, and controlling the equipment necessary to National Airspace System operations. They analyzed the options for frequency of occurrence and defined meanings for each of the most frequently used options. The result of this analysis is a set of core commands that are common across a number of systems. The full text of the report is available in PDF format, from the online catalogue of the FAA William J. Hughes Technical Center Library.

Cospace 2002 controller experiment assessing the impact of spacing instructions in E-TMA and TMA Volume I

This technical report (number 386) was published by the Eurocontrol Experimental Centre in December 2003 and was written by Florence Aligne ...et al. This report presents the results and findings of the CoSpace controller experiment conducted in November 2002. This experiment fitted in with a series of air and ground validation exercises aiming at investigating the use of spacing instructions (denoted airborne spacing) for sequencing of arrival flows. The previous ground experiment conducted in November 2001 focussed on E-TMA (from cruise to initial approach fix) using distance based spacing. The present experiment aims at going a step further by introducing time based spacing and integrating TMA (from initial to final approach fix). More precisely, the objective was: for E-TMA, to compare the respective impact of distance and time based spacing on controller activity and quality of service provided; for TMA, to assess the usability of spacing instructions. Six E-TMA and four TMA controllers from different European countries participated during respectively 3 and 1? weeks. The simulated airspace was derived from Paris Southeast area, and consisted of two E-TMA and two simplified TMA sectors. As today, the traffic had to be sequenced prior to be transferred to TMA. The level of traffic was high in TMA and very high in E-TMA. The distinct levels of maturity between TMA and E-TMA led to different levels of analysis. In TMA, still at an exploratory stage, the aim was to understand how airborne spacing could be used. This was structured along two dimensions: design and feasibility, and initial insight on controller activity. In E-TMA, the aim was to compare the impact of variants (distance versus time) on user activity and on the quality of the service provided. This was structured along four dimensions: human shaping factors, controller activity, effectiveness and safety.This experiment enabled to confirm trends obtained in 2001, and to get an overall understanding of impact of airborne spacing on controller activity and on control effectiveness in E-TMA. When correctly used - i.e. fitting in with current sequencing practices - spacing instructions seem to be beneficial (increased controller availability and better stability of flows transferred to TMA). On the opposite, it was observed that incorrect use can lead to degraded situations (increased controller workload). Finally, the spacing instructions developed for E-TMA seem to be usable in TMA. [Taken from abstract]. This is available in PDF format so Adobe Acrobat software will be required in order to read it.

Cospace 2002 controller experiment assessing the impact of spacing instructions in E-TMA and TMA Volume II

This technical report (number 386/2) was published by the Eruocontrol Experimental Centre in December 2003 and was written by Florence Aligne ...et al. This report presents the results and findings of the CoSpace controller experiment conducted in November 2002. This experiment fitted in with a series of air and ground validation exercises aiming at investigating the use of spacing instructions (denoted airborne spacing) for sequencing of arrival flows. The previous ground experiment conducted in November 2001 focussed on E-TMA (from cruise to initial approach fix) using distance based spacing. The present experiment aims at going a step further by introducing time based spacing and integrating TMA (from initial to final approach fix). More precisely, the objective was: for E-TMA, to compare the respective impact of distance and time based spacing on controller activity and quality of service provided; for TMA, to assess the usability of spacing instructions. Six E-TMA and four TMA controllers from different European countries participated during respectively 3 and 1˝ weeks. The simulated airspace was derived from Paris Southeast area, and consisted of two E-TMA and two simplified TMA sectors. As today, the traffic had to be sequenced prior to be transferred to TMA. The level of traffic was high in TMA and very high in E-TMA. The distinct levels of maturity between TMA and E-TMA led to different levels of analysis. In TMA, still at an exploratory stage, the aim was to understand how airborne spacing could be used. This was structured along two dimensions: design and feasibility, and initial insight on controller activity. In E-TMA, the aim was to compare the impact of variants (distance versus time) on user activity and on the quality of the service provided. This was structured along four dimensions: human shaping factors, controller activity, effectiveness and safety.This experiment enabled to confirm trends obtained in 2001, and to get an overall understanding of impact of airborne spacing on controller activity and on control effectiveness in E-TMA. When correctly used - i.e. fitting in with current sequencing practices - spacing instructions seem to be beneficial (increased controller availability and better stability of flows transferred to TMA). On the opposite, it was observed that incorrect use can lead to degraded situations (increased controller workload). Finally, the spacing instructions developed for E-TMA seem to be usable in TMA. [Taken from abstract] This is available in PDF format so Adobe Acrobat is required in order to read it.

COSPACE 2002 Flight Deck Experiments Accessing the Impact of Spacing Instructions from Cruise to Initial Approach: Volume 1

This technical report (number 388 Vol.1) was published by Eurocontrol Experimental Centre in February 2004 and was written by Carine Hebraud, Eric Hoffman, Anne Papin, Nayen Pene, Laurence Rognin, Carol Sheehan and Karim Zeghal. This report presents the results and findings of the CoSpace flight deck experiments conducted in May and December 2002. These experiments formed part of a series of air and ground validation exercises aiming at investigating the use of spacing instructions (denoted airborne spacing) for sequencing of arrival flows. The previous flight deck experiment conducted in November 2000 aimed at assessing feasibility of spacing tasks, mainly through interface usability. The present experiments aimed at going a step further by assessing feasibility and impact on flight crew activity and on effectiveness. This was investigated from cruise to initial approach, using distance-based spacing, with a target aircraft under conventional control. In May, three spacing instructions were considered, whereas, in December, only one was considered to allow varying three spacing tolerances. Five and seven crews took part in the experiment, one day each, in May and in December respectively. The flight crews were tasked to perform the spacing task through manual speed adjustments in addition to their conventional flight tasks on a part-task cockpit simulator. Flight crews perceived benefits introduced by the spacing task (taking an active part in the management of the spacing, better understanding of the situation). However, they dread either to focus too much on the spacing task during busy flight phases or to forget it when no action is needed during a long period of time. Pilots managed to maintain the spacing within tolerances, and despite a higher perceived workload for the pilot flying, it is described as acceptable by flying and non flying pilots. A managed mode was requested by some pilots. The analysis of pilot activity focused on the manual speed actions required to perform the spacing task, and the eye tracker data analysis allows identifying metrics to assess the impact of the spacing task on pilots monitoring. [Taken from abstract]. The full text is available in PDF, so Adobe Acrobat software will be required in order to read it.

COSPACE 2002 Flight Deck Experiments Accessing the Impact of Spacing Instructions from Cruise to Initial Approach: Volume 2 - Annex

This technical report (number 388 Vol.2) was published by the Eurocontrol Experimental Centre in February 2004 and was written by Carine Hebraud, Eric Hoffman, Anne Papin Nayen Pene, Laurence Rognin, Carol Sheehan and Karim Zeghal. This report presents the results and findings of the CoSpace flight deck experiments conducted in May and December 2002. These experiments formed part of a series of air and ground validation exercises aiming at investigating the use of spacing instructions (denoted airborne spacing) for sequencing of arrival flows. The previous flight deck experiment conducted in November 2000 aimed at assessing feasibility of spacing tasks, mainly through interface usability. The present experiments aimed at going a step further by assessing feasibility and impact on flight crew activity and on effectiveness. This was investigated from cruise to initial approach, using distance-based spacing, with a target aircraft under conventional control. In May, three spacing instructions were considered, whereas, in December, only one was considered to allow varying three spacing tolerances. Five and seven crews took part in the experiment, one day each, in May and in December respectively. The flight crews were tasked to perform the spacing task through manual speed adjustments in addition to their conventional flight tasks on a part-task cockpit simulator. Flight crews perceived benefits introduced by the spacing task (taking an active part in the management of the spacing, better understanding of the situation). However, they dread either to focus too much on the spacing task during busy flight phases or to forget it when no action is needed during a long period of time. Pilots managed to maintain the spacing within tolerances, and despite a higher perceived workload for the pilot flying, it is described as acceptable by flying and non flying pilots. A managed mode was requested by some pilots. The analysis of pilot activity focused on the manual speed actions required to perform the spacing task, and the eye tracker data analysis allows identifying metrics to assess the impact of the spacing task on pilots monitoring. [Taken from abstract]. The full text is in PDF format so Adobe Acrobat software will be required in order to read it.

Cospace2003 Flight Deck Experiments Assessing the Impact of Spacing Instructions from Cruise to Final Approach (Volume 1)

This technical report (Number 397) was published by the Eurocontrol Experimental Centre in October 2004 ans was written by Carine Hebraud ...[et al]. This report presents the results of the CoSpace flight deck experiment conducted in 2003. This experiment formed part of a series of air and ground validation exercises aiming at investigating the use of spacing instructions for sequencing arrival flows. The previous flight deck experiments conducted in 2002 aimed at assessing the use of spacing in distance, from cruise to initial approach. The previous controller experiment conducted in 2002 introduced spacing in time and down to final approach. The present experiment is built upon these two previous experiments. Its objective was to assess, from a pilot perspective, the use of spacing in time and down to final approach. A recurrent secondary objective was to assess the evolutions of cockpit interface. Six crews of two airline pilots took part in the experiment on a part-task cockpit simulator. Flight crews were tasked to perform a spacing task in speed-select mode with the support of guidance cues, in addition to usual flight tasks. The spacing task was considered as quite compatible with usual flying tasks despite an increase of mental effort which remained acceptable. Pilots noticed a slight focalisation on the spacing scale that might lead to reduce monitoring of flight parameters. Perceived benefits were: better understanding of the situation and anticipation, lower communication load due to less frequent exchanges with controllers. Time-based spacing was felt easier to handle. Some pilots asked for a managed spacing mode. The impact on flight crews’ activity was assessed through the analysis of the speed actions. The average number of speed actions was less than 1 per minute and most were comprised between -15kt and +5kt. Every crew successfully achieved the spacing task: the deviation was maintained within the tolerance margins (5 seconds) with an average deviation of 1 second. Next steps will consist in assessing the effect of various reactions of preceding aircraft under airborne spacing. Experiments on a full-flight simulator are envisaged to assess feasibility in a more realistic environment. [Taken from abstract]. This is in PDF format so will require Adobe Acrobat software in order to read it.

Cospace2003 Flight Deck Experiments Assessing the Impact of Spacing Instructions from Cruise to Final Approach (Volume 2)

This technical report (Number 397) was published by the Eurocontrol Experimental Centre in October 2004 ans was written by Carine Hebraud ...[et al]. This report presents the results of the CoSpace flight deck experiment conducted in 2003. This experiment formed part of a series of air and ground validation exercises aiming at investigating the use of spacing instructions for sequencing arrival flows. The previous flight deck experiments conducted in 2002 aimed at assessing the use of spacing in distance, from cruise to initial approach. The previous controller experiment conducted in 2002 introduced spacing in time and down to final approach. The present experiment is built upon these two previous experiments. Its objective was to assess, from a pilot perspective, the use of spacing in time and down to final approach. A recurrent secondary objective was to assess the evolutions of cockpit interface. Six crews of two airline pilots took part in the experiment on a part-task cockpit simulator. Flight crews were tasked to perform a spacing task in speed-select mode with the support of guidance cues, in addition to usual flight tasks. The spacing task was considered as quite compatible with usual flying tasks despite an increase of mental effort which remained acceptable. Pilots noticed a slight focalisation on the spacing scale that might lead to reduce monitoring of flight parameters. Perceived benefits were: better understanding of the situation and anticipation, lower communication load due to less frequent exchanges with controllers. Time-based spacing was felt easier to handle. Some pilots asked for a managed spacing mode. The impact on flight crews’ activity was assessed through the analysis of the speed actions. The average number of speed actions was less than 1 per minute and most were comprised between -15kt and +5kt. Every crew successfully achieved the spacing task: the deviation was maintained within the tolerance margins (5 seconds) with an average deviation of 1 second. Next steps will consist in assessing the effect of various reactions of preceding aircraft under airborne spacing. Experiments on a full-flight simulator are envisaged to assess feasibility in a more realistic environment. [Taken from abstract]. This is in PDF format so will require Adobe Acrobat software in order to read it.

Decision Support Automation Research in the En Route Air Traffic Control Environment

This provides access to a Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) report, DOT/FAA/CT-TN02/10, by Ben Willems, dated April 2002. This study examined the effect of automated decision support on Certified Professional Controller (CPC) behavior. The full text of the report is available in PDF format, from the online catalogue of the FAA William J. Hughes Technical Center Library.

Delphion Patent Search Form

This site allows you to search for United States patents, European patents and patent applications, Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT) application data from the World Intellectual Property Office, the Patent Abstracts of Japan and INPADOC data. The service can be searched in several different ways, including patent number, US classification and Boolean keyword search. It is possible to view to the bibliographic information of granted US patents free of charge, all other services are payable. You will need to register to use this service, which is free of charge.

Design and Evaluation of Auditory Icons as Informative Warning Signals

This web site provides access to an Australian Bureau of Air Safety Investigation (BASI) Research and Analysis Report (grant_B20050120_001) written by Dr Catherine Stevens, Nathan Perry, Dr Mark Wiggins and Clare Howell dated August 2006. Auditory icons caricatures of everyday sounds have the potential to convey information by non-verbal means quickly and accurately. Two experiments investigated the application of auditory icons as warning signals to the civil aviation cockpit environment. Warning signals that are iconic and that stand in a direct relation to the event being signalled, such as the sound of coughing to signal the presence of carbon monoxide, should convey information about the nature of the critical event as well as alerting the operator that there is a problem. By contrast, signals that are arbitrarily associated with an event, such as a beep to signal the presence of carbon monoxide, provide little information about the nature of the event. Speed and accuracy of recognition in response to these different types of warnings may also be influenced by modality (visual, auditory, auditory + visual) and by task demand (low, high). Experiment 1 investigated effects of signal iconicity (iconic, abstract), modality, and task demand on warning recognition speed and accuracy. One-hundred and seventy-eight participants completed a computer-based training session and test task that involved responding to warnings associated with nine critical events while completing low- and high-demand concurrent tasks. As hypothesized, fewer training trials were required to learn iconic warnings compared with abstract warnings. During the test phase, the effect of iconicity, as hypothesized, was influenced by modality and task demand. Bimodal (auditory + visual) warnings were recognized with the greatest consistency and accuracy. Auditory abstract warnings elicited slow reaction times and poor accuracy. Auditory iconic warnings, under conditions of high demand, evoked levels of accuracy comparable with bimodal warnings. Experiment 2 investigated recognition speed and accuracy in response to four auditory iconic and four abstract warnings in an Advanced Aviation Training Device. As hypothesized, accuracy was greater in response to auditory iconic than abstract warnings and recognition accuracy and reaction time were unaffected by level of flying experience. Reaction times in the Advanced Aviation Training Device were approximately 1 second. These initial experiments suggest that there is potential for the use of auditory iconic warnings and bimodal warnings as the means, not only to alert, but also inform pilots about the nature of a critical incident. [Taken from abstract]. The full text is available in PDF format so Adobe Acrobat software will be required in order to read it.

Design Review of the Controller-Pilot Data Link Communications

Written by Evan R. Darby and Clark Shingledecker, this technical report (DOT/FAA/CT-98/16) was published in August 1998. It documents the results of a controller design review of the proposed functionality and computer-human interface for Controller-Pilot Data Link Communications Build 1 (CPDLC-I) planned for implementation on the Display System Replacement (DSR). The necessary requirements and modifications to the proposed CPDLC-1 display, control and service designs are identified. This is a downloadable .pdf file [53 pages, 111Kb] so the Adobe Acrobat software will be required in order to read it.

Designing Future Advanced Controller Displays

This technical report (NLR-TP-2004-307) was published by NLR (the National Aerospace Laboratory of the Netherlands) in 2004 and was written by E. Kesseler and E. Knapen. This paper describes the design of an advanced human-machine interface for well-trained, professional users, i.e. air traffic controllers. The safety implications of their tasks, combined with the short reaction time available to the user, result in high demands on the interface between the human and the supporting information system. The increasing demand for air traffic capacity (which can not be accommodated by just deploying more personnel as the additional co-ordination offsets the workload reduction) necessitates the introduction of innovative support tools to prevent human overload. Experience with the introduction of such tools stresses the need to design their user interface using a "human-centred approach", contrasting with the traditional "technology-centred approach". [Taken from abstract]. This is a PDF file, so Adobe Acrobat software will be required in order to read it.

Development of an FAA EUROCONTROL Technique for the Analysis of Human Error in ATM : Final Report

This provides access to a Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) report, DOT/FAA/AM-02/12, by Julia Pounds and Anne Isaac, dated July 2002. Little is known about the factors leading to human errors in current air traffic management (ATM) systems. This paper reports on the project to harmonize the Human Factors Analysis and Classification System (HFACS) and the Human Error Reduction in ATM (HERA) technique. The full text of the report is available in PDF format, from the online catalogue of the FAA.

Effect of Voice Communications Latency in High Density,Communications-Intensive Airspace

This provides access to a Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) report, DOT/FAA/CT-TN03/04, by Randy L. Sollenberger, Michael McAnulty and Karol Kerns, dated January 2003.The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) Next Generation Air-Ground Communications program plans to replace aging analog radio equipment with the Very High Frequency Digital Link Mode 3 (VDL3) system. The full text of the report is available in PDF format, from the online catalogue of the FAA William J. Hughes Technical Center Library

Effectiveness of Personal Computers to Meet Recency of Experience Requirements : Final Report

This provides access to a Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) report, DOT/FAA/AM-03/3, by H.L. Taylor, D.A. Talleur G.L. Bradshaw et al, dated February 2003.The purpose of the current study was to investigate the effectiveness of Personal Computer Aviation Training Devises (PCATDs) and Flight Traning Devices (FTDs) to meet FAA recency of experience requirements for instrument flight. The full text of the report is available in PDF format, from the Civil Aerospace Medical Institute (CAMI) Library's online collection of Aerospace Medicine Technical Reports.

Effects of NEXRAD Graphical Data Resolution and Direct Weather Viewing on Pilots? Judgments of Weather Severity and Their Willingness to Continue a Flight

This provides access to a Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) report DOT/FAA/AM-04/5 by Dennis Beringer dated March 2004. A study was conducted to determine how variations in displayed NEXRAD weather data resolution interact with the pilot?s direct view of weather. Pilots (32) were assigned to one of four groups; 8km, 4km, or 2km resolution, and a baseline condition without NEXRAD imagery. Each flew the simulator from Santa Rosa, NM, with the intent to land at Albuquerque. Heavy precipitation moved into the area during the flight, and pilots were required to decide, using both the NEXRAD data and their out-the-window view, whether to continue or to divert to an alternate airport. Pilots spent more time looking at higher-resolution images than at the lower-resolution ones. Baseline- and 2km-condition pilots deferred their decisions longer than did the other two groups. Posttest NEXRAD image judgments reinforced the notion that higher-resolution images are likely to encourage pilots to continue flights with the expectation that they can fly around or between significant weather features. The presence of out-the-window viewable weather phenomena was seen to have a significant effect on how pilots regarded the NEXRAD data. [Taken from abstract]. The full text of the report is available in PDF format from the online catalogue of the FAA.

En route air traffic controller commands : frequency of use during routine operations

This technical report (DOT/FAA/TC-TN06/4) was published by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) in 2006 and was written by Kenneth Allendoerfer, Carolina Zingale, Shantanu Pai and Ben Willems. The Federal Aviation Administration has started development of the En route Automation Modernization (ERAM) system to replacethe current en route system consisting of the Host Computer System, Display System Replacement (DSR), and the User Request Evaluation Tool . ERAM will provide a variety of new user interface (UI) capabilities for accessing and executing controller commands. An appropriate evaluation of the new UI capabilities will determine how effectively controllers are able to work with the new system. This technical note documents the frequency of use of controller commands using the legacy system. We calculated the number of each entry type made per hour in an 11-hour period at a field site and found that the most frequently used commands were: 1) Offset Datablock, 2) Implied Aircraft Selection (i.e., Accept Handoff/Force Datablock), 3) Initiate Handoff, and 4) Assign Interim Altitude. The 30 most frequently used commands made up approximately 95% of the total number of controller entries. We recommend that future test activities target these most frequent commands. We discuss future phases of the project and ways that these data can be used to compare ERAM to the legacy system. [Taken from abstract]. This is a PDF file, so Adobe Acrobat software will be required in order to read it.

FAA Human Factors Division

This Web site gives information about human factors research and applications as part of the National Plan for Civil Aviation Human Factors. The aim of the site is to provide information on human factors programs, products, and activities within government, academia, and industry. Information on STARS (Standard Terminal Automation Replacement System), the National Plan for Civil Aviation Human Factors and Human Performance Integrity are amongst the resources available

Feature Selection for Predicting Pilot Mental Workload

The site provides access to an Air University Air Force Institute of Technology MSc Thesis, by Second Lieutenant Julia A. East, USAF, AFIT/GOR/ENS/00M-09, dated March 2000. This thesis examines the analysis of psychophysiological features such as heart, eye and respiration measures to identify pilot mental workload. Citation details and an abstract are available in HTML format. The full text can be accessed in PDF format (997,388 bytes). The document is part of the Air University Research Database.

Flight Crew Reliance on Automation

This provides access to a UK Civil Aviation Authority Civil Aviation Paper, CAA Paper 2004/10, prepared by Simon Wood, Cranfield University, on behalf of the CAA's Safety Regulation Group, published 22 December 2004. This Paper reviews previous research examining flight crew dependence on automation, inappropriate crew response to automation problems and changes in manual flying skills. The study was restricted to the consideration of automation of the task of control of the flight path using an autopilot and a Flight Management System on a fixed-wing 'glass-cockpit' commercial aircraft. A taxonomy of failures was presented that was limited to four classes: Automation system failure, Programming errors, Organisation errors, and Design errors. This preliminary report is intended to provide clarification of areas of concern. The research indicated that there was much evidence to support the concern that crews were becoming dependent on flight deck automation. Furthermore, the new human task of system monitoring was made worse by the high reliability of the automation itself.The text is available in PDF format (249 Kb) from the CAA's publications web site.

Flight Deck Requirements for Airborne Spacing (Sequencing and Merging) : Volume 1

This working paper (EEC-206-004) was published by the Eurocontrol Experimental Centre in July 2006. This document describes the set of user requirements to implement an Airborne Separation Assurance System (ASAS) interface for sequencing and merging applications [1][2][3] within a flight deck. The user requirements for this system should cover: • The case of an integrated system within the existing interface of a cockpit simulator and/or flight deck, for example using the Multipurpose Control and Display Unit (MCDU) for data entry and the Navigation Display (ND) and/or Primary Flight Display (PFD) for display. • The case of a stand-alone system which could be used for retrofit on a flight deck and/or cockpit simulator. • The case of pseudo-pilot positions used to simulate traffic during ground real-time experiments. [Taken from abstract]. The full text is available in PDF format so Adobe Acrobat software will be required in order to read it.

Flight Vehicle Integration Panel Working Group 21 on Glass Cockpit Operational Effectiveness

This is Research and Technology Organization (RTO) AGARD Advisory Report, AGARD-AR-349, dated April 1996. It was sponsored by the Advisory Group for Aerospace Research and Development. The members of AGARD FMP Working Group 21, representing aircraft manufacturers, research institutions and operational organizations, met over a two year period, 1993-1995 to address the following objective: Summarize the status of current cockpits, highlight their benefits and weaknesses, and provide guidance for future cockpit design. This report, the result of those meetings, is structured around the series of questions listed below: (1) What are the pilot and crew required to do to complete a mission successfully; (2a) What do the current glass cockpits consist of; (2b) What are some of the technological highlights and trends of these cockpits; (3) What new technologies are becoming available; (4) How can we tailor the cockpit to be the most suitable for the human operator; (5) How can and how does the use of glass cockpits change the required aircrew training process; (6) What are the key problem issues with the current design process and what suggestions can be made to improve it and; (7) What are the cockpit concepts being considered to improve the operational effectiveness of future aircraft. With consideration of the human factors issues in design as a major basis for this report, this document provides an in depth discussion of the cockpit of today's aircraft and can serve as a foundation upon which to develop a more optimized pilot-vehicle-system interface of tomorrow. Bibliographic details and an abstract are available in HTML format and the full text is available in PDF format (77 Mb)from the RTO's web site.

Forecasting the Learning Curve for the Acquisition of Complex Skills from Practice

This technical report (NLR-TP-2002-446) was published by NLR (the National Aerospace Laboratory of the Netherlands) in 2002 and was written by J. J. M. Roessingh, A. M. L. Kappers and J. J. Koenderink. Three groups of novice trainees received extensive practice training on computer-based vehicle control tasks. The first group practiced with a primary manual control task and the second and third group practiced with more complex versions of this task involving secondary tasks. Individual skill level during training was measured on the basis of times that trainees needed to successfully complete subsequent trials on the task. A total of 36,000 trial times were measured. The goal was to investigate whether the required training time for an individual to meet a particular level of competence could be predicted by extrapolation of that individual's learning curve. Extrapolation of the learning curve over a substantial period requires (1) a valid analytical model and (20) a model for the random variations in individual performance. These requirements are met by the 'linear rate model', which specifies a learning curve function with one free parameter ('dead time'). The model also specifies the probability distribution of the random variations in performance. On this basis the dead time parameter can be estimated. The resulting model is used to predict the times that 16 individuals would need to complete 500 and on average 1800 task trials. The prediction errors are on average 0.46 and 4.1 percent with standard deviations of 10.3 and 13.7 percent, respectively. We discuss the utility of the model. [Taken from abstract]. The full text is available as a PDF file.

Function Key and Shortcut Key Use in Airway Facilities

This provides access to a Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) report, DOT/FAA/CT-TN03/07, by Vicki Ahlstrom and Robert Muldoon, dated February 2003. This document provides information on the function keys and shortcut keys used by systems in the Federal Aviation Administration Airway Facilities (AF) work environment. The full text of the report is available in PDF format, from the online catalogue of the FAA William J. Hughes Technical Center Library.

Fundamental Human Factors Concepts

This provides access to UK Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) publication Civil Aviation Paper CAP 719, sponsored by the Operating Standards Division, 15 February 2002. It was previously published by ICAO as Circular Number 216-AN/131. Human Factors Digest No. 1. The scope of the document covers the following: the meaning and definition of human factors, a conceptual model of it, and clarification of common misconceptions, the industry need for human factors, the application of human factors in flight operations, and the levels of expertise required and the formal approaches to education. The text is available in PDF format (293 Kb) from the CAA's publications web site.

Future of Air Traffic Control: Human Operators and Automation

This is the full text of a book published by the National Academy Press in 1998. It is edited by Christopher D. Wickens, Anne S. Mavor, Raja Parasuraman and James P. McGee of the panel on Human Factors in Air Traffic Control Automation, of the National Research Council. It is possible to search the text of the book, or alternatively view a listing of chapters and select which one to view.

FutureFlight Central

This is the home page of the NASA Ames Research Center's FutureFlight Central, a fully interactive air traffic control tower simulator. The site provides an overview of the facility and its capabilities in terms of airport planning, technology evaluation, procedure development and training. The newsroom provides full text access to a newsletter, press releases and articles in the media. There is a gallery of photos, movies and VR Panoramas (requiring QuickTime). The business guide outlines the procedure for requesting a simulation. There is also section on workshop about airport planning. The powerpoint presentations are available for downloading.

General Aviation Pilot Performance Following Unannounced In-Flight Loss of Vacuum System and Associated Instruments in Simulated Instrument Meteorological Conditions : Final Report

This provides access to a Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) report, DOT/FAA/AM-02/19, by K.M. Roy and D.B.Beringer, dated October 2002. Forty-one instrument-rated pilots were exposed to an unannounced failure of attitude and heading instrumentation during flight in single-engine general aviation aircraft.The full text of the report is available in PDF format and is provided by the FAA web site.

Head Tracking for 3D Audio Using a GPS-Aided MEMS IMU

This is the full text of a Master's thesis by Captain Jacque M. Joffrion, USAF, AFIT/GE/ENG/05-09, which was presented to the Faculty of the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering of Air University's Air Force Institute of Technology (AFIT), in March 2005. Audio systems have been developed which use stereo headphones to project sound in three dimensions. When using these 3D audio systems, audio cues sound like they are originating from a particular direction. There is a desire to apply 3D audio to general aviation applications, such as projecting control tower transmissions in the direction of the tower or providing an audio orientation cue for VFR pilots who find themselves in emergency zero-visibility conditions. 3D audio systems, however, require real-time knowledge of the pilot's head orientation in order to be effective. This research describes the development and testing of a low-cost head tracking system for 3D audio rendering applied in general aviation. The system uses a low-cost MEMS IMU combined with a low-cost, single frequency GPS receiver. Real-time data from both of these systems was sent to a laptop computer where a real-time Kalman filter was implemented in MATLAB to solve for position velocity, and attitude. The attitude information was then sent to a 3D audio system for sound direction rendering. The system was flight tested on board a Raytheon C-12C aircraft. The accuracy of the system was measured by comparing its output to truth data from a high-accuracy post-processed navigation-grade INS/DGPS solution. Results showed that roll and pitch error were accurate to within 1-2 degrees, but that heading error was dependent upon the flight trajectory. During straight-and-level flight, the heading error would drift up to 10-15 degrees because of heading unobservability. However, even with heading error, the ability of a pilot to determine the correct direction of a 3D audio cue was significantly improved when using the developed head tracking system over using the navigation-grade INS/GPS system fixed to the aircraft. [Taken from abstract]. The full text is available in PDF format on the Scientific and Technical Information Network (STINET) which is provided by the Defense Technical Information Center (DTIC).

Human Consequences of Agile Aircraft

This web site provides access to a NATO Research and Technology Organization document titled: Human Consequences of Agile Aircraft, RTO-EN-012, March 2000. The report presents a number of papers presented as part of a lecture series. It evaluates the human factors implications for pilots of superagile flight, with specific reference to agile airframes and rapidly configurable systems. The citation and abstract information is in HTML format, and the full text is available online in PDF format (8 Mbytes).

Human Factors Considerations for Passwords and Other User Identification Techniques Part 2: Field Study, Results and Analysis

This provides access to a Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) report DOT/FAA TC-06/9 by Kenneth Allendoerfer and Shantanu Pai dated January 2006. Within the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) Air Traffic Organization (ATO), Technical Operations (TO) personnel ensure that the systems that make up the National Airspace System (NAS) function safely and effectively. TO personnel manage and maintain more than 44,000 pieces of NAS equipment and systems at over 6,000 facilities and locations. They work at many types of facilities including the National Operations Control Center (NOCC), Operations Control Centers (OCCs), Air Route Traffic Control Centers (ARTCCs), Terminal Radar Approach Control (TRACON) facilities, Air Traffic Control Towers (ATCTs), and Automated Flight Service Stations (AFSSs). The FAA employs a variety of user-identification techniques including knowledge-based techniques, such as passwords, token-based techniques (such as badge readers) to ensure that facilities, equipment, and personnel are secure. In 2004, the Technical Operations Services organization became increasingly concerned about the number of usernames, passwords, and tokens that to personnel were being expected to use. The NAS Human Factors Group conducted a field study to examine the human factors implications of user-identification techniques currently employed at field sites to prevent unauthorized access to NAS equipment and information technology systems. In this report, we present findings from the field study and provide recommendations that are specific to the TO users, tasks, and environment. These recommendations seek to improve the human factors of user-identification technologies and policies to improve the productivity, workload, and job satisfaction of TO employees. [Taken from abstract]. The full text is available in PDF format from the online catalogue of the William J. Hughes Technical Center Library.

Human Factors Considerations in the Design and Evaluation of Electronic Flight Bags (EFB's)

This provides access to a Federal Avaition Administration (FAA) report DOT/FAA/AR-03-67 by Divya C. Chandra dated September 2003. Electronic flight bags (EFB's)are coming into the flight deck, bringing along with them a wide range of human factors considerations. In order to understand and assess the full impact of an EFB, designers and evaluators require an understanding of how the device will function and be used by crews, how the device will interact with other flight deck equipment, and how training and operating procedures will be affected. The purpose of this report is to identify and prioritise guidance on these topics so that designers and evaluators can make informed choices. Much of the guidance in this document is general and applies to any EFB system regardless of the applications that are supported. Application-specific guidance is also provided for electronic documents, electronic checklists, flight performance calaculations and electronic charts. In addition, information on the rapidly changing and growing markets of EFB products is provided in Appendix A and a summary of high priority guidance for equipment evaluations is included in Appendix B. This document superceded the earlier Version 1 report (DOT-VNTSC-FAA-00-22) which is referenced in the Federal Aviation Administration Advisory Circular on EFB's, AC 120-76A. [Taken from abstract]. The full text of the report is available in PDF format.

Human Factors Criteria for Displays : A Human Factors Design Standard Update of Chapter 5

This technical report (DOT/FAA/TC-07/11) was produced by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) in May 2007 and was written by Vicki Ahlstrom and Bonnie Kudrick. This document contains updates and expands the design criteria and information on displays from the Human Factors Design Standard. A research team of human factors experts evaluated the existing guidelines for relevancy, clarity, and usability. Theydrafted new guidelines as necessary based on relevant sources, and they reorganized the document to increase usability. This resulted in extensive changes to the original document including the addition of new guidelines, sources, and topic areas. [Taken from abstract]. This is a PDF file, so Adobe Acrobat software will be required in order to read it.

Human Factors Design Guide Update (Report Number DOT/FAA/CT-96/01): A Revision to Chapter 8-Computer Human Interface Guidelines : Final Report and Guide

This provides access to a Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) report, DOT/FAA/CT-01/08, by Vicki Ahlstrom and Kelly Longo, dated April 2001. This document contains an updated and expanded version of the Human-Computer Interface chapter of the Human Factors Design Guide. This report was previously released in December 2000 as technical note number DOT/FAA/CT-TN00/30. The full text of the report is available in PDF format, from the online catalogue of the FAA William J. Hughes Technical Center Library

Human Factors Design Standard

Published in June 2003 by the Federal Aviation Administation's National Airspace System (NAS) Human Factors Group, the HFDS is an exhaustive compilation of human factors practices and principles integral to the procurement, design, development, and testing of FAA systems, facilities, and equipment. The purpose of the HFDS is to provide a single easy-to-use source of human factors design criteria, oriented to the needs of the FAA mission and systems. An additional goal is to facilitate use of appropriate design criteria by organizing the document so that users can easily locate the needed information. The HFDS replaces and expands upon the Human Factors Design Guide (HFDG) published in 1996 and all HFDG chapter updates. It broadens the focus to include both air traffic and airway facilities systems and has been modified into a set of standards instead of a set of guidelines, providing a common source of FAA-specific design requirements. The text is available as a free mutli-platform download. The download contains the complete HFDS in Adobe Acrobat format, including all figures, tables, indexes, and glossaries. Users are requested to fill in an online survey form prior to downloading. The standard is also available as a CD ROM.

Human Factors Guidance for the Use of Handheld, Portable and Wearable Computing Devices

This technical report (DOT/FAA/CT-05/15) was published by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) in November 2005 and was written by Carolina Zingale, Vicki Ahlstrom and Bonnie Kudrick. This report provides human factors guidance for the selection and use of handheld, portable, and wearable computing devices, including personal digital assistants (PDAs), tablet computers, and, to a more limited extent, head-mounted display systems. These devices are becoming more common in the workplace. The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) wanted to know if these devices would be beneficial to maintenance specialists. Human factors researchers from the William J. Hughes Technical Center were asked to identify the advantages and disadvantages of these devices. These systems require different usage guidelines than standard desktop computing systems because of their size, portability, human-computer interface (HCI) designs, and intended work environments. In this report, we discuss differences between different maintenance tasks and how these differences may affect the selection of an appropriate device. We summarize the advantages and disadvantages of common handheld, portable, and wearable systems, specifically focusing on areas such as device size, screen size and resolution, input method, one- or two-handed operation, and headsdowntime. [Taken from abstract]. This is a PDF file, so Adobe Acrobat software will be required in order to read it.

Human Factors in the 21st Century

This web site provides access to a Research and Technology Organization Meeting Proceedings, RTO-MP-077, Paris, May 2002. The document contains papers presented at the RTO Human Factors and Medicine Panel (HFM) Specialists Meeting, held in Paris, France, 11-13 June 2001. The meeting was particularly concerned with Human Factors problems which have appeared since what is known as the Revolution in Military Affairs (RMA) dating from the end of the Cold War. The meeting was held in parallel with a workshop on decision making in the 21 century from 13 to 15 June 2001, organised jointly by the DGA (The General Armaments Delegation of the French Ministry of Defence), the ONRIFO (Office of Naval Research Field Office) and the company THALES. Bibliographic and abstract details are available in HTML format. A table of contents, and the full text (2.94 Mbytes) of the document can be accessed online in PDF format. The document is contained in the RTO's Full Text Publication Library.

Human Factors

This is a European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) Notice of Proposed Amendment (NPA) No 15/2004 consultation document. The purpose of this NPA is to propose amendments to the annex to Decision No. 2003/2/RM on the certification specifications, including airworthiness codes and acceptable means of compliance, for large aeroplanes (CS-25) relating to human factors. It provides recommendations for the design and evaluation of controls, displays, system behaviour, and system integration as well as design guidance for error management. It is not intended to provide a full roadmap for consideration of equipment design used by the flight crew related to human performance. The deadline for comments on the EASA NPA is 22 February 2005. The text of the document is available in PDF format from the EASA web site.

Human Systems Information Analysis Center (HSIAC)

This is the Web site of the Human Systems Information Analysis Center (HSIAC), previously called the Crew System Ergonomics Information Analysis Center (CSERIAC). The Centre is a US Government venture located at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base and is concerned with crew system ergonomics and human systems technology. The site provides background information about its mission, services and products. Full text access to 'Gateway Newsletter' is available free of charge. This is a quarterly publication which deals with issues in the area of human factors and ergonomics. The site also contains links to related Web pages.

Human-in-the-Loop Simulation Evaluating the Collocation of the User Request Evaluation Tool, Traffic Management Advisor, and Controller-Pilot Data Link Communications : Experiment 1 - Toll Combinations

This provides access to a Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) report DOT/FAA/CT-TN04/28 by Randy Sollengerger ...[et al] dated February 2005.The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) Free Flight Program successfully deployed the User Request Evaluation Tool (URET), Traffic Management Advisor (TMA), and Controller-Pilot Data Link Communications (CPDLC) to a limited number of Air Route Traffic Control Centers (ARTCCs). As deployment expands nationwide, several facilities may eventually receive all three tools. Before this occurs, it is important to identify any potential human factors issues that may arise due to the collocation of these tools at the controller’s workstation. In this report, we present the first of three high fidelity human-in-the-loop simulation experiments we conducted to evaluate the impact of URET, TMA, and CPDLC collocation on controller workload, situational awareness, and teamwork. We examined collocation issues with a “stovepipe” independent configuration where none of the tools were integrated or directly communicated with each other. In this first experiment, twelve Air Traffic Control Specialists (ATCSs) participated as Rside/ D-side controller teams operating a high altitude generic sector using all combinations of the three tools. The most important collocation issue identified was that controllers had difficulty accessing important information on the D-side display when URET and CPDLC were both operational (i.e., display clutter). Although neither tool alone caused display clutter, both tools in combination made it difficult for D-side controllers to find the information they needed quickly. This was especially true for accessing CPDLC windows, which became covered when controllers used URET. Another collocation issue was that D-side controllers had to access TMA delay time information from the R-side display. Controllers thought it was important to have TMA information available on the D-side display where it could be easily accessed by D-side controllers. However, controllers were concerned that simply showing the TMA List on the D-side might add to the D-side display clutter. Good human factors design principles prescribe that users must have immediate access to important information and that critical information should never be covered. A “stovepipe” independent deployment of these tools will result in impaired access to timely information. The results of this study indicated that better efforts should be made towards integrating the information from URET, TMA, and CPDLC on the D-side monitor prior to deployment. [Taken from abstract]. The full tect of the report is available in PDF format from the online catalogue of the William J. Hughes Technical Center Library.

Identifying and Mitigating the Risks of Cockpit Automation

The site provides access to an Air University Air Command and Staff College Research Report, by Major Wesley A. Olson, USAF, AU/ACSC/138/2000-04, dated April 2000. This paper provides a brief summary of the direct costs associated with automation. It is intended to provide a framework for designers, managers, and pilots in implementing measures to mitigate these costs. The focus is on automation issues arising from studies of transport aircraft. The text of the paper can be accessed in PDF format, and is one of the Student Research Studies available from Air University's Research Web.

In-Flight Advisor, Phase 1 : Final Report

This provides access to a Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) report, DOT/FAA/AR-99/67, by Ellen Bass and others, dated December 1999. The report examines the feasibility of using artificial intelligence (AI) to alert the crew of potential emergency situations before they actually occur. The full text of the report is available in PDF format, from the online catalogue of the FAA William J. Hughes Technical Center Library.

Industrial Priorities for Human Factors Research in UK Defence and Aerospace : 2nd Report of the Human Factors National Advisory Committee

The Human Factors National Advisory Committee (HF NAC) is one of a number of NACs established by the Foresight Defence, Aerospace and Systems Panel to focus on key technologies critical to UK wealth creation in the field of aerospace and defence. The NACs seek to identify research priorities for industry, areas of common interest between UK research programmes, areas of overlap in programmes, and gaps in activity and funding. This second report by the HF NAC concentrates on presenting priorities for national research in human factors, and attempts to look into the future to try to identify trends likely to shape the future marketplace. The text of the main body of the report (171,571 bytes), as well as the annexes (97,308 are available in PDF format.

Information Requirement for Traffic Awareness in A Free-Flight Environment : An Application of the FAIT Analysis : Final Report

This provides access to a Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) report, DOT/FAA/AM-03/5, by John Uhlarik and Doreen A. Comerford, dated March 2003.The goals of this study were (1) to identify the information necessary for the pilot of the air carrier to maintain " traffic awareness" and (2) to apply and evaluate the utitlity of a cognitive task analysis called the Function Allocation Issues and Tradeoffs (FAIT) Analysis. The full text of the report is available in PDF format, from the Civil Aerospace Medical Institute (CAMI) Library's online collection of Aerospace Medicine Technical Reports.

Integrated Tower Working Position : Functional Requirements

This technical report 2009 010 was published by the Eurocontrol Experimental Centre in March 2009 and written by S. Dubuisson and R. Lane. This document is the deliverable D1 of the ITWP Requirements and Validation project. The objective ofthis document is to develop commonly agreed functional specifications and associated HMI requirements that cover the operational and human factors aspects to be supported by ITWP. The document covers both the basic and advanced (e.g. safety support tools, routing, data link, vehicle management) functionalities identified during the development of ITWP. [Taken from abstract]. The full text is available in PDF format so Adobe Acrobat softwareis required in order to read it.

Integrated Tower Working Position : HMI Solution Specifications

This technical report No.2009 011 was published by the Eruocontrol Experimental Centre in March 2009 written by S. Dubuisson and R. Lane. This document is the deliverable D2 of the WP2 of ITWP project in 2008. It is the update of the deliverable HMI solution design V2 (see [Ref. 1] ). The objectives of this document is to describe the EUROCONTROL ITWP solution (release: TWR based on the eDEP, 28th Nov. 2008). It must be emphasized that the EUROCONTROL design supports a specific solution (i.e. other solutions are possible). Particular attention has been put to facilitate the update and traceability of modifications throughout the ITWP development lifecycle and ease the integration of new functionality that will be developed in 2008 and covered in future releases ITWP documentation. [Taken from abstract]. The full text is available in PDF format so Adobe Acrobat software is required in order to read it.

Introduction to Human-in-the-loop Experiments and Statistical Analysis

This technical report (2006-07) was published by the Eurocontrol Experimental Centre in June 2006 and was written by Monica Tavanti. This document constitutes an input to a larger project that aims to propose and evaluate Augmented Reality (AR) tools for towers. One of the objectives of the project is to empirically evaluate the acceptability and usability of the AR technologies, with controlled experiments. Thus, this document intends to provide a general introduction on hypothesis testing, based on lessons learned during earlier experiments, on how to plan, design and carry out simple experiments. This document was essentially written for students and for readers with very little knowledge of the topic. The content is simple and basic. All technical notions are fully explained and priority is given to practical suggestions rather than to theoretical explanations. [Taken from abstract]. The full text is available in PDF format, so Adobe Acrobat software will be required in order to read it.

Intute : Social Sciences

This service provides links to high quality Internet information for researchers and practitioners in the social sciences, business and law. The resource consists of a searchable and browseable resource database which includes psychology as a subject heading. It also offers 'Grapevine', a service for the social science community and 'My account', a feature which allows you to customise SOSIG to match your interests.

Issues Concerning the Structural Coverage of Object-Oriented Software : Final Report

This provides access to a Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) report, DOT/FAA/AR-02/113, by John Joseph Chilenski, Thomas C. Timberlake, and John M. Masalskis, dated November 2002. There is a desire and an emerging trend by suppliers of commercial airborne safety-critical systems towards the use of object-oriented technology (OOT). This reports brings issues concerning the structural coverage of software and systems built using OOT. The full text of the report is available in PDF format, from the online catalogue of the FAA William J. Hughes Technical Center Library.

Machine Intelligence in Air Traffic Management

This is Research and Technology Organization (RTO) AGARD-CP-538, dated October 1993.This volume contains the Technical Evaluation Report and the 30 papers, presented at the Guidance and Control Panel Symposium held in Berlin, Germany from 11th to 14th May 1993. The papers were presented covering the following headings: Air Traffic Processes; Novel Approaches; Transition to Operation; Human/Machine Relationship; Air/Ground Integration; PHARE; and Ground Movements Control. For individual titles, see N94-29559 through N94-29587. Bibliographic and abstract details are available in HTML format. A table of contents, and the full text (84.46MB) of the document can be accessed online in PDF format. The document is contained in the RTO's Full Text Publication Library.

Managing Situation Awareness on the Flight Deck, or The Next Best Thing to a Crystal Ball

This is the full text of a paper written by Sheryl L. Chappell of the NASA Aviation Safety Reporting System. It is available on the Industry CRM Developers Group Web site. The group exists to facilitate development of crew resource management and human factors resources and products.

Massive Military Data Fusion and Visualisation : Users Talk with Developers

This report (RTO-MP-105) was published in 2004 and is the result of an interactive workshop held at the Norwegian Defence Logistics and Management College, Halden, Norway on 10-13 September 2002. It was organised into thematic discussion periods both in plenary sessions and in focus groups (“syndicates”). Each plenary discussion period was preceded by a small number of formal presentations on the particular theme, intended to provoke thoughts from the participants that were further developed in the working discussions. The publication is divided in 8 sessions. Sessions 1 to 7 end with Questions and Answers. Session 8 presents the conclusions of the focus groups in 5 separate “syndicates”. [Taken from abstract]. The report is available in PDF format.

Measures of Information Complexity and the Implications for Automation Design

This technical report (DOT/FAA/AM-04/17) was produced by the Federal Aviation Administration's (FAA) Office of Aerospace Medicine in October 2004 and was written by Jing Xing. Information complexity associated with automation aids is a bottleneck that limits their use. While automation systems are designed to bring new functions to users and increase their capacities, automation also creates new tasks associated with acquiring and integrating information from displays. For example, a complex display increases information load to human operators and reduces usability. Thus, the efficiency of an automation system largely depends on the complexity of displayed information. [Taken from abstract]. This is a PDF file, so Adobe Acrobat software will be required in order to read it.

Menus and Mnemonics in Airway Facilities

This provides access to a Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) report, DOT/FAA/CT-TN03/12, by Vicki Ahlstrom, and Robert Muldoon, dated April 2003. This study examines the use of menus and mnemonics in current Airway Facilities (AF) systems and compares them to human factors guidelines and best practices. The full text of the report is available in PDF format, from the online catalogue of the FAA William J. Hughes Technical Center Library.

Methods for Examining Possible Effects of En Route Automation Modernization (ERAM) on Controller Performance

This technical report (DOT/FAA/TC-TN06/14) was published by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) in June 2006 and was written by Kenneth Allendoerfer, Ben Willems, Carolina Zingale and Shantanu Pai. The Federal Aviation Administration is developing the En Route Automation Modernization (ERAM) system to replace the legacy en route air traffic control automation system consisting of the Host Computer System, the Display System Replacement (DSR), and the User Request Evaluation Tool (URET). This technical note provides an analysis of major areas where new ERAM features may affect how controllers do their jobs. We describe test methodologies for examining these effects and corresponding metrics. Our analysis examines the following categories of ERAM changes: (a) backup and redundancy capabilities; (b) Areas of Interest (AOIs) that increase flight data capabilities in ERAM; (c) differences between the legacy system and ERAM user interfaces (UIs); (d) the ERAM tracker; and (e) safety alerts. We also discuss two recommended test activities: a usage characteristics assessment and human-in-theloop baseline simulations. [Taken from abstract]. This is a PDF file, so Adobe Acrobat software will be required in order to read it.

Minimum Color Vision Requirements for Professional Flight Crew, Part III : Recommendations for New Color Vision Standards

This provides access to a Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) Office for Aerospace Medicine Report DOT/FAA/AM-09/11 written by John Barbur, Sally Evans and Nelda Milburn dated June 2009. This report describes the findings of the third phase of the project sponsored by the United Kingdom Civil Aviation Authority on “Minimum Color Vision Requirements for Professional Flight Crew.” This third part of the project, “Recommendations for New Color Vision Standards,” involved collaboration and co-sponsorship by the Federal Aviation Administration. Minimum color vision requirements for professional flight crew have been established by assessing the level of color vision loss above which subjects with color deficiency no longer perform the most safety-critical, color-related tasks within the aviation environment with the same accuracy as normal trichromats. The new CAD (Color Assessment & Diagnosis) test provides accurate assessment of the applicant’s color vision. The results of the test establish with high specificity whether the subject’s red-green and yellow-blue color vision performance falls within the normal range and the class and severity of color vision loss in subjects with color deficiency. The results of the test also indicate whether the applicant’s color vision meets the minimum requirements for safe performance that have emerged as necessary from this investigation. If the new, experiment-based, pass/fail color limits were adopted as minimum requirements for professional flight crew, 36% of deutan subjects and 30% of protan subjects would be classified as safe to fly. Given the higher prevalence of deutan deficiencies, these findings suggest that 35% of color deficient applicants would be classified as safe to fly. [Taken from abstract]. The fuul text is available in PDF format so Adobe Acrobat software is required in order to read it.

Modelling Crew Assistants with Multi-Agent Systems in Fighter Aircraft

This technical report (NLR-TP-2002-347) was published by NLR (the National Aerospace Laboratory of the Netherlands) in 2002 and was written by A. M. Vollebregt, D. P. Hannessen, H. H. Hesselink and J. W. Beetstra. As advanced crew support technologies will more and more be available in future military aircraft, it is necessary to have a good understanding of the possibilities in this area, taking into account operational demands and technical possibilities. A Crew Assistant (CA) is a decision support system for air crew, designed to improve mission effectiveness and redistribute crew workload in such a way that the crew can concentrate on its prime tasks. Designing a complex system with multiple crew assistants can be tackled by using a multi-agent system design. In this paper we propose a multi-agent system architecture for crew assistants. [Taken from abstract]. The full text is available as a PDF file.

Modelling Human Reliability in Air Traffic Management

This technical report (NLR-TP-2001-629) was published by NLR (the National Aerospace Laboratory of the Netherlands) in 2001 and was written by J. Daams, H. A. P. Blom and H. B. Nijhuis. This paper outlines how the human information processing model of Wickens is combined with Hollnagel's cognitive control mode model and human error models for application within the context of conventional Air Traffic Management (ATM). The aim of this model-based approach is to enable the evaluation of both accident risk and aspects like cognitive workload and reliability of the human controller in managing air traffic situations safely. The combined model has been integrated with models for pilot, aircraft and other ATM elements and a comparison with available statistical data is made through running Monte Carlo simulations with the integrated model. [Taken from abstract]. The full text is available as a PDF file.

Multi-Method Approach to Understand Pilot Performance in a Sociotechnical Aviation System

This is a Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering PhD dissertation, by Jason J. Saleem, dated June 17, 2003. This research examined human-machine performance in a General Aviation (GA) environment under dynamic conditions using a combination of field study and laboratory experimentation. Using this combination of methods, the functional system of pilots performing a landing approach (both instrument and visual) with a Cessna 172 was described and analysed. Also of interest was how pilot performance was affected by the introduction of nighttime and deteriorating weather conditions to this GA environment. The study also provides an enhanced understanding of the the GA pilot/cockpit system and a systems-oriented cognitive model of this aviation environment as described by the ME/DC method for both VFR and IFR pilots. Further, procedural comparisons were performed between the flight simulator and the actual Cessna 172 used in the field study to provide an increased understanding of how to improve the validity associated with using simulators in research. Findings from both the laboratory and field studies in this research support new designs and technologies envisioned for future aviation systems that would assist the pilot during a landing approach such as weather information systems, head-up displays, synthetic vision, three-dimensional auditory displays, increased automation, and communications filters. Potential future applications of this research are also explored. Bibliographic and abstract details are available in HTML format. The full text of the document is accessible online in PDF format [1.62 Mb]. This title is part of Virginia Tech’s Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Collection (VT ETD).

Multimodal Interfaces : Brief Literature Review

This technical note (EEC-2007-008) was published by the Eurocontrol Experimental Centre in January 2007 and written by Monica Tavanti. Multimodal interfaces have for quite some time been considered the "interfaces of the future", aiming to allow more natural interaction and offering new opportunities for parallelism and individual capacity increases. This document provides the reader with an overview of multimodal interfaces and of the results of empirical studies assessing users' performance with multimodal systems. The study tackles applications from various domains, including air traffic control. The document also discusses a number of limitations of current multimodal interfaces, particularly for the ATC domain, for which a deeper analysis of the costs and benefits associated with multimodal interfaces should be carried out. [Taken from abstract]. This is in PDF format so Adobe Acrobat software is required in order to read it.

NAS Infrastructure Management System Build 1.5 Computer-Human Interface : Final Report

This provides access to a Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) report, DOT/FAA/CT-TN01/01, by Vicki Ahlstrom, Anton Koros and Richard Newman, dated January 2001. Human factors engineers conducted an evaluation of the NAS Infrastructure Management System (NIMS) Build 1.5 computer-human interface (CHI) software. The full text of the report is available in PDF format, from the online catalogue of the FAA William J. Hughes Technical Center Library.

NASA Aviation Human Factors: Recent Reports

This site makes available a series of online full-text papers produced by NASA staff from the Aviation Operations Branch. The papers are grouped according to research branch: human automation integration, human information processing, and systems safety. The site also contains information about the mission of the division, its history and organisation and current projects.

NASA Human Factors Research and Technology

The Human Factors Research and Technology Division advances human-centred design and operations of complex aerospace systems through analysis, experimentation and modelling of human performance and human-automation interaction to make dramatic improvements in safety, efficiency and mission success. There are brief descriptions of the history and structure of the IH Division. There are links to information pages provided by the three branches: Human Information Processing Research (IHH); Human Automation Integration (IHI); Systems Safety Research (IHS) amongst others. Descriptions are provided of current projects. The recent reports section provides summaries of recent work conducted by each of the branches. These are in HTML format.

NATO Guidelines on Human Engineering Testing and Evaluation

This web site provides access to a Research and Technology Organization (RTO) Technical Report, RTO-TR-021, dated May 2001. The report was sponsored by the the RTO Human Factors and Medicine Panel (HFM) Research and Study Group 24. This report explains that Testing and Evaluation (T&E) is an integral part of the system development process. Human Engineering T&E addresses the quality and effectiveness of the interface between the humans who participate as part of a human-machine system and the hardware and other non-human components. In the interest of supporting among NATO nations the co-development, co-production of systems, and shared use of T&E resources as a means of sharing more effective and less expensive systems, this document describes techniques and methods that are recommended for common use in NATO. The measurement categories addressed are: 1. Description of test participants 2. Measurement of operator workload 3. Human task performance measurement 4. User opinion 5. Engineering measurement of hardware characteristics. It is recommended that the techniques and methods described be used to the maximum extent possible, and that the list be revised periodically to support currency and continued usefulness. Bibliographic and abstract details are available in HTML format. A table of contents, and the full text of the document (0.6 Mbytes) can be accessed online in PDF format. The document is contained in the RTO's Full Text Publication Library.

Naval Aerospace Medical Research Laboratory

The Naval Aerospace Medical Research Laboratory (NAMRL) undertakes research and development in aviation medicine and allied sciences. Research areas include spatial orientation, human performance, aeromedical standards, and aviation medicine. Abstracts of current research projects are available and links to individual research group web sites where appropriate.

Neil Krey's CRM Developers Forum

This site provides a means to identify needs, coordinate processes, and facilitate development of crew resource management and human factors resources and products. The site provides a careers service where job seekers can post their details and organisations post details of vacancies, a mailing list called crm-devel, extensive links to relevant Web sites and full text publications, and the full text of 'CRM Advocate', a newsletter which was published between 1993 and 1996.

New Electronic Flight Data Interface Designs for Airport Traffic Control Towers: Initial Usability Test

This technical report (DOT/FAA/TC-07/16) was published by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) in November 2007 and was written by Todd R. Truitt and Robert Muldoon. The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) is examining electronic alternatives to the paper flight progress strips that air trafficcontrollers currently use in Airport Traffic Control Towers (ATCTs). FAA researchers have recently developed new concepts andhuman-computer interface designs for the management of electronic flight data in ATCTs. The authors of this report use a part-tasksimulation to assess the usability of the new Electronic Flight Data Interface (EFDI) concepts. The authors present objective andsubjective data to evaluate (a) the participants’ ability to learn how to use each EFDI, (b) the participants’ ability to use the EFDIs asdesigned with the touch sensitive display, and (c) whether the participants’ performance changes over a short period of time. [Taken from abstract]. This is a PDF file, so Adobe Acrobat software will be required in order to read it.

On the Relativity Utility of 3D Interfaces

This Ph.D. thesis (No.EEC-2004-058) was published by the Eurocontrol Experimental Centre in 2004 and written by Monica Tavanti. Three-dimensional (3D) interfaces are made with the amibition to reinvent traditional two-dimensional (2D) displays to intuitive 3D environments that allow natural interactions and guarantee users' satisfaction. However reality is far from expectations and 3D interfaces remain experimental. The results of empirical studies comparing 2D and 3D interfaces are coherent and do not indisputably endorse the development of 3D applications. The reson behind this coherency is that empirical comparisons often discard several factors that go beyond the specific style of the interface itself though they play a major role in human performance. Specifically: perceptual factors, factors related to semantgics, contextual factors. [Taken from abstract]. This is available in PDF format so Adobe Acrobat software is requi8red in order to read it.

On-Board Decision Support through the Integration of Advanced Information Processing and Human Factors Techniques. The Power Project

This technical report (NLR-TP-2001-611) was published by NLR (the National Aerospace Laboratory of the Netherlands) in 2001 and was written by H. Hesselink, G. D. R. Zon, F. Tempelman, J. W. Beetstra, A. M. Vollebregt and D. P. Hannessen. As advanced crew support technologies will be available more and more in future military aircraft, it is necessary to have a good understanding of the possibilities in this area, taking into account operational demands, technical possibilities, human factors, evaluation, and validation aspects. A Crew Assistant (CA) is a decision support system for air crew, designed to improve mission effectiveness and redistribute crew workload in such a way that the crew can concentrate on its prime tasks. The POWER (Pilot Oriented Workload Evaluation and Redistribution) project is a Netherlands National Technology Project. The project is aimed at demonstrating a generic CA environment and individual tactical decision support tools to military pilots in a simulated environment, the NSF (National Simulation Facility), a six-degrees of freedom cockpit in a visual dome. The project is a technology demonstration project to show new CA features. An advanced software architecture has been set up, based on multi-agent technology, where software "agents" co-operate in sharing information and using resources on an as-needed basis. Each agent is an autonomous piece of software that is able to anticipate courses of action and performs its function pro-actively. Several prototypes of crew assistant agents have been developed and integrated in order to facilitate a CA demonstrator and a large-scale experiment with operational pilots from the Royal Netherlands Air Force (RNLAF) has been carried out to demonstrate the effects of CA technology as decision support, to validate tools, and to measure the effects of on-board decision support in enhancing pilot situational awareness. The prototypes and experiments have proven the benefits of demonstrating the technology to pilots; after initial scepticism, they felt confident with using the tools after a while without being afraid to loose their skills for manual actions. The experiments also proved the benefits of Crew Assistant tools with respect to mission effectiveness and tactical task accomplishment in highly complicated situations. From a technical perspective, the possibility for real-time and any-time on-board reasoning was proven. This paper describes the demonstration CA environment and provides insight into the different CA components. Part one describes the environment as a generic CA architecture that can be installed on a simple work station as well as in a full-scale simulation environment. The second part of this paper describes the aforementioned experiment, where the NLR Counter Measure Manager (NCMM) and the contents of the experiment will be detailed. [Taken from abstract]. The full text is available as a PDF file.

Operational Colour Vision in the Modern Aviation Environment

The site provides access to a Research and Technology Organization (RTO) Technical Report RTO-TR-016, prepared by the Human Factors and Medicine Panel (HFM) of RTO, dated March 2001. The reports in part sets out to review the latest data on colour perception, and examines the equipment and procedures available for testing professional colour sense. Bibliographic and abstract details are available in HTML format. A table of contents, and the full text of the document (23.3 Mbytes) can be accessed online in PDF format. The document is contained in the RTO's Full Text Publication Library.

Operational Medical Issues in Hypo- and Hyperbaric Conditions

This web site provides access to a Research and Technology Organization Meeting Proceedings, RTO-MP-062, Paris, June 2001. The documents contains papers presented at the RTO Human Factors and Medicine Panel Symposium, held in Toronto, Canada, 16-19 October 2000. Themes addressed by the Symposium were decompression illness, breathing gas composition, hypoxia, hyperbaric oxygen treatment of combat injuries, selection, training and adaptation of personnel for special operations, Eustachian tube function, barotrauma, alternobaric vertigo, positive pressure breathing and long term health damage in divers. Relevant technical issues were also discussed. Bibliographic and abstract details are available in HTML format. A table of contents, and the full text (13.3 Mbytes) of the document can be accessed online in PDF format. The document is contained in the RTO's Full Text Publication Library.

Prototyping Interactive Cockpit Applications

This technical report (NLR-TP-2005-066) was published by the National Aerospace Laboratory of the Netherlands (NLR) in 2005 and was written by R. P. M. Verhoeven and A. J. C. de Reus. In the early phases of a cockpit application development process prototypes are built for initial evaluation and demonstration purposes. It is in this phase that innovative ideas are made more concrete, and a base for the specification is created. The prototypes are improved by performing several design-review cycles. The iterative nature of prototyping demands a flexible and customizable design and evaluation environment. Using the experience obtained in a variety of research projects during the last decade, NLR has developed a prototyping environment that facilitates the rapid development and evaluation of avionics display formats. It supports a component based design strategy, enabling efficient re-use of previous work and facilitating parallel activities of several project team members. The resulting display formats can be rapidly deployed to the appropriate evaluation platform, ranging from desktop test environments, via cockpit mock-ups, up to high-fidelity flight simulator and even flight test aircraft. The tools have been successfully applied in several cockpit application development projects. They have allowed to drastically reduce the effort and duration involved with implementing the prototypes, so that customer research issues can be addressed earlier and in a more cost-efficient way. Furthermore, the tools enable evaluated prototypes to be used as a base for further development towards a certified cockpit application running on an avionics target system. [Taken from abstract]. This is a PDF file, so Adobe Acrobat software will be required in order to read it.

PsycINFO

This is the home page of PsycINFO, a database of abstracts to psychological literature from 1887 to the present day. The subscription service includes journal articles, books, book chapters, technical reports, and dissertations. It is produced by the American Psychological Association (APA). The site provides background information to the database including the journal coverage lists and classification codes and categories and online search guides.

QinetiQ

Established in July 2001, QinetiQ comprises the greater part of what was the Defence and Evaluation Research Agency (DERA). QinetiQ has a wide range of science and technology interests including aerospace, defence, electronics, finance, healthcare, offshore, marine and offshore, telecommunications and media, security, space and transport. The web site describes the technogy areas in which QinetiQ have particular expertise as well as the industry and service sectors in which the company specialises. There is a selection of case studies which can be browsed by industry sector or searched by keyword. There is an 'About' section which contains financial information, details of where the business elements are located and an overview of the historical development of the company. The site also includes press releases, feature articles, careers information and a short introductory video (Running Time: 02:30) about the organisation.

Reexamination of Color Vision Standards, Part II. A Computational Method to Assess the Effect of Color Deficiencies in Using ATC Displays

This technical report (DOT/FAA/AM-6/6) was produced by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) Office of Aerospace Medicine in March 2006 and was written by J. Xing and D. J. Schroeder. The previous study showed that many colors were used in air traffic control displays. We also found that colors were used mainly for three purposes: capturing controllers' immediate attention, identifying targets, and segmenting information. [Taken from abstract]. This is a PDF file, so Adobe Acrobat software will be required in order to read it.

Reexamination of Color Vision Standards, Part III: Analysis of the Effects of Color Vision Deficiencies in Using ATC Displays

This technical report (DOT/FAA/AM-06/11) was published by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) Office of Aviation Medicine in May 2006 and was written by J. Xing. The purpose of this report is to assess the effect of color use in air traffic control (ATC) displays for users who have color vision deficiencies, denoted as color deficient (CD). At present, color is extensively used in many ATC displays, while the color vision standard used by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) allows certain types of CDs to enter the ATC workforce. [Taken from abstract]. This is a PDF file, so Adobe Acrobat software will be required in order to read it.

Relationship of the Aircraft Mix Index With Performance and Objective Workload Evaluation Research (POWER) Measures and Controllers’ Subjective Complexity Ratings

This technical report (DOT/FAA/AM-05/16) was produced by the Federal Aviation Administration's (FAA) Office of Aerospace Medicine in August 2005 and was written by E. M. Pfleiderer. Aircraft mix (i.e., the mix of aircraft with different performance characteristics in a sector) has been repeatedly cited as a complexity factor in en route air traffic control. However, scant attention has been directed to a statistical examination of this relationship. The present study is the third in a series of investigations designed to define, quantify, and assess the validity of aircraft mix as a contributor to traffic complexity. Eighteen 30-minute samples of System Analysis Recording data were collected from the Fort Worth and Atlanta en route centers. Performance and Objective Workload Evaluation Research (POWER) measures and the Aircraft Mix Index (Pfleiderer, 2003a) were computed in 6-minute intervals for each of the 36 samples. [Taken from abstract]. This is a PDF file, so Adobe Acrobat software will be required in order to read it.

Selected Current Aerospace Notices

Provided by NASA, this service is an electronic current awareness journal which is published twice a month. The aim of the service is to alert users to recently published report and journal literature about aeronautics and aerospace research. It is divided into broad topic areas (aeronautics, astronautics, chemistry and materials, engineering, geosciences, life sciences, mathematical and computer sciences, physics, social sciences and space sciences) which are further subdivided into 191 specific subject topics to aid browsing and identification of relevant publications. The service is also searchable.

Sensor Data Fusion and Integration of the Human Element

This site provides access to a Research and Technology Organisation (NATO) Meeting Proceedings, RTO-MP-012.This volume contains the Technical Evaluation Report, the Opening Address, the Keynote Address and the 20 unclassified papers, presented at the Systems Concepts and Integration (SCI) Panel Symposium held in Ottawa, Canada from 14th to 17th September 1998. The papers presented covered the following headings: •Characteristics of Operational Requirements •System Design Techniques and Technologies •Integration of Human Operators with Complex Systems •System Applications •Lessons Learned and Future Trends. A table of contents, and the full text of the document (29 Mbytes) can be accessed online in PDF format. The document is contained in the RTO's Full Text Publication Library.

Simulation AGARD conference proceedings

This is Research and Technology Organization (RTO) AGARD-CP-79, dated January 1971. A review is given on the state of the art of simulation. After short discussion definitions of the term "simulator", the analytical treatment of the simulation problem is explained along general guidelines. Use is made in this connection of the modern (linearised) control theory approach. Some typical examples of fixed-based, moving-based and in-flight simulators are given. Additionally, the tasks which can be tackled by simulators are also discussed in one of the chapters. Considerable efforts is spent for ground simulators with respect to the simulation of the environmental factors, so called cues. The motion, visual and psychological cues, methods of their simulation and their influence on the quality of the simulation is also analysed. Evaluating simulation results can only partly be done by quantitative measurements. The pilot opinion rating is considered of high importance and discussed on one of the chapters. Finally, this report deals with differences between simulation on the ground and in the air, as well as with a danger to thoughtlessly use simulation as a data production facility. Bibliographic and abstract details are available in HTML format. A table of contents and the full text (29.1MB) of the document can be accessed online in PDF format. The document is contained in the RTO's Full Text Publication Library.

Situation Awareness

This site provides access to a number of full text papers that deal with aspects of situation awareness. The papers are divided into following heads: Line Oriented Flight Training (LOFT); Case Studies; Assessment; Situation Awareness; Judgement and Decision Making; Error Management; Workload; Leadership/Follwership; Military; CRM/HF Research; Instructor/Facilitator Qualification; Single Pilot CRM; General CRM Information; Maintenance Human Factors; Flight Deck Automation; and Personal Homepages. The papers are available in a combination of HTML, PDF and MS Word formats. The pages are part of the The Industry CRM Developers Group web site.

Societal Impact of Spaceflight

This is a NASA (SP-2007-4801) volume with title Societal Impact of Spaceflight by Steven J. Dick and Roger D. Launius dated 2007. This volume is consisted of two parts and the aim is to examine the effects of spaceflight on society through scholarly research, making use especially of the tools of the historian and the broader social sciences and humanities. The documents are dealing with the following questions: Has the Space Age indeed had a significant effect on society? If so, what are those influences? What do we mean by an “impact” on society? And what parts of society? Conversely, has society had any effect on spaceflight? What would be different had there been no Space Age? The full text of part 1(900KB) and part 2 (4.16MB) documents can be accessed online in PDF format.

Strategies to Maintain Combat Readiness during Extended Deployments : A Human Systems Approach

This site provides access to NATO Research and Technology Organisation (RTO) Meeting Proceedings, RTO-MP-HFM-124. The papers are from the RTO Human Factors and Medicine (HFM) Symposium, dated November 2005. The full text of the individual papers can be accessed online in PDF format. The document is contained in the RTO's Full Text Publication Library

Study of an ATC Baseline for the Evaluation of Team Configurations : Information Requirements

This provides access to a Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) report, DOT/FAA/CT-TN02/17, by Ben Willems, and Michele Heiney, dated November 2002. This study investigated the information needs of Air Traffic Control Specialists (ATCSs) relative to their working position. The full text of the report is available in PDF format, from the online catalogue of the FAA William J. Hughes Technical Center Library.

Tactical Decision Aids and Situational Awareness

This is a NATO Research and Technology Organization (RTO) report RTO-EN-019, January 2002. This contains papers presented at a Lecture Series (LS 227), under the sponsorship of the Systems Concepts and Integration Panel (SCI) and the Consultant and Exchange Programme of RTA presented on 1-2 November 2001 in Amsterdam, The Netherlands, 8-9 November 2001, Sofia, Bulgaria, 12-13 November 2001 in Madrid, Spain and 19-20 November 2001, Maryland, United States. Special emphasis is given to the following topics, Interaction of human perception and judgement with automated information processing and presentation, Mission management and crew assistance for military aircraft, Pilot orientated workload evaluation and redistribution, and, Interacting multiple model approach in dynamic situation. The citation and abstract information are in HTML format, and the full text is available online in PDF format (3.99 Mbytes).

Tactical Display for Soldiers: Human Factors Considerations

This report examines the human issues which have arisen during the development, testing and implementation of helmet-mounted display technology in the 21st Century Land Warrior System. A summary and a table of contents are available together with purchase details.

Taking Flight: Education and Training for Aviation Careers

This is the full text of a book published by the National Academy Press. It is edited by Janet S. Hansen and Clinton V. Oster of the Committee on Education and Training for Civilian Aviation Careers, part of the National Research Council. It is possible to search the text of the book or alternatively view a listing of chapters and select which one to view.

Terminal Convective Weather Forecast 2000 Demonstration Report. Memphis International Airport, Memphis Air Route Traffic Control Center (ZME)

This provides access to a Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) report, DOT/FAA CT-TN 03/6 by Danny Sims, dated June 2003. The Terminal Convective Weather Forecast (TCWF) 2000 Demonstration was conducted during the convective season at Air Traffic Control (ATC) facilities in Memphis, TN. The demonstration was conducted by ACB-630 to ascertain the TCWF overall utility, ease of use, readability, and perceived benefit to ATC tasking. TCWF was developed at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Lincoln Laboratory (MIT/LL) under FAA Aviation Weather Research Program funding. The product provides a graphical 0 to 60-minute forecast of convective weather for an airport terminal area. Results indicated overall positive impressions. Users reported the TCWF provided benefit in performing ATC tasks; was a beneficial supplement to the Integrated Terminal Weather System (ITWS); and enhanced situational awareness. The full text of the report is available in PDF format, from the online catalogue of the FAA William J. Hughes Technical Center Library.

The Air Traffic Control Operational Errors Severity Index: An Initial Evaluation

This technical report (DOT/FAA/AM-05/5) was produced by the Federal Aviation Administration's (FAA) Office of Aerospace Medicine in April 2005 and was written by Larry L. Bailey, David J. Schroeder and Julia Pounds. An initial evaluation of the Federal Aviation Administration’s (FAA) Air Traffic Control (ATC) Operational Error (OE) Severity Index (SI) was conducted by the Civil Aerospace Medical Institute’s (CAMI) Aerospace Human Factors Research Division (AAM-500). The SI is computed from data that, for the most part, can be objectively determined by post hoc investigation of OEs. Up to 100-points are assigned for varying levels of vertical separation, horizontal separation, closure rate, direction of flight paths, and the amount of controller awareness at the time of the OE. Based on the point totals, OEs are classified as: low (D), low moderate (C), high moderate (B), and high severity (A). This review and subsequent analyses focused on three key issues: (1) the distributional characteristics of operational errors, (2) the collision safety margin associated with SI point values, and (3) the objectivity associated with SI classifications of high moderate and high severity OEs. [Taken from abstract]. This is a PDF file, so Adobe Acrobat software will be required in order to read it.

The Capability of Virtual Reality to Meet Military Requirements

This site provides access to a Research and Technology Organisation (NATO) Meeting Proceedings, RTO-MP-054. This contains papers from the RTO Human Factors and Medicine Panel (HFM) Workshop held in Orlando, Florida, USA, 5-9 December 1997. The purpose of the workshop was to examine military requirements for Virtual Reality technology, consider human factors issues in the use of Virtual Reality and review recent research in development of Virtual Reality applications to meet military needs. Bibliographic and abstract details are available in HTML format. A table of contents, and the full text of the document (14.6 Mbytes) can be accessed online in PDF format. The document is contained in the RTO's Full Text Publication Library

The Effects of Automation on Team Performance and Team Coordination

This is a North Carolina State University (NCSU), Department of Industrial Engineering PhD dissertation, by Melanie Clay Wright, dated 19 June, 2002. The objective of this research was to evaluate the effects of automation as applied to different stages of information processing on the performance and coordination of teams in a complex decision making task. A simulated Theatre Defense Task in which teams protect a home base from enemy attack was used as a test-bed for this evaluation. Four automation conditions were designed that compared different degrees of information acquisition, information analysis, and decision selection automation. The results of the experiment revealed that different forms of automation have different effects on teamwork. Bibliographic and abstract details are available in HTML format. The full text of the document is accessible online in PDF format [1.99 Mb]. This title is part of North Carolina State University's Electronic Thesis and Dissertation (ETD) Collection

The Human-Machine Teams Create, Explain, and Recover from Coordination Breakdowns : a Simulator Study of Disturbance Management on Modern Flight Decks

This is a Ohio State University, Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering PhD thesis, by Mark I. Nikolic, dated 2004. As the final step in a research programme that included jump-seat observations, a flight instructor survey, and an incident database analysis, the first full-mission simulator study in this area was conducted with twelve airline pilots in order to examine (the effectiveness of) current pilot strategies for diagnosing and recovering from disturbances, and the impact of current automation design on these processes. Pilots flew a one-hour scenario which contained challenging events that probed pilots’ knowledge of, and proficiency in using, the autoflight system. A process tracing methodology was used which integrated behavioural and verbal data in order to identify patterns in strategies across pilots. Bibliographic and abstract details are available in HTML and the full text of the document is accessible online in PDF format (0.88 Mb). This title is part of the OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations (ETD) Service

The Information Warfare Site(IWS)

This is a web site containing information about all aspects of computer security. It has a military history page which includes articles on defence, e-documents, defence news, and U.S. security news. There is a discussion forum and relevant links. The site is searchable.

The Role of Humans in Intelligent and Automated Systems

This is Research and Technology Organization Meeting Proceedings, RTO-MP-088, Paris, October 2003. The document contains papers presented at the RTO Human Factors and Medicine Panel (HFM) Symposium, held in Warsaw, Poland, 7-9 October 2001. The Symposium considered the problem, research approaches and techniques for how automation technology can take advantage of human strengths and compensate for human disadvantages. The Symposium consisted of an Opening Session, three sessions on design philosophy, two sessions and a roundtable discussion on design methodology, two sessions on design evaluation, and a Capstone Panel with open discussion. Six Keynote Addresses were interspersed throughout the programme. 18 papers were presented, and 5 poster-boards were available for review. Bibliographic and abstract details are available in HTML format. The contributions cover various topics including cockpit automation, air traffic management, and UAV operations. A table of contents, and the full text (18.4 Mbytes) of the document can be accessed online in PDF format. The document is contained in the RTO's Full Text Publication Library

US Army Aeromedical Research Laboratories (USAARL)

The objectives of USAARL’s research programs are to prevent or minimise health hazards in the military operations environment and sustain the aviator’s individual performance. The laboratory conducts research into acoustics, vision, crew workload, stress and fatigue, and life support systems. The site provides further details, a searchable database of technical reports with full text, and press releases.

Usability and Effectiveness of Advanced General Aviation Cockpit Displays for Visual Flight Procedures

This technical report (DOT/FAA/AM-04/20) was produced by the Federal Aviation Administration's (FAA) Office of Aerospace Medicine in December 2004 and was written by Kevin W. Williams and Jerry D. Ball. Twenty-four pilots participated in a study examining the usability and effectiveness of a set of advanced general aviation cockpit displays under visual flight procedures. Use of the displays for navigation and the ability to identify landmarks were measured using both objective and subjective formats. In addition, the effect of the displays on the ability to locate traffic out-the-window was measured both objectively and subjectively. Differences were found in the ability to navigate, to locate landmarks, and in the identification of traffic, when using the advanced displays. However, use of the displays decreased the amount of time that pilots spent looking outside of the aircraft. Implications of the findings are discussed. [Taken from abstract]. This is a PDF file, so Adobe Acrobat software is required in order to read it.

Usability of Information in Battle Management Operations

This site provides access to a Research and Technology Organisation (NATO) Meeting Proceedings, RTO-MP-057. This contains papers from the the the RTO Human Factors and Medicine Panel (HFM) Symposium held in Oslo, Norway, 10-13 April 2000. The objectives of the symposium were to examine the problem, research approaches and techniques for improving team performance and enhancing effectiveness, concepts for battlespace visualization and decision support, and the integration of collaborative battle management systems. Bibliographic and abstract details are available in HTML format. A table of contents, and the full text of the document (34.3 Mbytes) can be accessed online in PDF format. The document is contained in the RTO's Full Text Publication Library.

Use of Speech and Language Technology in Military Environments

This site provides access to a Research and Technology Organization (RTO) Technical Report, RTO-TR-IST-037, dated December 2005. The report was produced by the Information Systems Technology Panel (IST) to support a Lecture Series presented on 20-21 November 2003 in Montreal, Canada; 1-2 December 2003 in Arcueil, France; and 4-5 December 2003 in Istanbul, Turkey. It looks at communications, command and control, intelligence and training systems that are making more and more use of speech and language technology components: i.e. speech coders, voice controlled C2 systems, speaker and language recognition, translation systems and automated training suites. Implementation of these technologies requires an understanding of what performance is possible with the products that are available today and those that will likely to be available in the next few years. As speech and language technology become more available for integration into military systems, it is important that those involved in system design and program management be aware of the capabilities and the limitations of present speech systems. They must also be aware of the current state of research in order to be able to consider what will be possible in the future. This will be very important when considering future military systems upgrades. This lecture series includes presentations of the current state of the art and the current research topics in selected speech and language technology areas: assessment techniques and standards, speech recognition, speaker and language identification, and translation. The full text of the document (4.3Mbytes) can be accessed online in PDF format. The document is contained in the RTO's Full Text Publication Library.

Variable Strategy Model of the Human Operator

This web site provides access to a Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University Department of Aerospace and Ocean Engineering PhD dissertation, by John Michael Phillips, dated 27 July 2000. The thesis evaluates the performance of the Variable Strategy Model (VSM) by considering several examples, including the longitudinal control of an aircraft during the visual landing task. The author describes the development of a refined landing strategy that takes into account the specific aircraft's dynamic characteristics. The refined strategy is translated back into terminology similar to the existing pilot training literature. Bibliographic and abstract details are available in HTML format. The full text of the document is accessible online in PDF format [1.18 Mb]. This title is part of Virginia Tech�s Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Collection (VT ETD).

Virtual Environments for Intuitive Human-System Interaction - National Research Activities in Augmented, Mixed and Virtual Environments

This is a Research and Technology Organization (RTO) Technical Report RTO-TR-HFM-121-Part-I, dated December 2005. Augmented, Mixed and Virtual Environments (AMVE) are new paradigms and media that provide a realistic training environment and a natural human-system interaction (HSI). This report is an extensive compendium on the military organizations, activities and projects in this field. More than 100 different activities and their interrelationships are described in detail, making this report a source of information for interested persons, researchers and managers in this field. A table of contents, and the full text of the document can be accessed online in HTML format. The document is contained in the RTO's Full Text Publication Library.

Virtual Interfaces: Research and Applications

This is Research and Technology Organization (RTO) AGARD-CP-541, dated May 1994. Recent advances in technologies for information display and sensing of human movements, combined with computer based models of natural and artificial environments, have led to the introduction of so-called virtual interfaces. Virtual interfaces offer increased flexibility and naturalness, so are considered for use in several domains including aviation, training, design, and simulation. Papers presented at this symposium considered issues of research and application in virtual interfaces broadly defined. Issues of technology integration for system development were considered separately from issues of movement monitoring or sensory display. Issues of human performance measurement were presented in the context of both research and application. For individual titles, see N94-37262 through N94-37281. Bibliographic and abstract details are available in HTML format. A table of contents, and the full text (47.37MB) of the document can be accessed online in PDF format. The document is contained in the RTO's Full Text Publication Library.

Web-Based Portal Computer-Human Interface Guidelines

This provides access to a Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) report DOT/FAA/CT-TN04/23 by Vicki Ahlstrom and Kenneth Allendoerfer dated June 2004. This document provides guidance for portal computer-human interfaces. The authors collected information from various standards and guidelines (including the Human Factors Design Standard) and combined it with examples and lessons learned through human factors experience to form specific guidelines. Guidelines within this document are written in the form of should and shall statements. Topics covered include page layout, text design, graphic design, and accessibility standards. Although this document was originally writtenfor a specific portal, most of the guidelines can be applied to websites, intranets, and other web-based applications. This document is meant to be a human factors reference tool used which, when used in conjunction with an experienced human factors professional, can improve the computer-human interface of Federal Aviation Administration portals and web-based applications. [Taken from abstract]. The full text of the report is available in PDF format from the online catalogue of the FAA William J. Hughes Technical Center Library.

What is Essential for Virtual Reality Systems to Meet Military Human Performance Goals

This site provides access to a Research and Technology Organisation (NATO) Meeting Proceedings, RTO-MP-058. This contains papers from the RTO Human Factors and Medicine Panel, held in The Hague, The Netherlands, 13 - 15 April 2000. The aims of the workshop were to identify the functional requirements of potential military applications of Virtual Reality (VR) technology, to report the state-of-the-art and projected capabilities of VR technologies, and to propose future research requirements and directions for military applications. Bibliographic and abstract details are available in HTML format. A table of contents, and the full text of the document (10.5 Mbytes) can be accessed online in PDF format. The document is contained in the RTO's Full Text Publication Library.

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