An Analysis of Relational Complexity in an Air Traffic Control Conflict Detection Task

Theoretical analyses of air traffic complexity were conducted using the Method for the Analysis of Relational Complexity. 24 air traffic controllers examined static air traffic displays and were required to detect and resolve conflicts. Objective measures of performance included conflict detection time and accuracy. Subjective perceptions of mental workload were assessed by a complexity-sorting task and subjective ratings of the difficulty of different aspects of the task. A metric quantifying the complexity of pair-wise relations among aircraft was able to account for a substantial portion of the variance in the perceived complexity and difficulty of conflict detection problems, as well as reaction time. Other variables that influenced performance included the mean minimum separation between aircraft pairs and the amount of time that aircraft spent in conflict.

• Availability:
  • Find a library where document is available. Order URL: http://worldcat.org/issn/00140139
• Supplemental Notes:
  • Abstract reprinted with permission from Taylor and Francis
• Authors:
  • Boag, Christine
  • Neal, Andrew
  • Loft, Shayne
  • Halford, Graeme S
• Publication Date: 2006-11

Language

• English

Media Info

• Media Type: Print
• Features: References;
• Pagination: pp 1508-1526
• Serial:
  • Ergonomics
  • Volume: 49
  • Issue Number: 14
  • Publisher: Taylor & Francis
  • ISSN: 0014-0139
  • EISSN: 1366-5847
  • Serial URL: http://www.tandfonline.com/loi/terg20

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Air traffic control; Air traffic controllers; Aircraft separation; Aviation safety; Data displays; Human factors; Information display systems; Psychological conflict
• Uncontrolled Terms: Mental workload; Task complexity
• Subject Areas: Aviation; Operations and Traffic Management; Safety and Human Factors;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 01079801
• Record Type: Publication
• Files: TRIS
• Created Date: Oct 23 2007 9:15AM