WORKLOAD AND RELIABILITY OF PREDICTOR DISPLAYS IN AIRCRAFT TRAFFIC AVOIDANCE

Two experiments are discussed that describe the relevance of aircraft predictor information to the availability and deployment of visual attention. In both, airplane pilots fly a simulator in which flight path prediction is given bearing on the future state of their own aircraft and of a second traffic "intruder" aircraft that they must maneuver to avoid. The cockpit traffic display on which this information is depicted is an integral component of the concept of free flight/pilot self-separation. In Experiment 1, it is shown that added layers of predictive information improve performance, reduce mental workload, and that added complexity of the visual display thus resulting does not increase the inferred measure of head downtime. In Experiment 2, the consequences to performance and visual attention if prediction is occasionally in error are examined. A hypothesis is adopted that trust is related to the relative allocation of attention between the predictor symbol and the raw data of actual aircraft state. Such unreliability damages performance to some extent, especially when the unreliable predictor forecasts more complex conflict geometry. This cost reveals the substantial allocation of attention to the predictor symbol. However, pilots aware of the unreliability level, appear to be well calibrated in their allocation of attention between the 2 information sources.

• Availability:
  • Find a library where document is available. Order URL: http://worldcat.org/issn/10939741
• Corporate Authors:

  Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Incorporated

  10 Industrial Avenue
  Mahwah, NJ  United States  07430-2262
• Authors:
  • Wickens, C D
  • Gempler, K
  • Morphew, M E
• Publication Date: 2000

Language

• English

Media Info

• Features: Figures; References;
• Pagination: p. 99-126
• Serial:
  • Transportation Human Factors
  • Volume: 2
  • Issue Number: 2
  • Publisher: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Incorporated
  • ISSN: 1093-9741

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Air pilots; Air traffic; Air transportation; Aircraft pilotage; Attention; General aviation; Human factors; Information display systems; Pilot studies
• Subject Areas: Aviation; Safety and Human Factors;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 00800415
• Record Type: Publication
• Files: TRIS
• Created Date: Oct 19 2000 12:00AM