A Portfolio of Human Factors Guidance for NextGen

Abstract

This discussion panel will focus on guidance that the field of human factors can provide in the development of the Next Generation Air Transportation System (NextGen) in the United States, ranging from input regarding the overall operational concept for NextGen to approaches for crafting the details of specific designs. The discussion will include consideration of how the feasibility of alternative implementations should inform the operational concept. To provide the necessary perspectives, the expertise represented on this panel provides both breadth and depth regarding the contributions that the field of human factors needs to provide to the development of NextGen in the United States. This expertise extends across a number of functional roles in the aviation system (piloting, air traffic control, air traffic flow management, airport surface management and flight dispatching). It also spans a wide range of human factors issues including considerations of trust, cognitive complexity, information overload, interruption management, human reliability, automation reliability, timesharing, mental workload, shared situation awareness and the design of distributed work systems. Finally, this expertise encompasses experience with human factors program management, system design and evaluation (including both empirical testing and the use of computational models). Panelists will be posed with variations on the question of “what are concrete ways in which the field of human factors can guide the development of an effective Next Generation Air Transportation System?” based on the system perspectives that they represent.