Abstract
Air traffic controllers have to make quick decisions to keep air traffic safe. Their behaviors have a significant impact on the operation of the air traffic management (ATM) system. Automation tools have enhanced the ATM system’s capability by reducing the controller’s task-load. Much attention has been devoted to developing advanced automation in the last decade. However, less is known about the impact of automation on the behaviors of air traffic controllers. Here, we empirically tested the effects of three levels of automation—including manual, attention-guided, and automated—as well as varying traffic levels on eye movements, situation awareness and mental workload. The results showed that there are significant differences in the gaze and saccade behaviors between the attention-guided group and automated group. Traffic affected eye movements under the manual mode or under the attention-guided mode, but had no effect on eye movements under the automated mode. The results also supported the use of automation for enhancing situation awareness while reducing mental workload. Our work has potential implications for the design of automation and operation procedures.
Highlights
We found that the Levene test values of all experimental data were greater than 0.05, which means that all the data met the homogeneity test condition
We found that there was no significant differences in eye movements, situation awareness and workload between manual mode group and attention-guided group
This paper investigated the difference in air traffic controller’s eye movements, situation awareness and mental workload under three levels of automation
Summary
To ensure the safety of air traffic, air traffic controllers (ATCOs) make traffic control decisions promptly by integrating and analyzing the information acquired from radar screens and other decision support tools (DSTs). With the advancement of information technology and data science, various types of automation tools have been applied in the air traffic management (ATM) field. The workload of ATCOs will suddenly increase when the radar control system is shut down. They have to manage air traffic, using procedure control, under which the position of the aircraft is estimated through ATCO’s mental calculation. Another consequence could be complacency by air traffic control professionals [3]
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