The Effect of Active and Passive Control on Air Traffic Controller Dynamic Memory

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of automated and passive control on air traffic controller dynamic memory. The study consisted of two experiments, each involving a realistic ATC scenario for radar approach control with a mix of arriving and departing traffic. In Experiment I, the subjects performed manual control of the traffic while, in Experiment II, the scenario was highly automated and the subjects were tasked with only monitoring the situation. The dynamic memory performance was measured by interrupting the scenario and having the subjects recall the traffic situation at the moment of simulation interruption. The accuracy of recall was compared between the manual and automated scenarios. It was anticipated that subjects exercising manual control would have superior recall ability and a picture. This would have significant implications on the design of automated systems for ATC and the role of the human controller within the ATC system

Human Reliability Analysis in Healthcare

The problem of human error in healthcare is well documented. Other domains (such as transportation and energy) have used techniques and methods from the engineering disciplines to analyze and ultimately reduce instances of error. In New York State (NYS), the Department of Health (DOH) requires the use of one such method, Root Cause Analysis (RCA), in investigating and reporting the occurrence of and response to sentinel events by hospitals. Despite the use of the RCA technique in an attempt to identify and mitigate the root causes of error, the problem of human error contributing to sentinel events persists. Experts in Human Reliability Analysis (HRA) contend that human performance is too complex to be represented by models used in engineering systems reliability. A method to analyze human erroneous actions was created that considers operator context and control based on a model of human cognition. The technique, called the Cognitive Reliability and Error Analysis Method (CREAM), was used to reanalyze 58 sentinel event cases Rochester General Hospital previously analyzed using RCA. Despite serious data limitations, our results reveal an apparent gap between RCA and CREAM analyses. We suggest that the gap highlights incomplete RCA that minimizes or does not appreciate the role that organizational factors play in contributing to the sentinel events. Due to data limitations, we cannot identify specific interventions to mitigate risk for sentinel events. However, we make several recommendations for improving the RCA process at Rochester General Hospital in an effort to improve the validity of the analyses data for further study

The Effectiveness of a Personal Computer Aviation Training Device (PCATD), a Flight Training Device (FTD), and an Airplane in Conducting Instrument Proficiency Checks

This project evaluated the effectiveness of a personal computer aviation training device (PCATD), a flight training device (FTD) and an airplane for conducting an instrument proficiency check (IPC). The study compared the performance of pilots receiving an IPC in a PCATD, in a FTD and in an airplane (IPC #1) with performance on a later IPC in an airplane (IPC #2). Chi-square tests were used to analyze the IPC #1 and IPC #2 data to determine whether the treatment (assignment to group) had an effect on the pass/fail ratio for the IPC #1 and IPC #2 flights respectively. The treatment effect on the IPC #1 and IPC #2 pass/fail ratios were not statistically significant. A series of planned-comparison tests were performed both between the experimental groups and between subjects within each experimental group. The PCATD group was compared to the Airplane group and to the FTD group, the Airplane group to the FTD group. None of these comparisons showed statistically significant (a \u3c .05) differences between groups. These findings provide compelling evidence for permitting the use of PCATDs to give IPCs

Temporal Awareness in ATC: Literature Review and a Proposed Model

Air traffic control (ATC) offers a paradigmatic example of a dynamic multi-task environment, placing both considerable and unique demands on the human controllers’ cognitive faculties. In particular, the notion of temporal awareness, which is argued here to be fundamental to both controller workload management and task performance, brings together many of the most central components of human information processing system. The temporal dimension of ATC offers thus both a rich task environment for the study of temporal awareness and the associated cognitive processes as well as affords their quantitative measurement for modeling purposes. This paper makes a case for focused research of temporal awareness in ATC and presents a framework for development of time-based controller performance metrics and testing of cognitive models of temporal awareness

Effect of Air Traffic Controller Taskload and Temporal Awareness on Task Prioritization

This paper describes an experiment that was conducted to provide an empirical foundation for estimation of parameters for air traffic controller performance modeling efforts presently pursued within the NASA DAG-TM CE-6 model development. The focus of the work was the task prioritization scheme used in these models. A total of 11 retired FAA controllers and supervisors assigned to the FAA Technical Center volunteered to participate in the experiment. A part-task experimental simulation that presented the participating controllers with several simultaneous tasks in four quadrants, or panes, on a single display was used. Only one pane and typically one task could be viewed at a time. This allowed for measurement of controllers’ attention to each task. All events unfolding in the experimental scenarios and controllers’ actions were recorded and timed as well. From these data, several dependent variables were derived, focusing on the temporal aspects of controllers’ performance and their prioritization of simultaneously available tasks. The results indicate that taskload was manipulated successfully and resulted in measurable differences between experimental conditions in both taskload and performance, the latter evinced by the time elapsed in a window of opportunity for a given task before action was taken on it as well as time remaining in the window of opportunity when action was completed. However, it appears that either the controllers were not aware of these temporal features of their tasks or that other factors dominated their prioritization decisions. Task prioritization may hence be driven by task characteristics that are categorical rather than continuous and quantifiable

Teams, Teamwork, and Automation in Air Traffic Control

Many recent initiatives involving social psychology applications in the aviation world have redoubled the interest in the concept of teams and teamwork. The importance of teamwork in airline cockpits, hailed as cockpit (or crew-) resource management (CRM), has been recognized for a relatively long time. It is also widely agreed that extensive and effective interaction among participants in the National Airspace System (NAS), pilots, air traffic controllers, and airline operations personnel, is tantamount to the daily successes of the nation’s air transportation industry. Team aspects in air traffic control (ATC) are, however, much more convoluted than intra-cockpit teams or top-level teamwork between NAS elements. The ATC system involves a complicated network of facilities, technology, and personnel, which all must interact synergistically, often under time pressure, to ensure safe, efficient, and orderly flow of air traffic. It is perhaps due to this complexity that there has been a significant deficiency in research activity relating to teamwork in ATC. Yet, inadequate coordination between controllers has been considered a causal factor in a substantial proportion of low to moderate severity operational errors. Furthermore, automation tools developed for controllers are primarily focused on supporting the individual controller, while many, if not all of ATC functions are a team effort. In this paper we review the literature relevant to the team concept in the ATC domain, identify and characterize the different teams controllers belong to either simultaneously (e.g., intra- and inter-facility teams) or in different operational environments, and catalog the results from research literature as they pertain to the aforementioned teams in ATC and their specific characteristics. Our principal focus is on concepts such as taskload, workload, and situation awareness. Within this framework, we also map recent automation applications to ATC teams, hence highlighting their impact on the team dimension of human factors in ATC

Provost’s Learning Innovation Grant (PLIG) for 2019

This grant allowed for a redesign of the PSYC 714 “Graduate Engineering Psychology” course, offered by the Department of Psychology about every two years since 2013, for online delivery. The grant was awarded on March 29, 2019. Full Project Plan report was submitted on Aug. 16, 2019. The majority of the course redesign work was completed during the fall semester 2019 (2191), including creation of several software programs to support the lab exercises designed for the course. The Preliminary Findings report was submitted on Jan. 10, 2020, and the PSYC 714 course was offered online in the spring semester of 2020 (2195) as a “pilot” of the redesign. The course ran successfully through the semester, and being online, was not impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic that resulted in closing of RIT’s campus and moving of all classes online after the extended spring break on March 23, 2020. Other events related to this grant (Preliminary Findings Roundtable and PLIG Showcase) were canceled. The final report deadline was extended from August 21 to August 31, 2020. This document details the course design features and is meant for broad distribution and to serve as a model for other graduate courses that may be moved online at RIT. Moreover, the PSYC 714 course is required for the Advanced Certificate in Engineering Psychology (ENGPSY- ACT) at RIT. This documentation of the development of this course will hopefully allow two other required courses in the ENGPSY-ACT program be redesigned for online delivery. This would effectively make the entire ENGPSY-ACT an online program, as there already are several online graduate courses offered at RIT that may serve as electives in the program