Abstract
The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of shifting among and updating of mental models in multi remote tower operations.
Background. Within the development of the future workplace for air traffic controllers (ATCO), innovation shifts to multi remote tower operations. Multi remote tower means, that an ATCO serves air traffic control services for more than one airport at a time from one physically remote located workplace. This change requires adjustments in the way how the ATCO works, as multiple mental models need to be updated constantly. Frequent shifting between airports and mental models respectively is necessary. Updating and shifting are cognitive cost sensitive, as they affect workload and situational awareness negatively. In contrast, higher workload could be beneficial for alertness which could act as a countermeasure in turn.
Method. Four 90-min lasting remote tower Human-In-The-Loop simulation runs with traffic and weather were performed by eight conventional tower experienced ATCOs. Each ATCO completed two runs in multi- and two runs in single-mode. Situational awareness, workload and alertness was measured via self-reports before, during and after each run.
Results. No differences between both modes with respect to situational awareness and alertness could be found. However, significant workload differences could be found during the simulation runs at two times, due to a simulated snowstorm.
Conclusion. The findings indicate no negative effect of shifting among and updating of mental models in multi remote tower. A possible explanation could be, that a common hybrid mental model for in multi-mode is internally developed so that shifting among mental models is perhaps not necessary.
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Peukert, M., Meyer, L., Josefsson, B. (2020). Multi Remote Tower - Challenge or Chance? An Empirical Study of Air Traffic Controllers Performance. In: Stephanidis, C., Antona, M., Ntoa, S. (eds) HCI International 2020 – Late Breaking Posters. HCII 2020. Communications in Computer and Information Science, vol 1294. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-60703-6_78
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