NTL Record

Title A Human Subject Evaluation of Airport Surface Situational Awareness Using Prototypical Flight Deck Electronic Taxi Chart Displays
Record ID 33629
Personal Name
Creator
Amar, M.J.; Hansman, R.J.; Hannon, D.{6103} Vaneck, T.W.; Chaudhry, A.I.
Source 72p. in various pagings
Corporate Creator John A. Volpe National Transportation Systems Center (U.S.)
Corporate
Contributor
Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Aeronautical Systems Laboratory
Publisher United States. Department of Transportation. Federal Aviation Administration
Publication Date 19951100
Language English
Abstract A study was conducted to test the effect on airport surface situational awareness of GPS derived position information depicted on a prototypical electronic taxi chart display. The effect of position error and position uncertainty symbology were also tested. Situational awareness was assessed by asking 12 airline pilots a series of probe questions about their location on the airport surface. The pilots used static "snapshot" images of a north-up electronic taxi chart as well as a supporting out-the-window view and an aircraft heading display to answer the situational awareness probe questions. Four levels of GPS position error were tested ranging from 4.5 to 90 meters. Two types of position uncertainty symbology were also tested. The variable radius uncertainty circle displayed an estimate of the current GPS position accuracy while the constant radius uncertainty circle displayed a worst-case system accuracy of 100 meters. Situational awareness, as indicated by probe question response accuracy, increased when aircraft position information was displayed on the electronic taxi chart. In addition, response time was also found to improve with the presence of aircraft position information. Response accuracy improved as position error decreased from 90 to 22.5 meters and stayed relatively constant from the 22.5 to 4.5 meter case. Pilots were faster at responding to the probe questions with the variable radius uncertainty symbology. In addition, pilots subjectively preferred the variable radius uncertainty circle.
Rosap ID dot:8704
Rosap URL https://rosap.ntl.bts.gov/view/dot/8704
TRT Terms Air pilots; Airplanes; Global Positioning System; Instrument landing systems; Pilotage; Human factors; Flight decks; Digital displays
General Subjects Human factors; GPS; Electronic taxi chart display; Situational awareness; Instrument landing systems
Classification NTL - SAFETY AND SECURITY - SAFETY AND SECURITY;
NTL - SAFETY AND SECURITY - Human Factors
Geographical
Coverage
United States
Contract Number FA5E2/A5007
Report Number DOT-VNTSC-FAA-95-36; DOT/FAA/AR-95/103
Availability Volpe National Transportation Systems Center, Technical Reference Center
Resource type Tech Report
URL https://ntlrepository.blob.core.windows.net/lib/33000/33600/33629/33629.pdf
Format PDF
Database NTL Digital Repository