NTL Record

Title Color Analysis in Air Traffic Control Displays, Part I Radar Displays
Record ID 39978
Personal Name
Creator
Xing, Jing
Corporate Creator United States. Department of Transportation. Federal Aviation Administration. Civil Aerospace Medical Institute
Corporate
Contributor
United States. Office of Air Traffic Systems Development
Publisher Civil Aerospace Medical Institute
Publication Date 20061000
Language English
Abstract One of the current trends in air traffic control (ATC) display technology is a substantial increase in the use of color. Whereas the advantages of color may seem apparent, little attention has been devoted to potential disadvantages of color use with respect to complex cognitive aspects of the ATC environment. Although controllers use several different displays simultaneously (designed and manufactured by different companies), the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has not yet adopted a standard for color use to ensure that the various color schemes are compatible. At present, there is no systematic documentation and analysis of color use in ATC displays. This lack of standardization and documentation presents a challenge for manufacturers to design compatible color schemes and for the FAA to evaluate the effectiveness of a display at acquisition. This report was designed to address the lack of such information. The study evaluates color-coding, color usage, task purposes and effectiveness of color use, potential shortcomings, and color complexity for three types of radar displays used by operational controllers. This systematic documentation allowed us to assess compatibility across displays. The study also revealed some visual factors that may affect the usefulness of a display. The results of these investigations will be beneficial for the development of design prototypes and for acquisition evaluation of new ATC display technologies.
Rosap ID dot:40224
Rosap URL https://rosap.ntl.bts.gov/view/dot/40224
TRT Terms Air traffic control; Air traffic controllers; Analysis; Radar displays
General Subjects Aviation; Operations and Traffic Management; Research
Geographical
Coverage
Oklahoma; United States
TRIS Online
Accession No
1039094
Report Number DOT/FAA/AM-06/22
Resource type Tech Report
URL https://ntlrepository.blob.core.windows.net/lib/39000/39900/39978/200622.pdf
Format PDF
Database NTL Digital Repository