Cognitive Evaluation of Human-Human and Human-Machine Cooperation Modes in Air Traffic Control

An experiment is described that aimed at evaluating a principle of dynamic task allocation (DTA) of conflict resolution between aircraft in air-traffic control on a large scale simulator. It included three cognitive agents: the radar controller (RC), in charge of conflict detection and resolution; the planning controller (PC), in charge of entry-exit coordination and of workload regulation; and a conflict resolution computer system (SAINTEX), able to manage only simple conflicts. Within this three-agent paradigm, three conditions were compared: (a) a control condition (without computer assistance); (b) an explicit condition (PC and RC in charge of the allocation); and (c) an assisted explicit condition (SAINTEX proposed allocations which could be changed by PC). Comparisons were made on the basis of a detailed cognitive analysis of verbal protocols. The more the assistance, the more anticipative the mode of operation in controllers and the easier the human-human cooperation (HHC). These positive effects o...

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