Effect of ATC Training with NextGen Tools and Online Situation Awareness and Workload Probes on Operator Performance

The purpose of the present study was to examine (a) how controller performance changes with the introduction of NextGen tools and (b) how much training is needed for controllers to achieve a performance criterion after the tools have been introduced. Seven retired controllers were trained on an enroute sector in three phases: voice, Data Comm, and online probe. The voice phase trained current-day air traffic management techniques, the Data Comm phase trained NextGen tools, including Data Comm, conflict alerting, and conflict probes, and the probe phase trained controllers on an online probing technique. Although safety was not affected by the introduction of NextGen tools, the tools disrupted operator sector efficiency performance.