Models for interrupted monitoring of a stochastic process

As computers are added to the cockpit, the pilot's job is changing from of manually flying the aircraft, to one of supervising computers which are doing navigation, guidance and energy management calculations as well as automatically flying the aircraft. In this supervisorial role the pilot must divide his attention between monitoring the aircraft's performance and giving commands to the computer. Normative strategies are developed for tasks where the pilot must interrupt his monitoring of a stochastic process in order to attend to other duties. Results are given as to how characteristics of the stochastic process and the other tasks affect the optimal strategies.