Situation awareness information requirements for en route air traffic control.

Abstract : Situation awareness is presented as a fundamental requirement for effective air traffic control, forming the basis for controller decision making and performance. To develop a better understanding of the role of situation awareness in air traffic control, an analysis was performed to determine the specific situation awareness information requirements for air traffic control. This was conducted as a goal-directed task analysis in which the major goals, subgoals, decisions and associated situation awareness information requirements for En Route Air Traffic Control (ATC) were delineated based on elicitation from eight experienced Air Traffic Control Specialists (ATCSs). This effort was supported by available task analyses and video-tapes of simulated ATC tasks. A determination of the major situation awareness information requirements for En Route ATC was developed from this analysis, providing a foundation for future system development which seeks to enhance controller situation awareness and provides a basis for the development of situation awareness measures for air traffic control.