ABSTRACT

Objective: The experiment reported here evaluated what a type of timestamp is an easy way for pilots to perceive and quickly assess the length of delay in NEXRAD mosaic radar images.

Background: Data-linked mosaic NEXRAD images can be more than 14 min delayed by the time they reach the cockpit for use by pilots. The NTSB issued a safety alert to warn that the NEXRAD “age indicator” can be misleading. Unfortunately, research has indicated that pilots may not be fully aware of the delay and that it can adversely affect their decision-making and performance.

Method: The three types of timestamps were “direct age”, “clock”, and “UTC” with three levels of time delay (short, medium, and long). Twenty-one participants read and compared two radar images, via timestamps, to determine the length of delay and which one was more recent.

Results: The results indicated that the type of timestamp and the length of time delay significantly affected participants’ response time and accuracy. “UTC” timestamp with a long-time delay was associated with the longest response time and low accuracy. The “direct age” timestamp led to the highest accuracy and shortest response time for all manipulated levels of time delay.

Conclusion: Although “UTC” format is commonly used in many weather products, we found the “direct age” format to be the superior method to support perceptions of time delay.

摘要

目的：这里报道的实验评估了哪种时间戳是飞行员感知和快速评估NEXRAD镶嵌雷达图像中延迟长度的简便方法。

背景：数据链接的马赛克NEXRAD图像到达驾驶员座舱供飞行员使用的时间可能会延迟14分钟以上。NTSB发布了安全警告，警告NEXRAD“年龄指示器”可能会产生误导。不幸的是，研究表明，飞行员可能并未完全意识到延误，并且可能对他们的决策和绩效产生不利影响。

方法：三种类型的时间戳是“直接年龄”，“时钟”和“ UTC”，具有三种级别的时间延迟（短，中和长）。21名参与者通过时间戳读取并比较了两个雷达图像，以确定时延的长度以及最近的一个。

结果：结果表明，时间戳的类型和时延的长度显着影响参与者的响应时间和准确性。具有较长延迟的“ UTC”时间戳与最长的响应时间和较低的准确性相关。“直接年龄”时间戳可在所有延迟级别上实现最高的准确性和最短的响应时间。

结论：尽管“ UTC”格式在许多天气产品中普遍使用，但我们发现“直接年龄”格式是支持感知时间延迟的较好方法。