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Designing fine-grained interactions for automation in air traffic control

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Abstract

Our work aims to explore novel approaches to the challenge of designing the interaction between people and automation. Through a case study within the domain of air traffic control, we focus on designing fine-grained human–automation interactions. We design a concept and develop an interactive lo-fi prototype of an assisted sketching system to enable air traffic controllers to interact with automation in a fine-grained manner and to externalize mental images. Assisted sketching seems to offer a possible way to communicate different degrees of predictive certainty using visual cues and interaction. Our insights further suggest that externalization through assisted sketching could encourage exploration of future scenarios, and support communication and collaboration between air traffic controllers and between air traffic controllers and pilots. The explorative benefits for the individual decision-making process might be more evident in situations where air traffic controllers have more time for reflection, for example during planning or debriefing and in educational settings.

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Acknowledgements

Open access funding provided by Linköping University. This work was supported by the Swedish Transport Administration (Grant number: ITN-2017-00114).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Science and Technology, Linköping University, Linköping, Sweden

    Danwei Tran Luciani, Jonas Löwgren & Jonas Lundberg

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  1. Danwei Tran Luciani
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  2. Jonas Löwgren
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  3. Jonas Lundberg
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Correspondence to Danwei Tran Luciani.

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Tran Luciani, D., Löwgren, J. & Lundberg, J. Designing fine-grained interactions for automation in air traffic control. Cogn Tech Work 22, 685–701 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10111-019-00598-9

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