George Mason University, Fairfax, Virginia 22030, USA.
Hum Factors. 2010 Jun;52(3):411-25. doi: 10.1177/0018720810375692.
This study examined whether benefits of conflict probe automation would occur in a future air traffic scenario in which air traffic service providers (ATSPs) are not directly responsible for freely maneuvering aircraft but are controlling other nonequipped aircraft (mixed-equipage environment). The objective was to examine how the type of automation imperfection (miss vs. false alarm) affects ATSP performance and attention allocation.
Research has shown that the type of automation imperfection leads to differential human performance costs.
Participating in four 30-min scenarios were 12 full-performance-level ATSPs. Dependent variables included conflict detection and resolution performance, eye movements, and subjective ratings of trust and self confidence.
ATSPs detected conflicts faster and more accurately with reliable automation, as compared with manual performance. When the conflict probe automation was unreliable, conflict detection performance declined with both miss (25% conflicts detected) and false alarm automation (50% conflicts detected).
When the primary task of conflict detection was automated, even highly reliable yet imperfect automation (miss or false alarm) resulted in serious negative effects on operator performance.
The further in advance that conflict probe automation predicts a conflict, the greater the uncertainty of prediction; thus, designers should provide users with feedback on the state of the automation or other tools that allow for inspection and analysis of the data underlying the conflict probe algorithm.
本研究考察了在未来的空中交通场景中，当空中交通服务提供商（ATSP）不再直接负责自由操纵飞机，而是控制其他未配备设备的飞机（混合装备环境）时，冲突探测自动化的优势是否会出现。目标是研究自动化缺陷的类型（漏报与误报）如何影响 ATSP 的性能和注意力分配。
研究表明，自动化缺陷的类型会导致不同的人为性能成本。
12 名全性能水平的 ATSP 参与了四个 30 分钟的场景。因变量包括冲突检测和解决性能、眼动以及对信任和自信的主观评价。
与手动性能相比，可靠的自动化使 ATSP 更快、更准确地检测到冲突。当冲突探测自动化不可靠时，漏报（检测到 25%的冲突）和误报（检测到 50%的冲突）的自动化都会导致冲突检测性能下降。
当冲突探测的主要任务实现自动化时，即使是高度可靠但存在缺陷的自动化（漏报或误报）也会对操作人员的性能产生严重的负面影响。
冲突探测自动化预测冲突的时间越早，预测的不确定性就越大；因此，设计人员应该为用户提供自动化状态的反馈，或提供其他允许检查和分析冲突探测算法底层数据的工具。
