Effects of Automation in the Aircraft

Cockpit Environment
Skill Degradation
Situation Awareness
Workload

Group #1: Julian Archer

Hambisa Keno
Yul Kwon

Automation Overview
What is Automation?

Automation is any system component that removes the necessity for

direct human control of certain processes (Sherman, 1997)

Types of Automation
1. Control
2. Warnings and Alerts
3. Information

Automation Overview
Early Stage

Automation Overview
Major Transition

Automation Overview
Current

Automation Overview
Benefits of Automation?
Reduces workload and fatigue
Precision in the handling of routine tasks
Reliability
Increased efficiency and productivity
Economical utilization of machine

Skill Degradation
Overview

Inherent disadvantage of manual flying skill decay through non-practice

Manual Flying Skills

1. Psychomotor skills
o Observable e.g. physical actions

2. Cognitive skills
o Hidden e.g. mental actions
I'm planning, don't disturb me!

Skill Degradation
Psychomotor Skill Degradation

J. M. Childs, Spears, & Prophet, 1983

Performance decay is present

regardless of time-lapse between
training
Performance quickly returns to a
proficiency of 75% in 5 minutes of
practice (Ammons et al., 1958)

Skill Degradation
Cognitive Skill Degradation
Cognitive processing is a crucial skill involved in every aspect of flight

o Mental models help!

The series model of pilot control (adapted from McRuer, 1982)

Over-reliance of the automation inhibits the pilots ability to develop

robust mental models for manually aircraft control ( Ebbatson, 2009)

Skill Degradation
General Evidence for Skill Degradation
9
8
7
6
5

# of evidence out of 31

4
3
2
1
0
-5

-4

-3

-2

-1

Rating Strength of Existing Evidence

(Adapted from Research Integrations Inc., 1997-2007)

Skill Degradation
Accident Analysis Data
Errors
Skill-Based
o

Visual scanning
breakdowns
o Poor technique
o Over-controlling the aircraft

Accident records
NTSB
o

Commercial Aviation
o 1990 -1996

of aircraft accidents
63.6%
o
Shappel & Wiegmann, (2000)

1 skill-based error
o Constant over 7-year
period

Skill Degradation
Case study of Colgan Air Flight 3407

February 12th, 2009

Continental Connection
Bombardier Dash-8 Q400

Situation Awareness
Why Situation Awareness

The most frequent causal factor of all

accidents (41 percent) was lack of
positional awareness in the air.
o

(UK CAA Global Fatal

Review 1980 - 2007)

6
5

Accident

The second most common primary

causal factor was lack of positional
awareness in the air, generally
resulting in controlled flight into
terrain
o

(Flight Safety Digest December

2004March 2005. Special FSF
Report: Killers in Aviation)

# of evidence out of 16

3
2
1
0
-5 -4 -3 -2 -1 0 1 2 3 4 5

Rating Strength of Existing Evidence

(Adapted from Research Integrations Inc., 1997-2007)

Situation Awareness
What is Situation Awareness?
the perception of the elements in the
environment within a volume of time
and space, the comprehension of their
meaning, and the projection of their
status in the near future.
(Mica Endsley, 1988)

Situation Awareness
Levels of Situation Awareness
Seek and combine data into
meaningful information (Level 1 : perception)

Updating the model

2
Understanding

Understand what the information

means (Level 2 : comprehension)

Comparison with
1

Use your understanding to think

Scanning

ahead and reconsider the plan

Gathering data

(Level 3 : projection)

3
Thinking ahead

mental models

Feedback, check, monitor

Situation Awareness
What Factors Reduce Situation Awareness?
Workload
Degraded operating
conditions
Pattern Recognition
Crew issue
Communication
Attention

Situation Awareness
How does Automation Impact Loss of SA?
Vigilance, Complacency and Monitoring
Active vs. Passive Role
Feedback
Lack of understanding of automation

Sometimes you see only half of the picture

but need all of it to understand the situation

Workload
Humans have limited capacity for:

Processing information. (display,

alarm, communication,
documentation)

Holding items in memory

Making decisions

Performing tasks

Workload
Excess Workload can result in
human performance issues such as:
Slower task performance
Errors such as slips, lapses and
mistakes

Under-load can result in:

Boredom
Loss of situation awareness
reduced alertness

Workload
Measures of Workload
Subjective Ratings
Physiological Measures
Performance measures

Workload
Multi Attribute Task Battery (MATB)

System Monitoring

Tracking

Communications

Resource management

Workload
The Irony of Automation
Counterproductive workload consequences of automation
where;
Automation increases workload when already at its peak
Lowers workload when pilots are under-loaded

Workload
Role Transition
Automation has resulted in
transition of pilot role from
controlling to monitoring
Results in excessive
increase in cognitive
demand
Humans are ill-suited for
monitoring and will
perform poorly

Workload
Cognitive Overhead
Performing extensive
cognitive evaluation of the
benefit of automation
against cost of performing
it manually

Workload
General Evidence for Workload Issues
82 documents
addressed the
impact of
automation on
workload

30
25
20

# of evidence out of 82

15
10

42 of these
documents
asserted
automation can
have adverse effect
on pilot workload

5
0
-5 -4 -3 -2 -1 0

Rating Strength of Existing Evidence

(Adapted from Research Integrations Inc., 1997-2007)

Conclusion
Accident Statistics vs.Phases of Flight

Distribution of fatal accidents by flight phase for 1998-2007 (Boeing, 2008)

Conclusion
Addressing Skill Degradation

Manual handling recency

Challenges
o Operating procedures require
automation
o Pilots flying Internationally are
conscious of their lack of flying
proficiency

Rely on automation

o Pilots are mission-oriented

Take Control
Flip the Switch

Conclusion
Augmented Displays
Display that improves upon reality by superimposing info over actual
environment

Conclusion
Automations to improve SA
Design improvements - Display design capitalizing on spatial relationships

Conclusion
Addressing Workload Issues
Automation should allow for
maintenance of optimal workload
level (neither too high nor too low)
Assessment of workload under
automation should consider both
steady state and transient operating
conditions
Task redistribution between team
members offsets workload;
automation driven single pilot
operation concept needs to be
approached with caution

Conclusion
Addressing Workload Issues
Automation workload
assessment should
consider visual and
auditory input, cognitive
activity and psychomotor
skills
The 4D resource theory
can be used as a design
input while developing
human-machine interfaces
to reduce pilot workload

Conclusion
Task Allocation Strategies
Design Time (Static)
System designer sets the
level of automation.

Adaptive Automation
Contextual allocation based
on performance tracking

Adaptable Automation
Automation is a subordinate
that collaborates with the
human.

Conclusion
Tasking Interface for Adaptable Automation
User Interface
Analysis and Planning
Component

Conclusion
Proof of Concept for Adaptive Automation

Questions?