Evaluating Visualization Modes for Closely-Spaced Parallel Approaches

Abstract

Raytheon's TACEC (Terminal Area Capacity Enhancement Concept) proposes to increase airspace capacity by using closely-spaced formations of arriving and departing aircraft to greatly increase airport capacities. However, a blunder in a tightly-spaced formation could cause a collision with another aircraft or its wake vortices. Therefore, humans need tools and visualization aids to detect and respond to blunders. This paper is the first in a series of experiments to evaluate the ability of different visualization modes to enable detection of lateral blunders. We tested four viewpoints, one warning aid, and three blunder speeds in a within-subjects design. This study had twelve participants. The main result was that changing the viewpoint made a large difference; the cockpit view was by far the worst. Blunder detection varied by speed and was difficult in the presence of noise. Future experiments should use more realistic simulators and pilots as participants.