Go to the NASA Homepage
Flight Deck Display Research Lab Left-Side Header Image
Publications Sidebar Header
Flight Deck Display Research Lab Image Collage
Publication Header
Air Traffic Controller Performance and Acceptability of Multiple UAS in a Simulated NAS Environment  (2014)
Abstract Header
Previously, we showed that air traffic controllers (ATCos) rated UAS pilot verbal response latencies as acceptable when a 1.5 s delay was added to the UAS pilot responses, but a 5 s delay was rated as mostly unacceptable. In the present study we determined whether a 1.5 s added delay in the UAS pilots' verbal communications would affect ATCos interactions with UAS and other conventional aircraft when the number and speed of the UAS were manipulated. Eight radar-certified ATCos participated in this simulation. The ATCos managed a medium altitude sector containing arrival aircraft, en route aircraft, and one to four UAS. The UAS were conducting a surveillance mission and flew at either a "slow" or "fast speed. We measured both UAS and conventional pilots' verbal communication latencies, and obtained ATCos' acceptability ratings for these latencies. Although the UAS pilot response latencies were longer than those of conventional pilots, the ATCos rated UAS pilot verbal communication latencies to be as acceptable as those of conventional pilots. Because the overall traffic load within the sector was held constant, ATCos only performed slightly worse when multiple UAS were in their sector compared to when only one UAS was in the sector. Implications of these findings for UAS integration in the NAS are discussed.
Private Investigators Header
Authors Header
Groups Header
none
Keywords Header
Acceptability, Air, Controller, Environment, human-in- the-loop, measured response, Multiple, NAS, Performance, Simulated, simulation, Traffic, UAS, Unmanned Aerial Systems
References Header
Proceedings of the HCI-AERO 2014 conference, Silicon Valley, California, July 30-August 1, 2014
Download Header
Adobe PDF Icon  Vu_et_al_2014.pdf (Download Acrobat Reader Click to download Adobe Acrabat Reader)
  (334KB) (application/pdf)
Go to the First Gov Homepage
Go to the NASA - National Aeronautics and Space Administration Homepage
Curator: Phil So
NASA Official: Walter Johnson
Last Updated: August 15, 2019