Future air traffic management concepts envisage shared decision-making responsibilities
between controllers and pilots, necessitating that controllers be supported
by automated decision aids. Even as automation tools are being introduced, however,
their impact on the air traffic controller is not well understood. The present
experiments examined the effects of an aircraft-to-aircraft conflict decision aid on
performance and mental workload of experienced, full-performance level controllers
in a simulated Free Flight environment. Performance was examined with both reliable
(Experiment 1) and inaccurate automation (Experiment 2). The aid improved
controller performance and reduced mental workload when it functioned reliably.
However, detection of a particular conflict was better under manual conditions than
under automated conditions when the automation was imperfect. Potential or actual
applications of the results include the design of automation and procedures for
future air traffic control systems.