PS1 and add-ons used in FAA-funded study

[Jeroen Hoppenbrouwers]

All text is a verbatim quote from the report, available at the bottom in PDF

The goal of the experiment was to gain insight into the potential loss of situational awareness that could arise from the switch from radio-based verbal communications between pilots and controllers to the delivery of non-time-critical information through data communications (Data Comm).

Specifically, this study was designed to examine the effect that loss of the party line and changes to the delivery format for clearances and other flight-relevant information would have on pilot situational awareness (as measured by the Situation Awareness Global Assessment Technique (SAGAT) and the Situational Awareness Rating Technique (SART)) and workload (as measured by the NASA Task Load Index (NASA-TLX)).



The experiment was run using four linked computers. Three computers were in the room with the two pilots. Figure 1 shows the configuration of the computers. The left-most monitor displayed the cockpit, which was a simulated Boeing 747-400 aircraft (using AeroWinX). This computer was controlled by the flying pilot. The right-most monitor displayed the cockpit to the non-flying pilot for reference. The center monitor displayed up to three different windows, depending on the condition, of a main computer display unit (MCDU) that was connected to the cockpit via a broker. One window, FMS Display, allowed the non-flying pilot to access the same features as in a standard cockpit flight management system (FMS), such as making changes to the route. The second window, ATC Messages, displayed all the standardized Data Comm messages from ATC to the pilot participants. The last window, TELEX Messages, was used to display Data Comm messages between ATC and other simulated aircraft.  These last two windows were only used for the Data Comm conditions with the third window only used for the party line, Data Comm condition. On the ATC side, the ACARS ATC add-in for AeroWinX was installed to manage the data communication. Both, standardized and free text messages, were sent through this system. The average transmission time was about five seconds.
 
For voice communication, Roger Wilco was used. This program simulates a two-way radio activated by keystroke. Both pilots were able to hear the live ATC voice messages, but the non-flying pilot was responsible for communicating with ATC.

http://www.hoppie.nl/tmp/party-line-study.pdf

[Richard McDonald Woods]

Jeroen,

Congratulations on being involved with this experiment using your data comms software.

I was also glad to see references to the Next Generation Air Transportation System about which I have contributed a number of articles to Wikipedia.

Do you know of any follow-on activities in this area?

Cheers, Richard

[Will]

Jeroen, sad to see neither you nor Hardy were present in the "References" section.  Sounds like there's an opportunity for a "methods" paper in an EE journal....

Hoppenbrouwers, J.  Aftermarket 'broker' software facilitates communication between self-contained flight simulation software and third party applications. IEE Proc Circ Dev Syst, 2000, 4, (2), pp. 78-82.