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Mental Workload in the Explanation of Automation Effects on ATC Performance

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Book cover Human Mental Workload: Models and Applications (H-WORKLOAD 2018)

Part of the book series: Communications in Computer and Information Science ((CCIS,volume 1012))

Abstract

Automation has been introduced more and more into the role of air traffic control (ATC). As with many other areas of human activity, automation has the objective of reducing the complexity of the task so that performance is optimised and safer. However, automation can also have negative effects on cognitive processing and the performance of the controllers. In this paper, we present the progress made at AUTOPACE, a European project in which research is carried out to discover what these negative effects are and to propose measures to mitigate them. The fundamental proposal of the project is to analyse, predict, and mitigate these negative effects by assessing the complexity of ATC in relation to the mental workload experienced by the controller. Hence, a highly complex situation will be one with a high mental workload and a low complex situation will be one in which the mental workload is low.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Mind, Brain, and Behaviour Research Centre, University of Granada, Granada, Spain

    José Juan Cañas & Pedro Ferreira

  2. CRIDA A.I.E ATM R&D + Innovation Reference Centre, Madrid, Spain

    Patricia López de Frutos, Eva Puntero & Elena López

  3. Aerospace Systems, Air Transport and Airports Department, Polytechnic University of Madrid, Madrid, Spain

    Fernando Gómez-Comendador

  4. Industrial Engineering Department, University of Bologna, Forlì, Italy

    Francesca de Crescenzio & Francesca Lucchi

  5. Faculty of Transport and Traffic Engineering, University of Belgrade, Belgrade, Serbia

    Fedja Netjasov & Bojana Mirkovic

Authors
  1. José Juan Cañas
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  2. Pedro Ferreira
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  3. Patricia López de Frutos
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  4. Eva Puntero
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  5. Elena López
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  6. Fernando Gómez-Comendador
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  7. Francesca de Crescenzio
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  8. Francesca Lucchi
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  9. Fedja Netjasov
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  10. Bojana Mirkovic
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Correspondence to José Juan Cañas .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Dublin Institute of Technology, Dublin, Ireland

    Luca Longo

  2. Dublin Institute of Technology, Dublin, Ireland

    M. Chiara Leva

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Cañas, J.J. et al. (2019). Mental Workload in the Explanation of Automation Effects on ATC Performance. In: Longo, L., Leva, M. (eds) Human Mental Workload: Models and Applications. H-WORKLOAD 2018. Communications in Computer and Information Science, vol 1012. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-14273-5_12

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-14273-5_12

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  • Online ISBN: 978-3-030-14273-5

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