Abstract
We report on the analysis of subjective mental workload (WL) and objective task load (TL) measurements of a Multiple Remote Tower Operation (MRTO) simulation experiment with 12 air traffic control officers (ATCos). The experiment was performed as part of a project for the development of a remote tower center (RTC) for the centralized control of several airports (APs) from afar (Fürstenau, Virtual and remote control tower. Springer, Switzerland, 2016). Specifically, we were interested in the question if being responsible for two or more traffic systems at the same time, causes workload independently from actual traffic load. Subjective WL was measured by means of the one-dimensional quasi real time Instantaneous Self Assessment method (five level ISA scale) whereas objective TL data were obtained online by monitoring ATCo’s communication with pilots (radio calls frequency RC and duration RD), both dependent on the environmental traffic load n. In addition to variance analysis (ANOVA) for quantifying linear correlations (WL/TL~n) a new cognitive resource limitation model for nonlinear (logistic) regression-based parameter estimates was applied to the data (Fürstenau et al., Theor Issues Ergon Sci, 2020). ANOVA results supported initially stated hypotheses on significant increase of subjective and objective WL/TL measures with increasing traffic flow n, as well as a WL increase under transition from one controller per airport (baseline) to two-airport control by a single ATCo (Lange et al., Analyse des Zusammenhangs zwischen dem Workload von Towerlotsen und objektiven Arbeitsparametern, 2011). Furthermore, a hypothesized mediator effect of communication TL was determined, mediating the dependency of ISA-WL on traffic load n. The extension of the of the (linear) ANOVA by the (nonlinear) logistic model-based analysis of ISA(n) and RC(n) data allowed for the quantification of theoretically founded WL/TL sensitivity (ν/ρ) and bias parameters, the latter characterizing the difference between work conditions. The validity of the regression-based parameter estimates was supported by the theoretical prediction of model parameters based on prior information (e.g. scale limits). Estimates of the nonlinear model parameters quantified the dissociation between the subjective WL and objective communication load measures. Derived from the assumption of cognitive resource limitation the logistic model provides a theoretical foundation for the discussion of the initially stated hypotheses regarding WL/TL characteristics. Specifically, a stimulus (RC)—response (ISA) power law analysis according to (Fürstenau and Radüntz, Power law model for subjective mental workload and validation through air-traffic control human-in-the-loop simulation, 2021) allowed via the Stevens exponent γ(=ρ/ν) to formalize and quantify the assumed mediator role of the objective communication TL between traffic flow and the subjective ISA-WL response.
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Acknowledgements
We are indebted to Michael Lange and Christoph Möhlenbrink who together with one of the authors (A.P.) were responsible for the design and realization of the experiment and initial data analysis. The RTC work environment including hard and software was designed and realized by Markus Schmidt, Michael Rudolph, and Tristan Schindler. For data pre-processing we are indebted to Michael Lange who was also responsible for content analysis of communication data. Monika Mittendorf realized most of the Matlab® code for data analysis and provided valuable support for data evaluation. Moreover we thank the simulator crew, Sebastian Schier, Tim Rambau, Andreas Nadobnik, Frank Morlang, and Jens Hampe for competent realization of the simulation experiment including raw data acquisition and training of pseudo-pilots.
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Appendix
Here we present the measured pre-processed ISA and RC data as dependent on traffic load n. The numerical values represent averages across participants which are clustered with regard to equal traffic load n within 2 min time intervals (Table A1).
Because ATCO team 1 had to be excluded due to missing ISA data and in addition some individual cases (2 min intervals) had to be excluded due to missing data the original data volume of 728 distinct measurement pairs of ISA (AC, RC, Load) per 2 min interval was reduced to 405 cases for the initial ANOVA data analysis (Lange et al., 2011). For the shared task condition with two controllers (c = 1) only the workload ratings from the ATCO responsible for the communication with pilots was included in the evaluation (Tables A2, A3).
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Fürstenau, N., Papenfuss, A. (2022). Model Based Analysis of Subjective Mental Workload During Multiple Remote Tower Human-In-The-Loop Simulations. In: Fürstenau, N. (eds) Virtual and Remote Control Tower. Research Topics in Aerospace. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-93650-1_13
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