Are We Flooding Pilots with Data? – Effects of Situational Awareness Automation Support Concepts on Decision-Making in Modern Military Air Operations

Abstract

Within highly dynamic situations, the amount of relevant information that a pilot needs to process to make an informed decision can be substantial. With an ever increasing amount of data available to the pilot there is a real risk that not all relevant data can be taken into consideration, or that this process exceeds the time available. To maintain the operational effectiveness of pilots and other military aviation operators in the face of these developments, a prototype system was developed that aims to support the operator in the development of Situational Awareness (SA) by deriving essential information from the large body of data and presenting this to the user in an efficient Human Machine Interface (HMI). Extrapolation of data allows the user to preview the effects of changes and adapt accordingly. Results of a human-in-the-loop simulation exercise are presented in this paper, along with potential concept issues.