Impact of spatial orientation ability on air traffic conflict detection in a simulated free route airspace environment
In the selection of job candidates who have the mental ability to become professional ATCOs, psychometric testing has been a ubiquitous activity in the ATM domain. To contribute to psychometric research in the ATM domain, we investigated the extent to which spatial orientation ability (SOA), as conc...
| Main Authors: | , , , |
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| Other Authors: | |
| Format: | Journal Article |
| Language: | English |
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2022
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| Online Access: | https://hdl.handle.net/10356/156007 |
| _version_ | 1811694832385523712 |
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| author | Zhong, Jimmy Y. Goh, Sim Kuan Woo, Chuan Jie Alam, Sameer |
| author2 | School of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering |
| author_facet | School of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Zhong, Jimmy Y. Goh, Sim Kuan Woo, Chuan Jie Alam, Sameer |
| author_sort | Zhong, Jimmy Y. |
| collection | NTU |
| description | In the selection of job candidates who have the mental ability to become professional ATCOs, psychometric testing has been a ubiquitous activity in the ATM domain. To contribute to psychometric research in the ATM domain, we investigated the extent to which spatial orientation ability (SOA), as conceptualized in the spatial cognition and navigation literature, predicted air traffic conflict detection performance in a simulated free route airspace (FRA) environment. The implementation of free route airspace (FRA) over the past few years, notably in Europe, have facilitated air traffic services by giving greater flexibility to aviation operators in planning and choosing preferred air routes that can lead to quicker arrivals. FRA offers enhanced system safety and efficiency, but these benefits can be outweighed by the introduction of air traffic conflicts that are geometrically more complex. Such conflicts can arise from increased number and distribution of conflict points, as well as from elevated uncertainty in aircraft maneuvering (for instance, during heading changes). Overall, these issues will make conflict detection more challenging for air traffic controllers (ATCOs). Consequently, there is a need to select ATCOs with suitably high levels of spatial orientation ability (SOA) to ensure flight safety under FRA implementation. In this study, we tested 20 participants who are eligible for ATCO job application, and found that response time-based performance on a newly developed, open access, computerized spatial orientation test (SOT) predicted time to loss of minimum separation (tLMS) performance on an air traffic conflict detection task (AT-CDT) we designed. We found this predictive relationship to be significant to a moderately large extent under scenarios with high air traffic density (raw regression coefficient = 0.58). Moreover, we demonstrated our AT-CDT as a valid test in terms of eliciting well-known mental workload and spatial learning effects. We explained these findings in light of similar or overlapping mental processes that were most likely activated optimally under task conditions featuring approximately equal numbers of outcome-relevant stimuli. We conclude by discussing the further application of the SOT to the selection of prospective ATCOs who can demonstrate high levels of conflict detection performance in FRA during training simulations. |
| first_indexed | 2024-10-01T07:13:50Z |
| format | Journal Article |
| id | ntu-10356/156007 |
| institution | Nanyang Technological University |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-10-01T07:13:50Z |
| publishDate | 2022 |
| record_format | dspace |
| spelling | ntu-10356/1560072022-04-16T20:10:20Z Impact of spatial orientation ability on air traffic conflict detection in a simulated free route airspace environment Zhong, Jimmy Y. Goh, Sim Kuan Woo, Chuan Jie Alam, Sameer School of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Air Traffic Management Research Institute Engineering::Aeronautical engineering::Air navigation Air Traffic Management Conflict Detection Psychometric Testing Spatial Orientation Spatial Navigation In the selection of job candidates who have the mental ability to become professional ATCOs, psychometric testing has been a ubiquitous activity in the ATM domain. To contribute to psychometric research in the ATM domain, we investigated the extent to which spatial orientation ability (SOA), as conceptualized in the spatial cognition and navigation literature, predicted air traffic conflict detection performance in a simulated free route airspace (FRA) environment. The implementation of free route airspace (FRA) over the past few years, notably in Europe, have facilitated air traffic services by giving greater flexibility to aviation operators in planning and choosing preferred air routes that can lead to quicker arrivals. FRA offers enhanced system safety and efficiency, but these benefits can be outweighed by the introduction of air traffic conflicts that are geometrically more complex. Such conflicts can arise from increased number and distribution of conflict points, as well as from elevated uncertainty in aircraft maneuvering (for instance, during heading changes). Overall, these issues will make conflict detection more challenging for air traffic controllers (ATCOs). Consequently, there is a need to select ATCOs with suitably high levels of spatial orientation ability (SOA) to ensure flight safety under FRA implementation. In this study, we tested 20 participants who are eligible for ATCO job application, and found that response time-based performance on a newly developed, open access, computerized spatial orientation test (SOT) predicted time to loss of minimum separation (tLMS) performance on an air traffic conflict detection task (AT-CDT) we designed. We found this predictive relationship to be significant to a moderately large extent under scenarios with high air traffic density (raw regression coefficient = 0.58). Moreover, we demonstrated our AT-CDT as a valid test in terms of eliciting well-known mental workload and spatial learning effects. We explained these findings in light of similar or overlapping mental processes that were most likely activated optimally under task conditions featuring approximately equal numbers of outcome-relevant stimuli. We conclude by discussing the further application of the SOT to the selection of prospective ATCOs who can demonstrate high levels of conflict detection performance in FRA during training simulations. Civil Aviation Authority of Singapore (CAAS) National Research Foundation (NRF) Published version This research is supported by the National Research Foundation, Singapore, and the Civil Aviation Authority of Singapore,under the Aviation Transformation Programme. 2022-04-11T08:21:23Z 2022-04-11T08:21:23Z 2022 Journal Article Zhong, J. Y., Goh, S. K., Woo, C. J. & Alam, S. (2022). Impact of spatial orientation ability on air traffic conflict detection in a simulated free route airspace environment. Frontiers in Human Neuroscience, 16, 739866-. https://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fnhum.2022.739866 1662-5161 https://hdl.handle.net/10356/156007 10.3389/fnhum.2022.739866 16 739866 en Frontiers in Human Neuroscience © 2022 Zhong, Goh, Woo and Alam. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms. application/pdf |
| spellingShingle | Engineering::Aeronautical engineering::Air navigation Air Traffic Management Conflict Detection Psychometric Testing Spatial Orientation Spatial Navigation Zhong, Jimmy Y. Goh, Sim Kuan Woo, Chuan Jie Alam, Sameer Impact of spatial orientation ability on air traffic conflict detection in a simulated free route airspace environment |
| title | Impact of spatial orientation ability on air traffic conflict detection in a simulated free route airspace environment |
| title_full | Impact of spatial orientation ability on air traffic conflict detection in a simulated free route airspace environment |
| title_fullStr | Impact of spatial orientation ability on air traffic conflict detection in a simulated free route airspace environment |
| title_full_unstemmed | Impact of spatial orientation ability on air traffic conflict detection in a simulated free route airspace environment |
| title_short | Impact of spatial orientation ability on air traffic conflict detection in a simulated free route airspace environment |
| title_sort | impact of spatial orientation ability on air traffic conflict detection in a simulated free route airspace environment |
| topic | Engineering::Aeronautical engineering::Air navigation Air Traffic Management Conflict Detection Psychometric Testing Spatial Orientation Spatial Navigation |
| url | https://hdl.handle.net/10356/156007 |
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