ABSTRACT
Operatorsparticularlyinthedomainofairtransportation(pilots,air-traffic controllers)needtoprocesshugeamountsofdatathatemergeinahighlydynamic, distributed,andreal-timeenvironment.Operatorshavetointegratethisdatainto meaningfulassessmentwithrespecttotheirtaskgoalsandtransformthisinto efficientandcoordinatedaction.Automationtechnologyhasprovensuccessfulat compensatingforconstraintsimposedbyhumanvulnerabilitiesandlimitationsin informationprocessingandataugmentingtheoverallsystemperformanceinterms ofsafetyandefficiency.Theexpectedincreaseinairtravelandtheresulting increasingdemandonamoreefficientuseofairtransportationresources(airspace, airports)arecrucialdrivingforcesforacomprehensiveinnovationofairtraffic managementandtheimplementationofadvancedautomationtechnologyinthe UnitedStates(Wickens,Mavor,Parasuraman,&McGee,1998)andEurope (Eurocontrol,1998).Becauseoftheabove-mentionedkeycharacteristicofthe workingcontextofpilotsandair-trafficcontrollerstheirjobisforemostcognitive andcollaborative.Therefore,thenatureofsupporttobeprovidedbyautomation shouldbecognitiveandcollaborative.Intheprocessofautomationsomeofthis activityistransferredtoamachine,typicallyacomputeroranetworkof computers.Thiscreatessomesortofsharing,i.e.partitioningtheactivitybetween humansandmachinesintroducinganewdemandonco-ordinationbetweenboth agents.Giventhecapabilityoftoday'sautomationtechnologymoreandmore aspectsofcognitiveandcollaborativeactivitycanprincipallybetransferredtothe machine.Therefore:'Thequestionisnolongerwhetheroneoranotherfunction canbeautomatedbut,rather,whetheritshouldbe.'(Wiener&Curry,1980, p.995).Theattempttobasethisdecisiononacarefulanddeliberateevaluationof theconsequencesofautomationonhumanperformancetoenableoptimaljoint human-machinecognitiveandcollaborativeperformanceisatthecoreofahumancentreddesignofautomation.
