ABSTRACT
This chapter reviews the situation awareness (SA) and its measurement and how the concept has been applied to evaluation of potential NextGen concepts and technologies for air traffic control (ATC). It discusses some of the key areas of human factors research that have been carried out, focusing on SA and best practices for training student ATCos in the use of NextGen technologies. ATC is a highly complex activity that requires air traffic controllers (ATCos) to interact with various technical and social elements of a system. The main functions of an ATCo include maintaining the safety of flight by keeping AC separate from each other, making traffic flow efficiently, and providing traffic and weather information to pilots. In terms of ATC operations, controllers will often offload crucial information about flights by annotating flight progress strips. The chapter deals with students studying to be ATCos, and how their training can be affected by the introduction of NextGen tools and concepts.
