Diagnosticity of an online query technique for measuring pilot situation awareness in nextgen

An online probe technique for measuring situation awareness and workload was evaluated for its ability to detect changes in awareness and workload caused by changes in roles and responsibilities for traffic separation. Three plausible NextGen concepts of operation were evaluated: Pilot primary (pilots responsible for traffic separation), ATC primary (ATC responsible for most traffic separation) and Automation Primary (automated conflict detection and resolution agent responsible for most traffic separation). Pilots were queried about task relevant information throughout a ninety-minute scenario. Queries were categorized into conflict, command and communications, and status information. Situation awareness was measured in terms of response latency and accuracy to the queries. Response latency to conflict queries changed with concept of operation, suggesting that online queries for specific task-relevant information can determine changes in situation awareness for task-specific information.