Theory and Design of Adaptive Automation in Aviation Systems

Abstract

Recent technological advances have made viable the implementation of intelligent automation in advanced tactical aircraft. The use of this technology has given rise to new human factors issues and concerns. Errors in highly automated aircraft have been linked to the adverse effects of automation on the pilot's system awareness, monitoring workload, and ability to revert to manual control. However adaptive automation, or automation that is implemented dynamically in response to changing task demands on the pilot, has been proposed to be superior to systems with fixed, or static automation. This report examines several issues concerning the theory and design of adaptive automation in aviation systems, particularly as applied to advanced tactical aircraft. An analysis of the relative costs and benefits of conventional (static) aviation automation provides the starting point for the development of a theory of adaptive automation. This analysis includes a review of the empirical studies investigating effects of automation on pilot performance. The main concepts of adaptive automation are then introduced, and four major methods for implementing adaptive automation in the advanced cockpit are described and discussed. Aircraft Automation, Pilot Situational Awareness, Aviation Human Factors, Pilot Workload.