Toward User Experience in ATC: Exploring Novel Interface Concepts for Air Traffic Control

Abstract Air traffic control (ATC) is a safety-critical, cooperative work domain, which faces usability challenges due to technology driven development in the past. In this work, we followed a user-centered design process to explore how novel interaction concepts increase user experience in ATC. Based on controllers’ needs we envisioned one unified interface together with three possible interaction concepts (the mouse interface, flight-dial and tangible interface) addressing different aspects of ATC. We prototypically implemented the interaction concepts and iterated each prototype based on feedback from 24 controllers. Qualitative data from these iterative formative evaluations indicated that controllers prefer interfaces that are efficient to use, minimalistic, customizable and context sensitive. A summative evaluation (N = 12) showed that the hedonic quality of all three concepts were higher compared to the system currently in use. Our results and insights can provide guidance and inspiration for the future design of ATC interfaces.