Situation Awareness Information Requirements Analysis for En Route Air Traffic Control

Situation awareness is a fundamental requirement for effective air traffic control forming the basis for controller decision making and performance. To develop a better understanding of the role of situation awareness in air traffic control, an analysis was performed to determine the specific situation awareness requirements for air traffic control. This was conducted as a goal-direct task analysis in which the major goals, subgoals, decisions and associated situation awareness requirements for En Route Air Traffic Control (ATC) were delineated based on elicitation from eight experienced Air Traffic Control Specialists. This effort was supported by available task analyses and video-tapes of simulated air traffic control tasks. A determination of the major situation awareness requirements for En Route ATC was developed from this analysis, providing a foundation for future system development which seeks to enhance controller situation awareness and provides a basis for the development of situation awareness measures for air traffic control.