Complexity and Automation Displays of Air Traffic Control: Literature Review and Analysis

Abstract

This report reviewed a number of measures of complexity associated with visual displays and analyzed the potential to apply these methods to assess the complexity of air traffic control (ATC) displays. Through the literature review, we identified three basic complexity factors: numeric size, variety, and rules. Essentially, all the complexity measures could be described by these factors. Through the analysis of available complexity measures, we showed that neither information complexity that focused on the system nor cognitive complexity that aimed at observers could provide a complete description for ATC application. The great variety in complexity measures reflected the fact that the contribution of each of the three factors to overall complexity depended on how information is processed by users. We generalized that complexity is the integration of the observer with the three basic factors. Therefore, to develop objective complexity measures for ATC displays, the methods presented in this report need to be integrated with the ATC display specifications.

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