Air traffic control (ATC) is a safety-critical domain that requires sustained visual monitoring, rapid decision-making, and efficient coordination across multiple information sources. However, cognitive fatigue can significantly alter visual attention patterns, reduce situational awareness, and increase the risk of missing critical information during prolonged monitoring tasks. This project investigates how fatigue interacts with interface design to influence user behavior, performance, and usability in ATC-like environments, with the goal of informing resilient human-system interface design.
- Develops a controlled experimental framework using an open-source ATC simulation to evaluate user interaction under fatigue and non-fatigue conditions. The study integrates multimodal data streams—including eye-tracking metrics (fixations, visits, saccades), performance outcomes (departure success, collision events), subjective workload (NASA-TLX), usability (SUS), and think-aloud protocols—to comprehensively assess how fatigue impacts visual search behavior and system interaction.
- Identifies a fatigue-induced attentional tunneling effect, where users shift attention away from peripheral information panels (e.g., Info and SystemMessage) toward the central radar display, leading to denser but narrower visual processing. This shift increases coordination costs across interface regions and reduces the likelihood of accessing critical supporting information, revealing key usability vulnerabilities in distributed interface designs.
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Generates evidence-based, human-centered design recommendations to improve interface resilience under fatigue, including:
- Restructuring the information panel for clearer flight status visibility
- Enhancing radar-based visual cues for proactive conflict detection
- Strengthening interaction between interface components through aircraft-linked coordination.