Mapping the Decision-Making Process of Conflict Detection and Resolution in En-Route Control: An Eye-tracking based approach

The objective of en-route control is to ensure minimum separation between aircraft in the sector under all circumstances. Exploring and understanding the related work patterns of air traffic controllers on how to successfully perform this task is crucial for the future development and implementation of automation solutions. Future automation must match the logic of decision making and the need for information at the right time in identifying and resolving conflicts. The objective of this paper is to identify “decision cues” that are relevant during decision-making and its relation to the controller’s intention. A retrospective think aloud method was applied in which en-route controllers commented their own work behaviour after playing a simple conflict scenario in the simulator. A set of decision cues were identified using 13 controllers and classified using a Conflict Life Cycle-model, dividing the task into four work steps. The result shows clear differences in the compilation of decision cues used between work steps. Large differences were found among controllers, indicating personal preferences in consideration of information, timing, and chosen conflict resolution. The results further show that the “conflict resolution probing” step is the most challenging task because it contains the most decision cues. The high inter-individual variance in the cue composition of this step indicates a high degree of individual skill development on which the adoption and selection of conflict solutions is based. The results support the future hypothesis-driven verification of controllers’ work pattern and intention of decision-making and related automated solutions.