Comparing display symbology for an advanced air traffic control tower application

Describes experiments that compare air traffic controller performance with two different types of simulated airport radar display formats. The formats differed in the method of presenting aircraft radar returns: analog or digital symbols. Pre-experimental studies examined potential airport tower automation systems and the opinions of various system stakeholders about these automated systems, and then modeled airport operations to discern the impact of these systems on controller workload and airport congestion. Results from the earlier studies helped focus the experiments which concluded that the digital icon format is likely to be better than the analog format at helping controllers accomplish their duties in a timely manner.