User talk:Mai S. Ishak

Effects of Display Configuration on Operator Performance in Highly Automated Bridge Systems

Mai S. Ishak

Effects of display configurations on navigation performance in highly automated ship's bridge systems were investigated. Employing a PC-based simulation of a generic ship's bridge environment, comparison was made between performance in integrated and separated radar and chart displays using a prolonged watch, using collision scenarios of different complexity. Participants were trained on navigation and collision avoidance tasks in three 1.5-hour sessions and tested for 4-5 hours in one of the 3 experimental conditions; integrated (ID), spatially separate (SSD) and functionally separate (FSD) where they were required to perform both the primary (navigation and collision avoidance) and secondary (Cargo temperature recordings and oil check) tasks. They were faced with 16 (8 high, 8 low complexity) scenarios. Along side measures of primary and secondary task performance, the mixed design enables us to take subjective measures of operator situation awareness, mental workload, strain, information sampling behavior and system management strategies.

It was predicted that under routine situations operator performance and all subjective measures would not differ across the interfaces. In emergency situations however performance and all subjective measures were predicted to be better in ID condition; decrements in responses to secondary task elements were expected to be higher in FSD and SSD conditions. Alternatively, an absence of primary task decrements in the two separate groups would be associated with reduced response to secondary task elements.

The results showed little in the predicted directions; navigation and collision avoidance performance and subjective measures did not vary with interfaces though track keeping was slightly better in ID condition. Performance and most subjective emasures were however affected by scenario complexity; all measures were better during low complexity scenarios. Watchkeeping duration was found to affect primary task performace, system management strategies, mental workload, situation awareness and fatigue; all of these measures were found to be better with increasing time-on-task, except for fatigue which was pooere over the watchkeeping duration. In general, performance on both primary and secondary tasks was not impaired.

Thesis submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Masters of Science in Industrial Psychology, University of Hull, September 1997

Mai S. Ishak (talk) 10:33, 10 March 2011 (UTC)