Three-Dimensional Displays for Terrain and Weather Awareness in the National Airspace System

Abstract

Three experiments are reported in which participants (air traffic controllers, Experiments 1 and 2; pilots, Experiment 3) were required to guide an aircraft around the hazards of terrain (Experiment 1) and weather (Experiments 2 and 3), using either 2D (planar) or 3D (perspective) displays. In Experiment 2, air traffic controllers, but not pilots, were less accurate in projecting tracks around terrain with the 3D display than with the 2D display. In Experiment 2, there was little difference between display formats in their ability to support safe vectoring around weather. In Experiment 3, pilots took slightly longer to plan a route around weather with the 3D display, and did so with equivalent accuracy to the 2D display. In all three experiments, the 3D display supported creation of paths that were slightly longer, and skirted the hazard by a wider margin than did the 2D display.