Situational Awareness at Different Levels of Abstraction:
The Distributed Cooperative Problem-Solving Domain
of
ATCSCC-Airline Operations


C. Elaine McCoy*
Judith Orasanu**
Philip J. Smith***
Amy Van Horn*
Charles Billings***
Rebecca Denning***
Michelle Rodvold**
Theresa Gee*

* Department of Aviation
Ohio University
Athens, OH 45710

**NASA Ames Research Center
Moffett Field, CA 94035

*** Cognitive Systems Engineering Laboratory
The Ohio State University
210 Baker Systems
1971 Neil Avenue
Columbus, OH 43210

This work has been supported by the FAA Office of the Chief Scientist and Technical Advisor for Human Factors (AAR-100) and NASA Ames Research Center.

Abstract

Situational awareness is most frequently considered as it pertains to an individual's goals and tasks. Distributed and cooperative problem-solving presupposes that the tasks and goals are not only being considered at the level of the individual's perception, but that the task and goals of the larger task group are being cooperatively addressed. Within the three worlds of flight deck, ATC, and airline operations, individuals shift their efforts to help others achieve success, resulting in a team mentality in which the concern becomes how to help the system work better while optimizing individual goals. The distributed, cooperative problem-solving of ATCSCC-Airline Operations is examined as an illustration of how situational awareness can be maintained at different levels of abstraction within a distributed cooperative, problem-solving domain.

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