Representing Three-Dimensional Airspace on a Two-Dimensional screen : Visualizing altitude information on a radar screen for a decreased cognitive load

Abstract: This study was conducted at the Swedish Defense research agency as an attempt to understand affordances and limitations in visualizing altitude information for fighter controllers. The fighter controllers are subject to large quantities of numerical information from multiple sources simultaneously. Their duties are highly stressful and require large mental workload and situational awareness. Today, a large portion of information is represented visually, except for altitude. The altitude of a jet is represented only numerically on the screen, next to the icon representing an airplane. This thesis attempts to aid the users in their tasks, by determining if interactive visual information could benefit the current system. This study resulted in one prototype, where height was represented in three different ways, one using color coordination, one using different sizes and one mimicked the current numerical representation. These variations were evaluated in a user study, consisting of semi structured interviews along with benchmark tests. None of the suggested visual cues could be demonstrated as more efficient than the current representation, but a majority of participants preferred the version using varying sizes as this was considered more intuitive and held less limitations than the other version. Future research is encouraged as to successfully determine if altitude information can be visually represented for a decreased mental workload.