Support in Creating and Maintaining Accurate Process Models

7 Support in Creating and Maintaining Accurate Process Models 

When human controllers are supervising automated controllers, the automation has extra design requirements. The control algorithm used by the automation must be learnable and understandable. Two common design flaws in automated controllers are inconsistent behavior by the automation and unintended side effects. 

Carroll and Olson define a consistent design as one where a similar task or goal is associated with similar or identical actions [35]. Consistent behavior on the part of the automated controller makes it easier for the human providing supervisory control to learn how the automation works, to build an appropriate process model for it, and to anticipate its behavior. 

An example of inconsistency, detected in an A320 simulator study, involved an aircraft go-around below 100 feet above ground level. Sarter and Woods found that pilots failed to anticipate and realize that the autothrust system did not arm when 

Another example of inconsistent automation behavior, which was implicated in an A320 accident, is a protection function that is provided in all automation configurations except the specific mode (in this case altitude acquisition) in which the autopilot was operating [181]. 

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