Integrated support based on task models for the design, evaluation, and documentation of interactive safety-critical systems: a case study in the air traffic control domain

This paper presents an approach to using task models in both the design and the evaluation phases of interactive safety-critical applications. We explain how it is possible to use information contained in task models for supporting the design and development of effective user interfaces. Moreover, we show how task models can also support a systematic inspection-based usability assessment by examining possible deviations that can occur while users interact with the system, an important issue especially when coping with the peculiar requirements of safety-critical applications. Such evaluation provides useful technical documentation in order to help users achieve an in-depth understanding of the system and its design rationale. Lastly, a description of the application of our approach to a real case study in the air traffic control domain will illustrate the main features of the proposed method. In particular, we discuss examples taken from an application for air traffic controllers in an aerodrome supported by graphical user interfaces for data-link communications with pilots.