North Carolina State University researchers have modified a technology that helps pilots of small aircrafts to prevent mid-air collisions.

The modified technology significantly enhanced apilot's response time in making important decisions when compared to the old version of the technology.

Cockpit Displays of Traffic Information (CDTI) are GPS displays used by private pilots to keep a track of other aircrafts in their vicinity. Pilots often closely track the closest aircraft on the display; a habit that experts believe can risk the safety of their flight.

For example, if a pilot of Plane A spots two planes on the CDTI, he/she is more likely to fixate on the closest aircraft (Plane B) rather than the distant one (Plane C). But, if Plane C is travelling faster than Plane B, it carries a heightened risk of mid-air collision with Plane A.

Researchers modified the CDTI in such a way that the display emits information on planes that would cross their path first by either blinking or beaming color yellow.

"Our goal was to modify a CDTI to help pilots recognize which other planes pose the greatest risk," said Carl Pankok, lead author of a study on the work and a Ph.D. student in the Edward P. Fitts Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering, in a press release. "And it worked."

The researchers tested the modified CDTI in a flight simulator with a panel of licensed recreational pilots. They compared the pilots' response time and decision-making accuracy in experiments using the modified and unmodified displays.

"These pilots were already pretty good, but the modified CDTIs made them better," Pankok said. "Their percentage of 'correct' decisions -- minimizing risk -- jumped from 88 percent to 96 percent. And their response times in scenarios where the farther aircraft was the higher-risk aircraft were cut in half; from 7.2 seconds to 3.7 seconds for blinking CDTIs, and to 4 seconds for yellow CDTIs.