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Meeting	ACGS Committee Meeting 97 - Tahoe - March 2006
Agenda Location	7 SUBCOMMITTEE D - DYNAMICS, COMPUTATIONS AND ANALYSIS 7.4 Man/Machine Interface Design for Transport Aircraft
Title	Man/Machine Interface Design for Transport Aircraft
Presenter	Reni van Paassen
Affiliation	Delft University of Technology
Available Downloads*	presentation
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Abstract	Demands on the capability of aircraft to be able to operate in busier airspace than before, operate with all-weather capability and at an increased safety level. To cope with such demands, the crew at the flight deck needs support from advanced automation and advanced displays. Computer technology and interface hardware allow great freedom in the choice of display presentations. Most constraints imposed by technology on the display presentation format are now lifted. The challenge for the display designer is now to find presentation formats that optimally support the pilot's (mostly cognitive) tasks. Three levels of display design can be distinguished: • Physical ergonomics; attention to colors, readability, clarity, unambiguous symbols, etc. • Integration and configuration; integrated presentations, such as primary flight displaypresentations, where all necessary variables for the control task can be observed with minimal effort, and also the application of configural displays, that not only efficiently present parameters, but also, e.g.,. through alignment of engine display parameters, allow checks at a more global level. • Effective support of cognitive work; the display presentation should become a “spreadsheet” for performing the cognitive work of the crew. Constraints on the operation of the aircraft, whether arising from the vehicle's limitations or from the environment should be shown in such a manner that a strategy for control of the vehicle can be found. Ecological Interface Design Ecological Interface Design (EID) is an approach to the design of interfaces for cognitive work. It starts by considering the work domain; the purpose of the work and the set of tools that is available for accomplishing this purpose. The work domain and its constraints are first mapped in the Abstraction Hierarchy (AH), a stratified hierarchy that describes the multiple layers of means and ends in the work domain. Starting from the AH, the work situation is further “designed”, by devising possible paths along which the work may performed (tasks) and by factoring in the personnel and environment in which these tasks must be performed. In a last step, which still requires considerable creativity, an interface is designed that takes the constraints identified with the AH and visualizes these to the operators. Obviously, the design is not only about the interface, but more about the work and work domain. A more encompassing term for this approach is “Cognitive Systems Engineering” (CSE). EID and CSE started for process control plants. The application to vehicle systems, such as aircraft, required careful re-consideration of the basic premises for EID. The differences between the two domains are analyzed, and an adapted approach is proposed. Example case 1: Airborne conflict avoidance In this case, the potential for distributed airborne conflict avoidance is considered with CSE. It appears that the choice made for formulation of the basic mechanism of locomotion significantly influences the resulting display design. This design shows the work domain in such a manner that conflict avoidance maneuvers that combine speed and heading changes can be easily implemented by the flight crew. Example case 2: Visualization of energy This case adds an energy visualization to a synthetic vision primary flight display. The key in this case was the expression of the work domain purpose in terms of energy. Energy visualization provides a better link between the aircraft's control inputs and the purpose of the control tasks. Reformalizing these purposes in the form of potential and kinetic energy, instead of speed and altitude, enables the integration of these parameters in a single display dimension. Conclusions Cognitive Systems Engineering and Ecological Interface Design provide major new opportunities in the design of flight deck interfaces. Beyond the optimization of displays for legibility, and the optimization in terms of integration of the presentation, displays can now be improved to support the cognitive work of the flight deck crew. In recent work, we have been exploring additional flight crew tasks, and have also been applying this method to the maritime domain. We have recently started several projects to validate the designs created with EID. Recommended Literature On Abstraction Hierarchy and Ecological Interface Design: Recommended Literature On Abstraction Hierarchy and Ecological Interface Design: Cognitive Work Analysis : Toward Safe, Productive, and Healthy Computer-Based Work by Kim J. Vicente A “gentle” introduction: The Human Factor; Revolutionizing the Way People Live with Technology by Kim Vincente (Hardcover - Feb 20, 2004) On interface example 1: EID of a Pilot Support System for Airborne Separation Assurance (2005) Van Dam, S. B. J., Abeloos, A. L. M., Mulder, M. and van Paassen, M. M., Proceedings of the 13th International Symposium on Aviation Psychology pp 585—591, Oklahoma, April 2005 On interface example 2: Theoretical Foundations for a Total Energy-Based Perspective Flight-Path Display M atthijs H. J . A melink , M ax M ulder , M . M. (Rene) v an Paassen , J ohn F lach International Journal of Aviation Psychology, Vol. 15, No. 3: pages 205-231. 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