SITUATIONAL AWARENESS METRIC FOR COCKPIT INTERFACE EVALUATION

THE PRIMARY OBJECTIVE OF THE PHASE I EFFORT IS TO EVALUATE THE FEASIBILITY OF DEVELOPING A SITUATIONAL AWARENESS METRIC FOR ADVANCED COCKPIT CONFIGURATION EVALUATION. THE APPROACH WILL CENTER ON THE SPECIFICATION AND USE OF AN INTEGRATED HUMAN-MACHINE MODEL OF THE OVERALL CREW/VEHICLE SYSTEM, AND ACCOUNT FOR THE HUMAN'S PERCEPTUAL PROCESSING, DATA FUSION, SITUATION ASSESSMENT, AND DECISION MAKING FUNCTIONS. THE MODEL WILL BE USED TO GENERATE AN ESTIMATE OF THE PILOT'S INTERNAL ASSESSMENT OF THE SITUATION, WHICH WILL THEN BE USED TO GENERATE A METRIC OF SITUATIONAL DISPARITY, REFLECTING THE PILOT'S AWARENESS OF THE ACTUAL SITUATION. IN CONJUCTION WITH A FORMAL PROCEDURE FOR COCKPIT INTERFACE DEFINITION, MODEL SIMULATION, AND METRIC EVALUATION, THE PROPOSED APPROACH WILL PROVIDE THE NECESSARY DESIGN GUIDANCE FOR SPECIFYING EFFECTIVE HUMAN-ENGINEERING COCKPITS IN FUTURE AIRCRAFT. WE PROPOSE TO EVALUATE METRIC FEASIBILITY VIA THREE TASKS. WE WILL: 1) DEVELOP A MODEL-BASED SITUATIONAL AWARENESS METRIC, AND A METHOD FOR ITS USE; 2) ENHANCEMENTS TO THE METRIC, AND OUTLINE A PROGRAM FOR EMPIRICAL VALIDATION AND PROTOTYPE DEVELOPMENT. A FINAL REPORT WILL SUMMARIZE THE STUDY'S OBJECTIVES, FINDINGS, AND RECOMMENDATIONS FOR FUTURE WORK.