AERONAUTICAL HUMAN FACTORS RESEARCH

THE SUCCESSFUL INTRODUCTION OF ADVANCED AVIONICS TECHNOLOGY INTO COMMERCIAL COCKPITS IS HINDERED BY THE LACK OF UNDERSTANDING OF HOW BEST TO INTERFACE SUCH CAPABILITIES WITH THE KNOWLEGE REPRESENTATIONS AND PROCESSING STRATEGIES UTILIZED BY PILOTS. TRADITIONAL HUMAN FACTORS CONCERNS MUST BE SUPPLEMENTED BY CONCEPTS AND TECHNIQUES BEING DEVELOPED IN THE FIELD OF COGNITIVE SCIENCE TO ENSURE THAT NEW SYSTEMS ARE ACCEPTED AND UNDERSTOOD BY PILOTS AND FULLY EXPLOIT THE PILOT'S POTENTIAL CONTRIBUTION.THREE TASKS ARE PROPOSED: (1) AN EXAMINATION OF RELEVANT RESEARCH FINDINGS IN THE AREAS OF KNOWLEDGE REPRESENTATION AND MENTAL MODELS, HUMAN DECISION BEHAVIOR, AND INTERACTIVE DECISION AID DESIGN. A DISPLAY DESIGN TECHNOLOGY IS REQUIRED THAT BOTH ACCOMMODATES NATURAL HUMAN KNOWLEDGE STRUCTURES, SUCH AS MENTAL MODELS, WHERE THEY ARE EFFECTIVE AND AT THE SAME TIME HELPS USERS AVOID DECISION BIASES ASSOCIATED WITH THOSE STRUCTURES. DSC HAS BEEN WORKING ON A DESIGN METHODOLOGY OF THIS TYPE, CALLED PERSONALIZED AND PRESCRIPTIVE DECISION SUPPORT. (2) DEVELOPMENT OF DESIGN CONCEPTS FOR INTELLIGENT FLIGHT MANAGEMENT INTERFACES. A VARIETY OF KNOWLEDGE ELICITATION TECHNIQUES WILL BE USED TO ELUCIDATE PILOTS' KNOWLEDGE REPRESENTATIONS AND DECISION-MAKING PROCESSES. PRIMARY AREAS OF INTEREST WILL BE DECISIONS ABOUT ROUTE REVISIONS DUE TO WEATHER, EQUIPMENT FAILURE, OR AIR TRAFFIC.DESIGN CONCEPTS WILL BE INVESTIGATED WHICH ADDRESS VALUE TRADEOFFS, UNCERTAINTY, OPTION GENERATION, SPATIAL DISPLAYS,AND WORKLOAD. (3) IMPLEMENTATION AND TESTING OF A PARTIAL-PROTOTYPE SYSTEM. SELECTED DESIGN CONCEPTS WILL BE IMPLEMENTED IN A DEMONSTRATION SYSTEM AND EVALUATED BOTH QUALITATIVELY AND QUANTITATIVELY BY PILOTS. IMPLEMENTATION WILL BE DONE SO AS TO FACILITATE TRANSFER TO THE FLIGHT SIMULATION FACILITY AT NASA AMES RESEARCH CENTER IN PHASE II.