Personalized Intuitive Displays Enhance Pilot Performance.

摘要

Modern cockpit instruments provide pilots with rich visual and auditory information about the aircraft and the mission. However, the information is not necessarily presented in the most effective way. For example, three-dimensional signals are presented on two-dimensional displays. Moreover, the information is often presented in an abstract manner, which consequently contributes to the pilot's cognitive workload. Although the cockpit environment is standardized to meet general regulations and efficiency, we hypothesize that there is still room for improvement since each pilot in principle perceives and processes information differently, based on individual constitution, experience and preferences. Although pilots are highly skilled in interpreting present-day displays, we believe that their performance may be further enhanced by intuitive displays, and also by the possibility to customize the displays to the individual needs. Method: We carried out a simulator study in the networked Mission Simulation Center at TNO. Seven (ex-)operational F-16 pilots evaluated the functionality of a set of new and intuitive displays in realistic scenarios. The displays involved a 3D audio system (manufactured by Terma), a tactile display, and a dual layer display. The TNO-built tactile display consisted of 60 small vibrating elements (tactors) arranged around the pilot's torso in five horizontal rings of twelve tactors at 30 deg intervals. The TNO dual layer display was implemented into the right Multi-Function Display by adding a transparent LCD screen a few centimeters in front of the existing screen, so that information could be presented in two depth planes. The new displays were controlled by direct voice input. The pilots could choose which of the following functions were presented on either the 3D audio and the tactile display: Threat warning (derived from Radar Warning Receiver), wingman position (derived from Link-16), and the Minimum Recovery Altitude during weapon deliver.