Mixed method approach in designing flight decks with touch screens: a framework

Touch screen technology’s first public appearance was in the early 2000s. Touch screens became a part of the daily life with the invention of smartphones and tablets. Now, this technology has the potential to be the next big change in flight deck design. To date, mobile devices are deployed by several air carriers to perform a host of non-safety critical pre-flight and in-flight tasks. Due to high safety requirements requested by authorities, new technologies cannot be adopted as fast as in other settings. Flight deck evolution, which is briefly presented in this paper, is reflecting this natural time delay. Avionics manufacturers are exploring and working on future concepts with touch screen displays. This paper investigates the potential benefits and challenges of touch screen technology on flight decks by means of a variety of qualitative and quantitative research methods (mixed method approach). On the basis of this, a framework was constructed showing the relation between various aspects that could impact the usability of touch screens on the flight deck. This paper concludes with a preliminary questionnaire that can help avionic designers to evaluate whether a touch screen is an appropriate user interface for their system

Performance, Characteristics, and Error Rates of Cursor Control Devices for Aircraft Cockpit Interaction

This document is the Accepted Manuscript version of the following article: Peter R. Thomas, 'Performance, Characteristics, and Error Rates of Cursor Control Devices for Aircraft Cockpit Interaction', International Journal of Human-Computer Studies, Vol. 109: 41-53, available online 31 August 2017. Under embargo. Embargo end date: 31 August 2018. Published by Elsevier. © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.This paper provides a comparative performance analysis of a hands-on-throttle-and-stick (HOTAS) cursor control device (CCD) with other suitable CCDs for an aircraft cockpit: an isotonic thumbstick, a trackpad, a trackball, and touchscreen input. The performance and characteristics of these five CCDs were investigated in terms of throughput, movement accuracy, and error rate using the ISO 9241-9 standard task. Results show statistically significant differences (p < 0.001) between three groupings of the devices, with the HOTAS having the lowest throughput (0.7 bits/s) and the touchscreen the highest (3.7 bits/s). Errors for all devices were shown to increase with decreasing target size (p < 0.001) and, to a lesser effect, increasing target distance (p < 0.01). The trackpad was found to be the most accurate of the five devices, being significantly better than the HOTAS fingerstick and touchscreen (p < 0.05) with the touchscreen performing poorly on selecting smaller targets (p < 0.05). These results would be useful to cockpit human-machine interface designers and provides evidence of the need to move away from, or significantly augment the capabilities of, this type of HOTAS CCD in order to improve pilot task throughput in increasingly data-rich cockpits.Peer reviewedFinal Accepted Versio

Designing touch-enabled electronic flight bags in SAR helicopter operations

In order to benefit from potential reduced operational costs and crew workload airlines are increasingly interested in touchscreen-based Electronic Flight Bags (EFB). This paper focuses on the specific domain of Search and Rescue (SAR) Helicopters. A first set of results aiming to explore and understand potential benefits and challenges of an EFB in a SAR environment will be presented. A review of related work, operational observations and interviews with pilots were conducted to understand and specify the use context. Digital Human Modelling (DHM) software was used to determine physical constraints of an EFB in this type of flight deck. A scenario was developed which will be used in future to define features, content and functionality that a SAR pilot may wish to see in an EFB. Developed initial interface design guidelines are presented

Design and evaluation of braced touch for touchscreen input stabilisation.

Incorporating touchscreen interaction into cockpit flight systems offers several potential advantages to aircraft manufacturers, airlines, and pilots. However, vibration and turbulence are challenges to reliable interaction. We examine the design space for braced touch interaction, which allows users to mechanically stabilise selections by bracing multiple fingers on the touchscreen before completing selection. Our goal is to enable fast and accurate target selection during high levels of vibration, without impeding interaction performance when vibration is absent. Three variant methods of braced touch are evaluated, using doubletap, dwell, or a force threshold in combination with heuristic selection criteria to discriminate intentional selection from concurrent braced contacts. We carried out an experiment to test the performance of these methods in both abstract selection tasks and more realistic flight tasks. The study results confirm that bracing improves performance during vibration, and show that doubletap was the best of the tested methods

Target size guidelines for interactive displays on the flight deck

The avionics industry is seeking to understand the challenges and benefits of touchscreens on flight decks. This paper presents an investigation of interactive displays on the flight deck focusing on the impact of target size, placement and vibration on performance. A study was undertaken with search and rescue (SAR) crew members in an operational setting in helicopters. Results are essential to understand how to design effective touchscreen interfaces for the flight deck. Results show that device placement, vibration and target size have significant effects on targeting accuracy. However, increasing target size eliminates the negative effects of placement and vibration in most cases. The findings suggest that 15 mm targets are sufficiently large for non-safety critical Electronic Flight Bag (EFB) applications. For interaction with fixed displays where pilots have to extend their arms, and for safety critical tasks it is recommended to use interactive elements of about 20 mm size

Target size guidelines for interactive displays on the flight deck

The avionics industry is seeking to understand the challenges and benefits of touchscreens on flight decks. This paper presents an investigation of interactive displays on the flight deck focusing on the impact of target size, placement and vibration on performance. A study was undertaken with search and rescue (SAR) crew members in an operational setting in helicopters. Results are essential to understand how to design effective touchscreen interfaces for the flight deck. Results show that device placement, vibration and target size have significant effects on targeting accuracy. However, increasing target size eliminates the negative effects of placement and vibration in most cases. The findings suggest that 15 mm targets are sufficiently large for non-safety critical Electronic Flight Bag (EFB) applications. For interaction with fixed displays where pilots have to extend their arms, and for safety critical tasks it is recommended to use interactive elements of about 20 mm size

Designing touch screen user interfaces for future flight deck operations

Many interactional issues with Flight Management Systems (FMS) in modern flight decks have been reported. Avionics designers are seeking for ways to reduce cognitive load of pilots with the aim to reduce the potential for human error. Academic research showed that touch screen interfaces reduce cognitive effort and provide an intuitive way of interaction. A new way of interaction to manipulate radio frequencies of avionics systems is presented in this paper. A usability experiment simulating departures and approaches to airports was used to evaluate the interface and compare it with the current system (FMS). In addition, interviews with pilots were conducted to find out their personal impressions and to reveal problem areas of the interface. Analyses of task completion time and error rates showed that the touch interface is significantly faster and less prone to user input errors than the conventional input method (via physical or virtual keypad). Potential problem areas were identified and an improved interface is suggested

The historical development and basis of human factors guidelines for automated systems in aeronautical operations

In order to derive general design guidelines for automated systems a study was conducted on the utilization and acceptance of existing automated systems as currently employed in several commercial fields. Four principal study area were investigated by means of structured interviews, and in some cases questionnaires. The study areas were aviation, a both scheduled airline and general commercial aviation; process control and factory applications; office automation; and automation in the power industry. The results of over eighty structured interviews were analyzed and responses categoried as various human factors issues for use by both designers and users of automated equipment. These guidelines address such items as general physical features of automated equipment; personnel orientation, acceptance, and training; and both personnel and system reliability

Varieties of interaction: from User Experience to Neuroergonomics:On the occasion of the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society Europe Chapter Annual Meeting in Rome, Italy 2017

Proceedings of the HFES European Chapter conferenc