Development of a process for cockpit design

This paper discusses the organization and capabilities inherent to an advanced Crew-Centered System Design Process, or CSDP, which is currently in development by the U.S. Air Force Armstrong Laboratory´s Crew-Centered Cockpit Design (CCCD) Program. The CCCD Program seeks to establish a well-organized, thorough and inspectable process for crew system design, along with an effective set of software support tools and the appropriate data bases to help make the CSDP efficient and attractive to system developers. This new crew-centered CSDP is structured with five integrated functional categories: Program Planning, Requirements Analysis & Predesign, Analysis, Design, and Evaluation. The CCCD Program is also developing procedures and software tools that support each category. This paper describes the unique features of the CSDP, which can allow a more efficient use of design resources while improving the quality of the design. The CSDP relies upon design iteration (through cycles of analysis, design, prototyping, simulation and design tradeoff) and activity interaction (among the five CSDP functional categories and with other subsystem design groups involved with the air vehicle development) to ensure quality during its application. Unlike current practice, this CSDP can improve cycle time in the process of iteration and it can foster more effective design team interaction. Both improvements are made possible by the CSDP´s structured methodology, by its online procedures, and through a family of software tools and data bases