A tool for structured evaluation of electronic flight bag usability

Electronic flight bags (EFBs) are coming into the flight deck, bringing with them a host of human factors challenges. The first step in addressing these challenges was to identify and prioritize them. Good progress has been made on that front by Chandra and Mangold, whose comprehensive document is in active use by industry and the FAA today. Unfortunately, using this document is a daunting task because of its breadth and depth. Our next goal is to develop and test a tool based on the full document that can be used for periodic structured assessments of EFB usability. We expect that this assessment tool will benefit designers, operators, and regulators by providing a structure for EFB human-factors evaluations. Both EFB-specific issues and general user interface topics are covered. The purpose of this report is to document the progress to date on constructing this usability-assessment tool for EFBs. We cover how the tool was developed and tested, what it looks like to date, and how it could be used to help assess and track EFB usability. Further testing is planned to ensure that the tool is usable and to ensure that it adds value to the evaluation process.