Application and benefits of the crew-centered cockpit design process and toolset

This paper describes the benefits of using a new process to perform cockpit design. It traces a project from conception to initial design by explaining the application of the process and its accompanying toolset. Two crewstations of the AC-130H aircraft are addressed: the Fire Control Officer and the Navigator. The activities performed and the toolset selected illustrate the enormous potential of this evolving technology in future cockpit design and development The Crew-Centered Cockpit Design (CCCD) Program is developing a formal, structured process to improve the design, analysis, and testing of cockpits. Veda Incorporated is working with the CCCD Program Office to provide an enhanced and validated Crew-Centered System Design Process (CSDP) and a Cockpit Design System (CDS) Toolset to meet this need. This paper describes the CSDP and CDS Toolset as they were applied during one of a series of field demonstrations (AC-130H Project) addressing a variety of cockpit designs and upgrades. This project took place in 1994 using the CSDP version 2.0 and the CDS Toolset version 1.0. At the completion of each project, software and hardware upgrades are proposed to support on-going improvements in the technology. The concurrent application of the evolving process and toolset and the use of real-world applications facilitate verification of the end products of the program