Title :
Impact of vertical situation information on vertical mode awareness in advanced autoflight systems
Author :
Vakil, Sanjay S. ; Hansman, R. John, Jr. ; Midkiff, Alan H.
Author_Institution :
Aeronaut. Syst. Lab., MIT, Cambridge, MA, USA
Abstract :
An examination of autoflight systems in modern aircraft was made, with emphasis on the complex mode structure which is suspect in several recent accidents. Aviation Safety Reporting System reports and Flight Mode Annunciator conventions were examined. Principal results identified the lack of a consistent global model of the Autoflight System architecture and identified the vertical channel as requiring enhanced feedback. Functional requirements for an electronic vertical situation display (EVSD) were created based on established conventions and identified mode awareness problems. A preliminary version of this display was prototyped and an evaluation methodology was proposed. A set of experimental scenarios based on various types of mode awareness problems was established and discussed
Keywords :
aircraft control; aircraft displays; computerised instrumentation; feedback; human factors; performance evaluation; safety systems; Autoflight System architecture; Aviation Safety Reporting System; Flight Mode Annunciator; advanced autoflight systems; autopilot; complex mode structure; electronic vertical situation display; enhanced feedback; global model; vertical channel; vertical mode awareness; vertical situation information; Aerospace control; Aerospace safety; Aircraft navigation; Automatic control; Automatic speech recognition; Automation; Cognitive science; Displays; Protection; Switches;
Conference_Titel :
Digital Avionics Systems Conference, 1995., 14th DASC
Conference_Location :
Cambridge, MA
Print_ISBN :
0-7803-3050-1
DOI :
10.1109/DASC.1995.482814
