A test bed for prototyping human/computer interfaces used in mission critical environments

A test bed is described that allows the simulation of multimedia display interfaces as used in flight control and other environments in which a human operator must quickly and accurately make critically important decisions. The test bed was designed to provide a flexible and robust means of creating test scenarios without the need for re-developing the display interface system. Through the use of the user-friendly Test Bed Configuration (TBC) sub-system, the effectiveness of various combinations of graphics and audio can be evaluated under realistic conditions. The test bed was successfully implemented and used in a human factors study undertaken at NASA´s Dryden Flight Research Center (Edwards, CA). It is now available on the Internet