Human Centered Technologies Tool (Federal Railroad Administration; Foster-Miller, Inc.):

The objective of this program is to develop and demonstrate an analysis tool to help Federal Railroad Administration regulators better anticipate the possible effects of new technologies, equipment, and user interfaces on human performance. This tool allows an analyst to represent an equipment interface layout, including the types, locations, and functions of displays and controls, to the tool, and to include automation functions and their relations to displays and controls. The tool's internal data base applies human factors knowledge, guidelines, and heuristics to predict possible user errors, including control selection errors (due to similar appearances and proximity), control operation errors (due to violation of cultural conventions or internal inconsistencies within the interface), confusion, lack of appropriate feedback, and situation awareness lapses arising from specific combinations of automation that remove the operator from active involvement with displays and controls.

Electronic Flight Bag (Volpe Transportation Center):

The purpose of this program was to assist the Volpe Transportation Center in developing a human factors guidelines document for electronic flight bag (EFB) products and an analysis tool to help Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) regulators and equipment manufacturers identify potential human factors issues and problems with EFB designs. EFB products are computer-based platforms that are intended to replace much or all of the paper documentation typically found in aircraft flight decks. The tool is a checklist format based on both a high level taxonomy of human factors issues and a low level, detailed set of human factors guidelines specifically related to EFBs. In addition, we developed and tested a structured evaluation method to optimize the use of the tool to find the broadest range of issues. The proposed method proscribes periods of free play with the product, structured play using the checklist tool as a guide, dedicated time to fill out the checklist, and a synthesis period in which initial results are reviewed to determine, among other things, whether multiple identified problems may be related to a single undetected underlying cause. This allows analysts and developers to identify how global design problems may be manifested in local user experience problems, and to address the problems at their root instead of trying to fix multiple symptoms of the deeper problem.

FAA Certification Job Aid (Federal Aviation Administration; Research Integrations, Inc.):

The purpose of this program was to assist Research Integrations, Inc., in the development of a computer-based job aid to help FAA certification specialists address human factors issues associated with any piece of equipment under evaluation. The Job Aid uses a relational database with taxonomies of human factors concerns, equipment, and regulatory material to allow regulators to start with any of these three. For example, an analyst may use the tool to determine what human factors concerns might be associated with a piece of equipment, what human factors concerns are related to specific federal airworthiness regulations or guidance material, or what regulatory material addresses specific equipment or human factors concerns.

Flight Deck Dynamic Density (NASA Ames Research Center; Raytheon):

The purpose of this program was to determine how commercial aircraft pilots conceptualize their local airspace, how the locations and trajectories of other aircraft in the airspace affect pilot perceptions of airspace complexity, and how an automated conflict detection and avoidance decision aid affects these perceptions and pilot responses to strategic conflict situations. We designed and carried out an experiment with 14 pilots, measured their performance and ratings of complexity and conflict difficulty, and used a neural network analysis to associate aspects of the airspace geometry with pilot responses. Based on this anlaysis, we were able to determine which aspects of airspace geometry are most influential in pilot perceptions of airspace complexity, and how much value the automated decision aid has in enhancing pilot accuracy in resolving conflicts.

NEXCOM (Federal Aviation Administration; Research Integrations, Inc.):

The purpose of this program was to assist the FAA in identifying what human factors issues may be associated with the next generation of air traffic control digital voice radio systems, to evaluate equipment design for possible human factors problems, and to establish test plans for system-wide human performance testing. We used the Function Allocation Issues and Tradeoffs methodology to develop a comprehensive list of possible issues related to new system features, then worked with the NEXCOM team to develop test plan requirements from the list of issues. We also helped the FAA evaluate proposed NEXCOM equipment designs from several avionics manufacturers.