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Human Performance Engineering Practice
Case Studies:
Defining and Meeting the Electronic Flight Bag Needs of
Helicopter Aircrews
______________________________________________Challenge
Aircrews must manage an enormous amount of information about their aircraft, including system capabilities, checklists, and normal and emergency procedures. Surprisingly, much of this information exists only in paper form, and is often carried on board in a physical "flight bag".
Navy aircrews, for example, access much of this information from bulky NATOPS flight manuals. To add to the information overload, new vibration analysis technology provides dynamic data on the mechanical health of aircraft components.
As the Navy incorporated this vibration-analysis technology, it needed to determine the usefulness of the data, and how best to present and integrate it with the existing flight-bag materials for maximum flight safety and minimum information overload. CHI System's Human Systems Integration R&D Practice worked with the Office of Naval Research to research this problem and identify practical solutions, focusing on Naval helicopter flight crews.
Result
The aircrews for SH-60 and CH-46 helicopters were among the first candidates to use interactive electronic information that integrated the vibration-analysis technology data.
The Human-Systems Integration R&D team conducted a series of flight experiments in helicopter simulators, and gathered data on mechanical problem resolution. They analyzed how the aircrews accessed and used critical NATOPS information, and learned that the aircrew needed an electronic flight manual (NATOPS) integrated with concise analysis of mechanical problem data.
Together, the CHI Systems Human-centered R&D team and the Wireless and Mobile Solutions Practice designed and developed an interactive SH-60F NATOPS manual for a pen-based personal digital assistant (PDA). The aircrew took the PDA on board and used it as an "electronic kneeboard." Traditionally, a kneeboard has been little more than a clipboard fastened to the pilot's upper leg-it provided a convenient writing surface and a place to keep important documentation close at hand. The project team developed and refined the design of the electronic kneeboard during several stages of user assessment and simulator experiments.
The final evaluation experiment with Navy pilots showed that response times for information access with the Interactive Electronic NATOPS (IE-NATOPS) were significantly faster than with paper-based NATOPS for experimenter-directed search. The final IE-NATOPS product architecture supported easy implementation and maintenance of NATOPS content for other aircraft.
Reference
Deaton, J., Glenn, F., Burke, C. S., Good, M., Dorneich, M., Downs, J. (2001) Aircrew Performance During Emergency Conditions: A Comparison between an Electronic and Traditional Paper NATOPS. Proceedings of Human Factors and Ergonomics Society 45th Annual Meeting, Santa Monica, CA: Human Factors and Ergonomics Society.
Garga, A., Campbell, R., Byington, C., Kasmala, G., Lang, D., Lebold, M., & Glenn, F. (2001) Diagnostic Reasoning Agents Development for HUMS Systems. Proceedings of the Annual Meeting of the American Helicopter Society – AHS International Forum 57. May 9-11, 2001.
Campbell, R., Garga, A., McClintic, K., Lebold, M., Byington, C., & Glenn, F. (2001) Pattern Recognition for Fault Classification with Helicopter Vibration Signals. Proceedings of the Annual Meeting of the American Helicopter Society – AHS International Forum 57. May 9-11, 2001.
Deaton, J., Glenn, F., & Coury, B. (1999) The Value of Assistance: An Onboard Mechanical Diagnostic Interface for Navy Rotorcraft Operations. In Proceedings of Human Factors and Ergonomics Society 43rd Annual Meeting, Santa Monica, CA: Human Factors and Ergonomics Society.
Byington, C., Yukish, M., Scheie, Glenn, F., Deaton, J., & Dickieson, J. (1999) Evaluation of Human-Machine Interfaces for Aircrew Fault Diagnosis and Management. Proceedings of the International Condition Monitoring Conference. Swansea, Wales: University of Wales.
Deaton, J., Glenn, F., Federman, P., Nickerson, G.W., Byington, C., Malone, R., Stout, R., Oser, R., & Tyler, R. (1997) Aircrew Response Procedures to Inflight Mechanical Emergencies. In Proceedings of Human Factors and Ergonomics Society 41st Annual Meeting, Santa Monica, CA: Human Factors and Ergonomics Society.
Deaton, J., Glenn, F., Federman, P., Nickerson, G.W., Byington, C., Malone, R., Stout, R., Oser, R., & Tyler, R. (1997) Mechanical Fault Management in Navy Helicopters. In Proceedings of Human Factors and Ergonomics Society 41st Annual Meeting, Santa Monica, CA: Human Factors and Ergonomics Society.
