Automotive Flight Deck Design SINGLE PILOT OPERATION
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Honeywell
Previously…
Seemed like a glorious Blue Sky concept… PARISHRUTB’14
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…untill the pressure of regulations and certifications took over. PARISHRUTB’14
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Moving On…
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Initial Study
the EPIC e1000 cockpit. Beautifully designed, But still complex in function. PARISHRUTB’14
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Initial Study
Why are COCKPITS so complex to understand and operate as compared to CAR Interiors? 1. Aircrafts are complex machines. 2. Pilots are anyways trained to operate them. Or shall we say, bear with the complexity? XXXXXXXXX 1.
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Complexity in construction need not mean complexity in operation. 2. Pilots need to be trained due to the complex nature of operation.
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Initial Study
EMPATHY towards the USER… the PILOT as the USER…? Is the PILOT the USER?
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Initial Study
WHO IS THE USER?
USER
ENVIRONMENT
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Primary USER
Secondary USER
ENVIRONMENT
Honeywell
Initial Study the Driver
the Pilot
See the difference? Because the pilot is not the primary user, as the car driver is, he simply wasn’t on anyone’s empathetic priorities…
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Initial Study
Single-Pilot Operation It is required that the cockpit be extremely intuitive and easy to understand, such that the design of the cockpit itself does not put load on the pilot.
“If a kid can drive a car, an adult must be able to fly an airplane.” **
** Indicative of the steep learning curve with regard to “operating” the plane, if not being able to optimally “fly” it. PARISHRUTB’14
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Initial Study
But a CAR-like aeroplane COCKPIT…??
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Initial Study
The EMBRAER Phenom 100 & 500 cockpits were designed by BMW DesignWorks.
But that’s not what we’re talking about here. PARISHRUTB’14
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Initial Study
the ICON A5. This is what set the mood rolling… PARISHRUTB’14
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Initial Study
the Light Sport Aircraft, a new category. A new oppurtunity. PARISHRUTB’14
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Initial Study ICON collaborated with Lotus Automotive for the sports-car design of their A5 interiors. The result?... •
Airline Pilots: If I’m flying in daylight, good weather, with friends…Perfect,that’s all I need.
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Rookie Pilots: Uhmm, that’s it?
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Initial Study
And some of their competitor’s interiors, In case you’re wondering what the big deal is…
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“Flying Car” interiors… “How
do they look?...” Ref. TERRAFUGIA
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Initial Study
But we are not designing just another Flying Car interior. This is a serious exploration ( well, ofcourse ), so we must consider the certification/regulation requirements. Which we shall tackle by giving utmost priority to the following points: Operational Efficiency
Information Readability Low Cognitive Load Human Performance/Factors
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Initial Study Interview with a Commercial Pilot…
To quote : “…2nd one is very simple and easy to understand while the 1st one looks a bit complicated, so 2nd will be much easier to use…”, even though the basic layout of the systems is almost exactly the same! PARISHRUTB’14
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2. Honeywell
Initial Study Interview with a Commercial Pilot…
1. To quote : “…2 different screens …that clearly distinguishes where you want to look and for what…segregation…flying in planes with PFD and MFD is easy … being able to customize is also highly valued…”
2. PARISHRUTB’14
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Initial Study Interview with a Commercial Pilot…
“…the first time I entered a Cessna 172, I did not know where to look…” On being asked about training for Commercial Flight Operation :“…the training is not enough. Hence we start working as the First Officer. After around 6-7 months you ‘ve understood how the system works…so you take your own sweet time even after the training because it ( Commercial airplane flight deck ) is complicated…” PARISHRUTB’14
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Automotive trends and cues…
Form Integration
Multiple control “Surfaces” Info Segregation
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Automotive trends and cues…
Lateral Spread
“Deep Dish”
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Aesthetic Edges
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Ideation How do we use simple shapes to prioritise and emphasis information?
Circles attract more attention than squares. This concept is used in the design of web sites. A derivative of this idea is to use shapes with multiple edges to emphasize information. PARISHRUTB’14
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Ideation Inspiration for form of the flight deck?
Aesthetic Edges
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Ideation Exploring form-integration in the AutoPilot.
The design of the autopilot represents the overal design of the rest of the flight deck, ie, flat panels overlaid with switches and knobs between displays. The idea here was to integrate the switches and knobs into the form around the display, for a more cohesive and easy to understand design.
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Ideation Exploring flight deck design.
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Ideation Here the primary flight instruments are made of complex shapes, while the secondary instruments are housed in simple shapes underlaid with a dark section for hard controls.
Simply the form + Capture the essence. Automotive values ( Intuitivity, ease of understanding ) + Aviation functionality
This form captures the essence of the above in the manner that the car like dashboard is removed, while maintaining the same level of operational intuitivity in a seemingly complex shell.
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Ideation
the CAR interior… the ESSENCE of it…
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Concept
the Automotive
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Flight Deck
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Concept
Shape Differentiation
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Concept
Multi modal Interactions. Look Through Rotate Rotate
Touch
Touch
Type Type
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Concept
Elevation Differentiation.
Primary
Secondary
Tertiary
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Concept Aesthetically separated sections.
PFD’s
Push Notification
AutoPilot
Ambient Control The surround is wrapped with Chocolate brown leather such that the frame doesn’t reflect atmospheric light onto the displays or the pilot’s eyes, while the middle section is cream colored leather to aesthetically group and dissociate different control sections. Brown and cream colors are so derived as to be similarly perceptible to color-blind pilots, as well as be dissociate in the surrounding blue sky ambience. PARISHRUTB’14
Flight Management
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Concept
Primary Flight Displays 1.
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The big transparent LCD screen in the centre serves as the Attitude Indicator, and is designed to be larger than the rest so as to be able to serve as synthetic vision display in extreme situations. Airspeed and altitude indicators are analog in nature, while using the same kind of transparent LCD display as the attitude indicator, to maintain maximum visual flying conditions. Small longitudanal screen sections on either side of the attitude indicator provide information regarding throttle position. The section of the frame inside the hood is integrated with a linear display showing fuel and oil information. The lowest display shows a part section of the HIS.
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Concept
AutoPilot. Rotate to set. Cyan color indicates not holding.
Touch over the display to hold. Indicated by green border around an inverted display.
A/T and FD buttons integrate into the peripheral form. Press to activate, indicated by green text and green fill light in the crystallized switch, visible in all conditions.
Toggle type master AP switch surrounded by light ring, glows green when activated.
The display glass is matt in finish ( paper like, similar to Kindle’s ) and is not susceptible to glare, while the inner display is surrounded by matt black indent to increase visibility. PARISHRUTB’14
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Concept
Multi Function Display. 1. 2.
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The MFD comprising the NAV, GPS and COMM is integrated into the right housing. The screen is in-set and surrounded by matt black finish for optimum viewing performance. The surfaces around the screen house different controls. The punch-in and rotate knob falls ergonomically in hand, while toggle switches fall easy prey to fingers and can be used for quick settings or changing between modes. Auxilliary crystallised switches are integrated on the left periphery. The MFD is augmented by a full QWERTY keypad as a design which is similar to laptop keyboards that every modern person is accustomed to using. The keyboard is dark and monochrome in looks so as to be visually dissociate and the letters highly visible in harsh lighting conditions.
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Concept
Ambient function display. The left side housing incorporates the ambient controllers for the external and internal environment in one functional display, augmented my multi surface controls. The 2 toggle switches can be used to switch between the external or internal control displays, and the punch-in rotary knob to change and set. The lower section houses the Ferrari standard “Mannettino” switch, which can be used to swiftly flick between different preset and programmable settings for different sections of the flight, and is augmented by push buttons and toggles.
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Concept
Push Notification Screen
Ofcourse, wearables like Google Glass and SmartWatch are interesting and maybe even promising concepts. But they are still far in the future thanks to regulations and certification requirements. This specific screen similar to AutoPilot is used to show push-notifications generated from the other cockpit systems which require specialised attention of the pilot, in the same fashion as wearables are planned for use.
Push notifications can be checklist items or warnings as shown in this case ( traffic advisory ). The rotary knob can be used to flick between notifications. Press green switch to dismiss. The orange switch glows in case of a new warning, and sends the corresponding notification to hold if pressed. PARISHRUTB’14
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SketchWall
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theEND
That’s all folks! THANKYOU
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