Visual display angles of conventional and a remotely piloted aircraft.

Full Abstract

INTRODUCTION: Instrument display separation and proximity are important human factor elements used in the design and grouping of aircraft instrument displays. To assess display proximity in practical operations, the viewing visual angles of various displays in several conventional aircraft and in a remotely piloted vehicle were assessed. METHODS: The horizontal and vertical instrument display visual angles from the pilot's eye position were measured in 12 different types of conventional aircraft, and in the ground control station (GCS) of a remotely piloted aircraft (RPA). A total of 18 categories of instrument display were measured and compared. RESULTS: In conventional aircraft almost all of the vertical and horizontal visual display angles lay within a "cone of easy eye movement" (CEEM). Mission-critical instruments particular to specific aircraft types sometimes displaced less important instruments outside the CEEM. For the RPA, all horizontal visual angles lay within the CEEM, but most vertical visual angles lay outside this cone. DISCUSSION: Most instrument displays in conventional aircraft were consistent with display proximity principles, but several RPA displays lay outside the CEEM in the vertical plane. Awareness of this fact by RPA operators may be helpful in minimizing information access cost, and in optimizing RPA operations.

Author information

Author/s: Kamine, Tovy Haber (TH); Bendrick, Gregg A (GA);

Affiliation: University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, Philadelphia, PA, USA. tovy.kamine(-atsign-)gmail.com

Journal and publication information

Publication Type: Journal Article

Journal: Aviation, space, and environmental medicine (Aviat Space Environ Med), published in United States. (Language: eng)

Reference: 2009-Apr; vol 80 (issue 4) : pp 409-13

Dates: Created 2009/04/21; Completed 2009/06/02;

PMID: 19378915, status: MEDLINE (last retrieval date: 6/2/2009, IMS Date: 02 Jun 2009 00:00:00)

Sourced from the National Library of Medicine. Abstract text and other information may be subject to copyright.

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