#GLASS COCKPIT SOFTWARE#

MORE FROM DESIGN NEWS: Exclusive: Take a Look Inside NASA’s Orion Spacecraft Then, they repeated this process again and again for 10 years.

#GLASS COCKPIT SOFTWARE#

The design team prototyped hardware and software for the avionics, “drove” the prototype cockpits on simulators, evaluated displays and user interfaces, and corrected deficiencies.

”The goal was to build a cockpit user interface – a dashboard – that would allow the crew to control the spacecraft on these deep space missions,” Morin said.Ĭreating the glass cockpit has been a decade-long labor of love for engineers in the RPL. All but 56 of the 2,000 switches will be transformed into software icons. The monitors are called a glass cockpit because most of the spacecraft’s instruments are represented as images on them. Instead of the well-known cornucopia of switches, Orion’s capsule will employ six flat screen monitors about 20 inches from the noses of the astronauts, who will lie strapped beneath them. Indeed, the glass cockpit represents a monumental change for NASA and its design engineers. But that will change with the glass cockpit.” “During dynamic flight, about 1,247 of those were available to the crew. Lee Morin, astronaut and lead crew interface for NASA’s Orion Cockpit Rapid Prototyping Lab (RPL), during a recent visit to NASA by Design News. “The Space Shuttle had about 2,000 switches and controls, in addition to all of its displays,” noted Dr. The cockpit, a first for a NASA spacecraft, will be a critical part of Orion’s maiden manned mission in six years and distinguishes itself by virtue of its ability to eliminate a small mountain of switches and heavy wiring. After reviewing the state-of-research in human performance assessment and adaptation techniques, detailed recommendations are provided to support the integration of such techniques in the HMI2 of future Communications, Navigations, Surveillance (CNS), Air Traffic Management (CNS/ATM) and Avionics (CNS+A) systems.After 10 years of evolution, the prototypes of NASA’s Orion “glass cockpit” are finally reaching maturity. However, one of the outstanding challenges in the design of such adaptive systems is the development of suitable models and algorithms to describe human performance and cognitive states based on real-time sensor measurements. While still an emerging area of research, HMI2 adaptation driven by human performance and cognition has the potential to greatly enhance human-machine teaming through varying the system support according to the user’s needs. These elements comprise the ability to assess the system and environmental states the ability to assess the operator states and the ability to adapt the HMI2 according to the first two elements. The adaptive HMI2 concepts in the literature contain three common elements. Further development to increase HMI2 adaptiveness has significant potential to enhance the human operator’s effectiveness, thereby contributing to safer and more efficient operations. While current displays are able to integrate and fuse information from several sources to perform a range of different functions, these displays have limited adaptability. Additionally, a top-level definition of RPAS mission-essential functionalities is provided, addressing planning and real-time decision support for single and multi-aircraft operations. Due to the large variability in mission requirements, greater emphasis is given to safety-critical displays, command and control functions as well as associated technology developments. A detailed review of these HMI2 evolutions is presented, addressing both manned aircraft (fixed and rotary wing) and Remotely Piloted Aircraft System (RPAS) specificities for the most fundamental flight tasks: aviate, navigate, communicate and manage. Technological advances in avionics systems and components have facilitated the introduction of progressively more integrated and automated Human-Machine Interfaces and Interactions (HMI2) on-board civil and military aircraft.

Glass cockpit