Federal Aviation Administration Human Factors Design

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Federal Aviation Administration Human Factors
Design Standard
Presentation to DoD SubTAG Houston, TX Name
Vicki Ahlstrom Human Factors Team Atlantic
City ATO-P, FAA Date November 2007
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Human Factors Design Standard (HFDS)
http//hf.tc.faa.gov/hfds/default.htm
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HFDS Chapters

• Chapter 1. Introduction
• Chapter 2. General Design Requirements
• Chapter 3. Automation
• Chapter 4. Designing Equipment for Maintenance
• Chapter 5. Displays and Printers
• Chapter 6. Controls and Visual Indicators
• Chapter 7. Alarms, Audio, and Voice
• Chapter 8. Computer-Human Interface
• Chapter 9. Input Devices
• Human Factors Criteria for the Design and
  Acquisition of Keyboards
• Human Factors Criteria for the Design and
  Acquisition of Non-keyboard Interaction Devices
• Chapter 10. Workplace Design
• Chapter 10 Amendment Exhibit 10.4.8.3.1
  (B) Tread depth and (G) Handrail height,
• Chapter 11. System Security
• Chapter 12. Personnel Safety
• Chapter 13. Environment
• Chapter 14. Anthropometry and Biomechanics
• Chapter 15. User Documentation
• Appendix A Standard actions for pushbuttons and
  menus

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To refresh your memories

• Displays chapter update
• Displays technology has changed quite a bit since
  1994

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Challenges

• Need to ensure display is suitable for intended
  use
• Variety of environments
• Different levels of criticality

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Approach

• Compare to other standards/research
• Evaluate relevance
• Obtain additional FAA references
• Identify additional topic/subtopic areas
• Convert into should/shall statements
• Write draft document
• Review
• Incorporate comments

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Illustration of color shift in a display as a
result of high ambient light
Dark 0
Medium0
Bright0
RED
GREEN
BLUE
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Human Factors Applications Successes, Failures,
and How we got there
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Success It all starts with a question.

• What are the minimum display size
  requirements for a flat-panel display based on
  resolution, alphanumeric character size, and
  viewing distance?

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Comparing monitors with different resolutions - A
real life example
20.1 LCD Size 12.6 x 15.7 Resolution 1280 x
1024 Pixel array 6626 pixels/square
inch Character sizes (goal) 4.5 mm, 7 mm, and 8
mm in height 4.5 mm character 15 pixels on this
LCD
15 DBRITE Size 14.5 x 14.5 Resolution 891 x
891 Pixel array 3776 pixels/square
inch Character sizes (goal) 4.5 mm, 7 mm, and 8
mm in height 4.5 mm character 13 pixels
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Aspect Ratio Real Life Example
20.1 LCD 20 mile range 1.6 miles/inch 54 aspect
ratio
DBRITE 20 mile range 1.4 miles/inch 11 aspect
ratio
20.1 LCD 18 mile range 1.4 miles/inch 54 aspect
ratio
12.6
12.6
14.5
15.7
15.7
14.5
Potential solution Scale it down by 2
inches Same range setting Map is physically
smaller Density increased Miles/inch
increased May not be acceptable to users
Potential solution Map same size as
DBRITE Reduce range setting Clips part of the
map Density stays same as DBRITE May not be
acceptable to controllers
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Give a man a fish..

• Information helped with the acquisition of Tower
  monitors
• Solved the current problem, but what about the
  next??
• People have trouble applying/understanding the
  equations in the HFDS

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HFDS Displays Chapter - Supplement

• Added tools
• Visual angle calculator
• Resolution/aspect ratio calculator

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Human Factors Applications Successes, Failures,
and How we got there
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Human Factors Applications Successes, Failures,
Opportunities and How we got there
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Opportunity
"Know thy user, and you are not thy user." -
Arnie Lund

• Users report difficulty using some equations,
  charts, finding some information
• As a primary means for getting research
  implemented in design, are we meeting user needs?
• Improve usability
• Is the standard easy to read and easy to use?
• Are the requirements stated clearly and
  unambiguously?
• Caveat - Nothing funded yet

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The End
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Monitor placement
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Requirements for sunlight viewing
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Reflections and glare
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Off-axis viewing
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Variety of environments
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Variety of options/technologies
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Including projection displays
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Other displays proposed but not currently in
widespread (FAA) use

• HMDs
• HUDs
• Small screen displays

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Leverage Work From Existing Standards

• TCO 03 (2005)
• Displays CRT Displays Ver 3.0. Tjänstemännens
  Centralorganisation, Stockholm, Sweden
• TCO 03 (2005)
• Displays. Flat Panel Displays Ver 3.0.
  Tjänstemännens Centralorganisation, Stockholm,
  Sweden
• TCO 05 (2005)
• Desktop Computers Ver 1.0. Tjänstemännens
  Centralorganisation, Stockholm, Sweden
• TCO 06 (2006)
• Displays Media Displays Ver 1.2.
  Tjänstemännens Centralorganisation, Stockholm,
  Sweden
• ISO 9421-303 (2006).
• Ergonomic requirements for office work with
  visual display terminals (VDTs). International
  Organization for Standardization, Geneve,
  Switzerland.
• BSR/HFES 100 (2002).
• Human Factors Engineering of Computer
  Workstations. Standard for Trial Use. The Human
  Factors and Ergonomics Society, Santa Monica, CA
  
• Hopper, D. G., Dolezal, W. K., Schur, K., and
  Liccione, J. W. (1994).
• Draft standard for color AMLCDs in U.S.
  military aircraft. Cockpit Displays, Proceedings
  of SPIE, Vol. 2219, pp.230-241.