PILOT INTERFACE RESEARCH
To comply with my non-disclosure agreement, I have omitted and obfuscated confidential information in this case study.
The focus of this research was to analyze the user interface experience for pilots and determine market segmentation.
Problem
The Human Factors team had insufficient information about the Aerospace domain, and as a result, the business lacked a clear vision of potential user interfaces for pilots. Aerospace is a vast domain with numerous user categories and outdated interaction systems.
Approach
Our team of 4 conducted user research to gain a comprehensive understanding of the Aerospace industry ecosystem. With this information, we developed a vision for a pilot user interface that met the unmet needs of the appropriate market segment. This provided a foundation for the HF team to pursue various projects.
My Role
Senior UX Designer
UX domains
Strategy | Research | Concept Plan
Duration
6 Months
RESEARCH
Understanding all the stakeholders
We developed a first pass at the stakeholder map, which we used as a starting point for capturing a more complete picture of the stakeholder landscape.
Why a Stakeholder Map?
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Establish shared ideas about the users
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Identify and document their needs and goals
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Direct user research
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Identify holes and opportunities
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Unify the development team
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Bring new team members up to speed quickly
This map is a result of several revisions. We gained a richer understanding of the business and the people involved.
Observational and interview research with Aerospace
Several People were interviewed as part of OVOC work. We recruited participants with help of the stakeholder map. The Primary resources were: Engine Flight Test Pilot, Flight safety Instructor, Maintenance technicians, Simulator Instructors. The Secondary resources were: Honeywell Informants, Cockpit confidential.
Approach
​We used both interviews and observations with an ad hoc selection of people who could give us the time. At this phase it was great to learn about the domain and use experience directly from the pilots. A second pass was more on the people who make purchase decisions for avionics.
Focus
We were primarily interested in understanding the different Pilot Information Systems and how the pilot interfaces with information. Being new to aerospace we also needed to understand many of the basics of the business and of flight.
Goal
Our goal with the research was to gain enough information to draw an initial information architecture and gain a perspective about the user interface design efforts.
ANALYSIS & SYNTHESIS
We read through the notes and all the additional things we remember. Organized our thinking about what we learnt. Asked ourselves :
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What did we see that was surprising?
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What stood out as new?
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What was validated?
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Where could a better solution have made for a better user experience?
At this point we were moving from direct observational notes to making claims and identifying insights during the session. We sort our notes into :
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The Rose, Bud and Thorn
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Near and long term issues
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Affinity grouping by topics
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Used the notes to update good quotes in our stakeholder map and the project files with new understanding.
Sharing the result | Pilot UI Guiding Principles
These five principles, which emerged from our research, represent themes that were intended to help guide the design of the next pilot user interface.
Shared the synthesized results with our team.
Stated some new hypothesis from what we learned.
Identified additional questions and next steps for our self and the team.
Design for a Connected World
Pilots are exposed to and manage multiple converging information systems.
The Plane Should Know the Pilot
The pilot knows the ins and outs of the plane, but the aircraft doesn’t know the pilot, and he must start fresh for each flight.
Where it is - is what it is
Every flight deck is laid out using the same template, we find the same things in the same places across different aircraft.
Extend Redundancy to Increase Safety
Information is repeated everywhere, because redundancy is
critical to safety.
Leverage the Passion, Elevate the Expertise
The feel of flying drives a pilot’s passion for flight. Pilots have deep expertise in the physics and mathematics of flight.
Structuring the information
We considered data objects as the primary components of our Information Architecture. In other words, you can think of these as individual actors within a domain. In the domain of flying and the flight deck, the primary actors are: OPERATOR(S)
An operator is responsible for monitoring and controlling the aircraft. He/she is actively involved in flying an aircraft and is the primary user of a flight deck.
AIRPLANE
An airplane is the machine used for flight. The airplane has a state that describes the number, type, position, and status of all parts of the airplane. The state of the airplane also drives position.
FLIGHT COURSE
Flight course information describes where the operator intends to move the craft (the plan), the path the airplane takes (the actual), when, and how.
POSITION
Airplane position describes where it is relative to the earth.
ATMOSPHERE
Atmosphere describes the properties of the complex and dynamic airspace above the earth through which the aircraft must travel.
EARTH
Earth is the land surface of the world that contains points of departure and landing facilities for an airplane.
Information Flow
Current Flow
In the current information system, pilots are relied upon to receive and integrate information from multiple sources. The information they get comes from Operations or Data Centers, air traffic controllers via radio and email (or paper/fax). They must synthesize this information in their heads, notate it in pencil, then input key portions of it into the avionics system by hand.
Future Flow
In the future, the avionics system could be a centralized hub that integrates information from multiple sources, presenting it to the pilot in various appropriate ways. Pilots are still leading the decision making about what action to take on the information and they control the final execution of that action. Alternately we could consider a pilotless flight deck, where those two seats are filled by VIP guest observers, and the avionics do all the flying.
Information from Technology
Information could take the form of video, audio, info displays, switches/buttons, lights
There are 6 valuable aspects to consider as we reimagine a future user experience. Each aspect approaches the experience at a slightly different angle, but together they will allow us to think about the user experience holistically and provide a structure for thinking about possible information sources.
Road mapping a Future Pilot User Interface
An advanced vision about the long range future of pilot user interfaces must be grounded in both today’s reality, and some hypothesis about the future. Five key areas affecting avionics design are mapped out below. This was a good exercise which helped us make claims about the Pilot User Interface.
Outcome - Future Pilot User Interface Concept
Based on our work understanding the current pilot user interface, making claims about the future and following the guiding principles we drafted, we created this sketch of a future pilot user interface concept.
The details here are our achievements in terms of the UI principles which were mentioned above.
Design for a connected world
In this concept, the avionics system accepts and synthesizes all incoming information
from other systems. We could consider a pilotless flight deck, where those two seats are filled by VIP guest observers, and the avionics do all the flying.
The plane should know the pilot
Here the avionics system recognizes the pilot as he boards, and takes sensor readings on his health. The system is also able to go to his preset preferences. In this case, the pilot must do validation but not data entry to prepare the aircraft for flight.
Where it is - is what it is
Reflecting back to the underlying template of current flight decks, we built upon this map of the space. The sketch maintains position of the basic information groupings from the current flight deck experience.