Eye movement analysis of predator remotely piloted vehicle flight instrument display arrangement

Shan Xie, Purdue University

Abstract

The layout of a remotely piloted vehicle (RPV) flight instrument display was evaluated. An eye tracking system was employed to record pilots' eye movements while they perform two tasks in a computer simulated control environment. Fixation duration and fixation frequency were calculated for each flight instrument. Link analysis was conducted to evaluate the frequency of eye movement transitions between each pair of instruments. There were several major findings: 1) the heading indicator, which was a numeric indicator, was easier to interpret than some of the flight instruments that used moving textbox symbology, and thus suggested that the moving textbox symbology did not function well in providing qualitative cues as it was designed for; 2) the attitude indicator was the most important instrument and 3) the locations of the attitude indicator, airspeed, and heading indicator on the flight display were adequate, but the altitude indicator should be placed closer to the attitude indicator as compared to the vertical speed indicator and RPM.

Degree

M.S.I.E.

Advisors

Landry, Purdue University.

Subject Area

Industrial engineering

COinS