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This Defense Intelligence Reference Document from the Defense Intelligence Agency, dated 1 November 2010, is one of a series of advanced technology reports produced in FY 2009 under the Advanced Aerospace Weapon System Applications (AAWSA) Program. It proposes a provisional cockpit design for craft driven by speculative breakthrough propulsion, such as control of gravity and inertia and faster-than-light travel. It draws mainly on the book Frontiers of Propulsion Science and on human-machine interface research.
UNCLASSIFIED/ ,'1"1!11'- l!ll"l"ll!lllile lal!i! i;nn,~r Chapter 2: Human-Machine Interface Lessons Over recent decades, substantial improvements have been made to human-machine interfaces. 15 Most of this progress relies on better accommodating the norms and limits of human perception-lessons that do not change even when vehicle characteristics change. These lessons are reviewed in this chapter and then applied in the conceptual design offered in the third chapter. Examples of such characteristics include reaction times, tunnel vision under stress, instinctual association with position, interpretations of displayed colors, and lessons learned from interactions with display and control technologies. Recent progress on augmented reality displays, 16 voice control, 17 gesture-based computer inputs, 18 and brain-machine interfaces (BMis) 19 are also considered. In this study of far-future possibilities, these technologies are assumed to have reached full maturity. Instead of going into the details of their status, only their implications will be addressed here. One exception was made when considering emerging technologies-specifically the notion of modifying humans for breakthrough flight. This exception includes brain implants for BMis and reengineering humans (transhumanism) to adapt to new requirements. 20 Rather than requiring humans to be reengineered for breakthrough flight, this study focuses on adapting the cockpit to address natural human characteristics. This forces attention on the cockpit design requirements. Numerous references about human factors were consulted, focusing on those details most relevant to this study. Since similar assertions were echoed in many of these references, it is not always clear how to trace a given assertion to a specific reference. Instead, an annotated bibliography is included at the end of this report that has short descriptions of each reference. HUMAN PERCEPTION NORMS Physical Object Analogs Human interpretation mechanisms are rooted in the paradigm of a physical environment. Mimicking a physical environment in a display and control system enhances comprehension and allows features to be recognized with less effort than when translating dials, bar graphs, or alphanumeric displays. 21 This not only pertains to perceptions of motion, but also to the comprehension of a vehicle's operation: understanding its limits, supplies of consumables, malfunction modes, and other parameters. Accordingly, humans naturally remember where to look for a particular piece of information or what direction to flip a particular switch. Humans are also adept at subconsciously applying models of social behavior and causal events. Hierarchies, similar to societal organizations, offer a natural model with which to categorize systems and subsystems. Causal relations (cause leads effect) match well with procedures and operational flow diagrams. For more abstract concepts and complex data sets, a combination of hierarchical and causal relations can be used, typically taking the form 18 UNCLASSIFIED//COP OFFICIO I !PSS QIIL>f
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Report, from the dia collection. The PDF is mirrored here; the original link is above. 57 pages are in the text index: search them above, or from the library's search.