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This Defense Intelligence Reference Document, dated 1 November 2010 and numbered DIA-08-1011-002, was prepared by the Defense Intelligence Agency's Defense Warning Office. It is one of a series of advanced technology reports produced under the Advanced Aerospace Weapon System Applications program. It draws mainly on the book Frontiers of Propulsion Science and speculates about breakthroughs such as control of gravity and inertia and faster-than-light travel. It then proposes a provisional cockpit design with six-degree-of-freedom controls, virtual displays and no windows.
From the source:Release of 2026-09-18 Incident: 11/1/10, Las Vegas, Nevada. Released with redactions. This document is a Defense Intelligence Reference Document (DIRD), a technical reference format used by the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) to capture baseline knowledge on a specific topic for later analytic use. DIRDs are best understood as reference and synthesis products rather than as original research. It is one of 38 DIRDs produced under the Advanced Aerospace Weapon System Applications Program (AAWSAP) between 2009 and 2011. Because AAWSAP’s scope permitted a broad range of supporting topics, not every DIRD in the series directly concerns aerospace systems or future threat assessment. The following summary reflects the DIRD’s scope and framing at the time of writing and should not be read as implying current validation of the concepts discussed. This DIRD examines how cockpit design might change if future aerospace vehicles were ever to achieve major propulsion breakthroughs such as control over gravity and inertia, “propellantless” flight, or faster-than-light travel. The report does not describe an existing or emerging vehicle class. Instead, it asks what such hypothetical capabilities would mean for piloting, displays, controls, and human factors, and it argues that the biggest design challenges would come from full six-degree-of-freedom motion, operation across multiple flight regimes from near-surface flight to orbit and deep space, and the possible separation between the craft’s actual motion and the crew’s internal physical sensations. It combines those assumptions with established human-machine-interface principles and with maturing inputs such as gesture, voice, and brain-machine control to outline a provisional cockpit centered on intuitive displays, stress-tolerant physical controls, and a virtual surround display.
UNCLASSIFIED/ ,'FOR OFFI@IAI:: WSE ONl::Y 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 rea lity 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 t han when translating dial s, bar graphs, or alphanumeric displays. 21 Th is not only pertains to perceptions of motion, but also to t he comprehension of a vehicle's operation: understanding its lim its, 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 UNCLASSIFIED/fFOA. OFFICIO ls. Plili ONls.¥ 18
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Official release, from the pursue 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.