AAWSAP DIRD, Cockpits in the Era of Breakthrough Flight, November 2010

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.

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extended arm is likely to waver. This would induce significant errors in the gesture
system.
Voice Commands
Voice commands are promising for hands-free and parallel task initiation. 45 By the time
that propulsion breakthroughs become viable, it is likely that voice-command
technology will have solved the problem of voice recognition (including when stressed)
and the problem of accommodating the myriad of ways to ask for the same thing. That
having been considered, voice commands are projected to be an excellent
augmentation to the set of other cockpit controls, particularly with the more complex
and varied instruction sets, such as navigating within gesture-based systems.
Based on lessons from human-to-human communication, however, it is advised to have
the pilot's commands repeated back to them as a form of confirmation.
Brain-Machine Interface
Although research is currently in the initial stages, 46 th is study of far-future cockpits
assumes that this technology is fully matured, such that the pilots can issue commands
with their thoughts. A limiting constraint here is that only non-invasive techniques are
used (avoiding the need to modify the pilots).
Regardless of the sophistication of the technology, a weak link in these systems is the
human mind itself; that is, thoughts can wander. Much more study is required to
determine the implications of distractions, loss of concentration, fright, levels of mental
discipline, and many others.
CONTEMPORARY AIRCRAFT COCKPITS
For comparative reference, some features of contemporary aircraft cockpits are
examined next. Key displays and controls are becoming standardized, although the
placement still varies across manufacturers and models. 47 Regardless of differences,
the functions are representative of similar functions to consider for breakthrough-era
cockpits.
The layout of the Airbus A380 Flight Deck, shown in Figure 10, has major flight
functions located in specific areas. There is a combination of fixed and adaptable
displays. The following items of interest are identified:
• Primary flight display.
• Navigation display.
• Flight mode control.
• Vehicle status indicators.
• Joystick, throttles, and keypads.
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