Documents / Official release
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.
“The Advance”12 pages
UNCLASSIFIED/ fFOR OFFI@IAI:: HSE OPtl::Y Book (several hundred pages) Early scholarly textbook about space technology in general, including interesting projections on displays and controls (Figure 29 - 16). Despite the age of this text, much of its foundational coverage is still valid. • Stanton, N., et al. (2005). Human Factors Methods; A Practical Guide For Engineering and Design . Aldershot, Hampshire: Ashgate Publishing Limited . Book (571 pg) Title says it all. • Shneiderman, B. (1997). Designing the User Interface : Strategies for Effective Human -Computer Interaction, 3rd edition. Boston, MA: Addison-Wesley Longman Publishing. Book (639 pg) Covers a variety investigations, in particular the "Visual Information Seeking" (VIS) principles by which people look for information . Like so many other references, it discusses how people use visual models either directly or indirectly analogous to physical objects to arrange information. Also goes into detail about o Time to learn o Retention time o Rate of errors o Error recovery o Cultural and individual differences • Stokes, A., Wickens, C. & Kite, K. (1990). Display Technology - Human Factors Concepts. Warrendale, PA: Society of Automotive Engineers, Inc. Book (167 pgs) This was a major source of information for this study. Funded by General Motors, this is a compilations of a variety of display research results, focusing on systems for pilots and drivers. • Sutter, J. D. (2010/ June/ 18). New tech moves beyond the mouse, keyboard and screen . CNN. Retrieved from . News article describing a number of emerging technolog ies for the computer interface, including voice, gesture commands, brain-controlled computing, eye-tracking software, and even having the images appear virtually around you via special contact lenses. Cites the new Microsoft Kinect gesture-based gaming system, and John Underkoffler - the science advisor to the 2002 movie, Minority Report, where provocative interactions between the user and data are shown. Also reminds us that voice commands and touch screens are now common with cell phones . Regard less of such advances, the keyboard is still likely to be around for those lingering tasks that still cannot be comfortably done with the new "Natural Interface" technology. Also discusses the difficulty with such systems, citing the tiring aspect of gesture based systems, the likelihood of misinterpretation of motions, and the lack of tactile feedback. • Tufte, E. (1991) . Envisioning Information . Cheshire, CT: Graphics Press . Book (126 pg) Comprehensive examples about graphically presenting information, including bad examples to avoid. Useful for general rules on use of color, shading, lines, etc. Although focused on static display of information (print material instead of dynamic displays), many of the lessons of human perception equally apply. It does not address dynamic displays or system integration. • Tilley, A. R., & Dreyfuss, H. (2001). The Measure of Man and Woman : Human Factors in Design . Wiley. Book (104 pg) Comprehensive information regarding anthropometric charts - dimensions and positions of humans, male and female, to be used as references when designing chairs, consoles, or other human factors equipment. This builds on decades of work from designer Henry Dreyfuss who first started publishing in this field in 1955. • Underkoffler, J. (2010). John Underkoffler Points to the Future of User Interfaces. TED Talks, June 2, 2010, Retrieved from > Lecture (YouTube) About the status and projections of gesture-based user interfaces. Underkoffler was the science advisor to the 2002 movie, Minority Report, where provocative interactions between a user and data are shown. He is also a 15-year veteran of MIT's Media Laboratory. The key take-away points from this lecture include projections that gesture-based interfaces will be available in products before 2015, and will no longer require gloves or other devices to be worn by the user. Errors, however, such as the computer misinterpreting an unintended motion as a command input, are likely to remain issues. UNCLASSIFIED/fFOA. OFFICIO ls. Plili Olhlls.¥ 48
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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.