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.
UNCLASSIFIED/ fFOR OFFI@IAI:: HSE OPtl::Y Although not mentioned in the lecture (advertising is not allowed at TED talks), Underkoffler's Oblong Industries is already working to make those systems real. • Van der Vaart, A. J. M. (1995). Arm movements in operating rotary controls (Doctoral dissertation). Techniche Universiteit Delft, Netherlands, Delftse Univ. Pres. Dissertation (169 pg) Intense detail into arm and hand motions when dealing with controls such as knobs and joysticks - including experimental test methods. Sections both in English and Dutch . Many useful diagrams for those designing the actual mechanics of controls. Suitable information if designing a new six-degree of freedom joystick. • Visual Understanding Environment (VUE) . (2008). Tufts University. Site developed by Academic Technology. Retrieved from Downloadable, open source software to create flexible tools for managing and integrating digital resources in support of teaching, learn ing and research. "VUE provides a flexible visual environment for structuring, presenting, and sharing digital information ." • Wan, C, et al. (1991). 'Vise: A Visual Programming Environment for Data Analysis and Visualization ." Presented at the 1999/Nov. Conference of Association for Computing Machinery (ACM) User Interface Software and Technology (National Information Display Laboratory) . Report (7 pg) Pertinent in the context of reflecting the degree of difficulty when presenting information about the health of an electromechanical system, where comprehending and reacting to the data is not straightforward. Hierarchical organization covered. • Webb, P. (Ed.). (1964). SECTION 17. VISION, Bioastronautics Data Book. NASA SP-3006. Washington DC : Scientific and Technical Information Division. Section from Book containing data on human vision, field of view, effects of lighting, etc. • Woods, D. D. (1984). Visual momentum: a concept to improve the cognitive coupling of person and computer. International Journal of Man-Machine Studies, 21, 229-244. Report (16 pg), Examines the problem of getting lost when working with the multiple display windows that are now common in computer displays. The taxonomy is also useful. • Woods, D. D. (1988). The Significance Messages Concept for Intelligent Adaptive Data Display. Working Paper Series No. 1988-015. Columbus OH: Ohio State University. Report (21 pg) Discusses how intelligent monitoring systems can take on the function of combining a number of variables to calculated a condensed and meaningful "Significant Message" to the user. For example, instead of just displaying various states of a system, the intelligent system takes all those values to give the user a key message, such as "Pump 1 at reduced capacity ." • Woods, D. D. (1993). The price of flexibility. In Hefley & Murray (Eds.), Proceeding of the International Workshop on Intelligent User Interfaces. Association for Computing Machinery (ACM). Report (7 pg) Illustrates how adding flexibility to information displays increased the burden on the users. Users dealt with this by setting a default fixed display and by avoiding using the systems during high stress moments. A list of corrective measures is provided for designing intelligent user interfaces. UNCLASSIFIED/fFOA. OFFICIO ls. Plili Olhlls.¥ 49
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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.