FAA Office of Aerospace Medicine
Civil Aerospace Medical Institute

Report No: DOT/FAA/AM-16/3

Title and Subtitle: The Case for Crew Interspace: Conceptual Framework

Report Date: May 2016

Authors: Kratchounova, D

Abstract: Pilots' awareness of the flight deck as a shared space is intrinsic and they interact with each other freely and naturally in it. However, these pilot-to-pilot interactions bear little resemblance to the pilot-aircraft interactions which are constrained within instrument panel areas where the majority of pilot interfaces currently reside. The inherent spatial characteristics of the flight deck afford the notion of an interspace.

The interspace can be an environment where: (a) the pilots interact with technology in a multimodal fashion such that the actions in one modality complement, and collaborate the input from the others, producing a well-choreographed user experience; and (b) the spatial organization, temporal synchronization, and semantic collaboration of control input devices reflect the integration patterns characterizing people's use of different modalities.

Thus, the key to an effective design paradigm shift is contingent on successfully emulating these naturally occurring modality communication and cooperation patterns within the intended interspace.

Key Words: multimodal input controls, flight crew interface

No. of Pages: 8