18th annual conference on manual control.pdf - Acgsc.org

A Perspective Display of Air Traffic for the Cockpit
Michael Wallace McGreevy
Department of Electrical Engineering
and Computer Science
University of California, Berkeley
Berkeley_ CA 94720
The typical format of the cockpit display of traffic information
(CDTI) has been the plan-view [1-_]. Altitude has been
represented numerically or by shape-encoding [5]. It is possible
that manuever decisions areunfavorably biased, and pilot workload
lncreased_ by thls kind of non-integrated format.
As an alternative_ a perspective display has been developed.
This traffic display presents a more natural view of the airspace
around an aircraft. Perspective depth cues provide a sense of
volume. Reference metrics enhance separation judgements. Particular
emphasis is placed on vertical separation. A flexible
computer graphics program drives the dynamic vector graphics
display in real-time_ allowing interactive development of the
optimum viewing geometry.
The perspective and plan-view CDTI displays will be compared
in experiments to be conducted in the summelr of 19E2. Further
experiments will examine the ability of pilots to derive accurate
mental models of spatial configurations froff_ perspective
displays, as a function of viewing geometry.
For the last several years, N_SA and the FA_ have been
studying the concept of a cockpit, display of traffic: information
(CDTI). The study of CDTI display formats is a part of the human
factors research of cockpit technology at NASA.is Ames Research
Center. The traditional format of CDII has been a plan-vlew,
with altitude represented numerically i1_ data tags. Some recent
efforts have been made to encode altitude by shape.
Experimenters at Ames who are studying pilot maneuver decisions
using plan-view displays have become concerned that the
plan-view may bias pilots p manuever decisions, A better
representation of altitude was sought,
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