Display Formatting Techniques for Improving Situation Awareness in the Aircraft Cockpit

Three current display design issues are discussed and applied to the design and modification of primary flight and navigation instruments in the context of a situation awareness assessment. These arc (a) display perspective (two-dimensional vs. three-dimensional), (b)frame of reference (inside-out vs. outside-in), and (c) visual momentum (monochrome vs. color). A fixed-wing, low-fidelity flight simulation contrasted a planar inside-out pilot-referenced display with a planar outside-in world-referenced display and an outside-in three-dimensional perspective display. Eleven flight-naive subjects flew each display, with and without color coding, to approach several waypoints located in three-dimensional space. Situation awareness, as measured by flight performance and recovery from disorientation events, was best maintained with the planar outside-in display, whereas color coding improved performance on the planar inside-out display. Limitations of the perspective display were suggested by its ambiguity of distance judgments, although this display supported a strategy of more simultaneous control in both pitch and roll axes. The results are discussed within the context of previous research and current aviation display design issues.