Human Factors Considerations for Head-Worn Displays in Civil Aviation

Abstract

Head-worn displays (HWDs) superimpose primary flight information that is traditionally presented on head-down displays on the pilot’s natural, far-field vision. When compared to traditional head-down instrumentation, the HWD advantages include (a) reduced head-down time, (b) fewer instances of refocusing eyes between cockpit instruments and the far-field view, (c) information presentation that conforms to the natural world, and (d) freedom of head movements while still viewing symbology. Because HWD imagery and real-world information are superimposed, HWD design should strike a balance between effort required to scan various information sources and amount of visual clutter added to the pilot’s forward field of view. When this balance is achieved, HWDs can facilitate efficient use of pilot attentional resources, manifesting as increased flight path tracking accuracy and improved detection of expected traffic when compared to traditional head-down presentation of flight information. Whether virtual information is presented to just one eye or to both eyes carries important implications for pilot performance and flight safety. Previous research indicates that monocular presentation can have a negative impact on target detection and tracking performance when compared to binocular presentation, implicating binocular rivalry. This raises the question of whether the binocular rivalry is impacting pilots’ ability to focus attention on HWD imagery, switch attention between HWD imagery and far-field scenery, and integrate information that appears in HWD imagery with the far-field scenery.