User centered design strategies for improving visualization of sensor data in rotorcraft cockpit displays for degraded visual environment operations

Abstract

Degraded Visual Environments (DVE) can be deadly for rotorcraft pilots. Increasingly the risks of DVE operations are mitigated through visualizing environmental hazards using advanced sensing technologies. Often times DVE occurs during periods of high workload, further increasing the risk to both pilots and aircraft. With advanced sensing capabilities comes better information but also the risk of information overload, attentional tunneling, and better external situation awareness (SA) at the expense of situation awareness for aircraft state. The present paper discusses a user centered design (UCD) approach that blends several common methodologies to soliciting user feedback on early sensor data visualization concepts. This paper will discuss the results and implications of this particular UCD effort and provide a viewpoint on UCD for military systems, and how this approach may differ from UCD conventions established in other industries.