Date of Award

3-22-2012

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Science

Department

Department of Systems Engineering and Management

First Advisor

John M. Colombi, PhD.

Abstract

The implementation of Multi-Aircraft Control (MAC) for use with Remotely Piloted Aircraft (RPA) has resulted in the need of a platform to evaluate interface design. The Vigilant Spirit Control Station (VSCS), developed by the Air Force Research Laboratory, addresses this need by permitting the rapid prototyping of different interface concepts for future MAC-enabled systems. A human-computer interaction (HCI) Index, originally applied to multi-function displays was applied to the prototype Vigilant Spirit interface. A modified version of the HCI Index was successfully applied to perform a quantitative analysis of the baseline VSCS interface and two modified interface designs. The modified HCI Index incorporates the Hick-Hyman decision time, Fitts' Law time, and the physical actions calculated by the Keystroke-level model. The analysis indicates that the average time for the modified interfaces is statistically less than the average time of the original VSCS interface. These results revealed the effectiveness of the tool and demonstrated in the design of future generation interfaces or modifying existing interfaces.

AFIT Designator

AFIT-GSE-ENV-12-M08

DTIC Accession Number

ADA557357

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