State-of-the-art and Future Concepts for Interaction in Aircraft Cockpits

Aircraft cockpits have substantially increased in complexity over the last 60 years. Whilst the additional instrumentation and sys- tems have improved operational performance and certain aspects of sit- uational awareness, they have also substantially increased the cognitive skills needed of pilots. A pilot interacts with the modern cockpit displays through cursor control devices (CCD), and the implementation and type of CCD has an impact on the quality, performance, and workload expe- rienced by the pilot. This paper highlights the direction of research and development in pilot human-computer interaction (HCI) for both civilian and military aircraft, with regards to CCDs. Particular focus is placed on unconventional interaction methods that are being developed to provide more intuitive, naturally perceptive interfaces. Preliminary work by the authors in contribution to the evaluation of these new input modalities is also briefly presented.