Avionic Data Dictionary Messaging System for Pilot Workflow
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Solution Overview
Problem
Pilots face significant burden and time constraints when composing and sending avionics messages due to the complexity of navigating through hierarchical menu structures in conventional avionics messaging systems.
Innovation Solution
An avionics messaging system that includes a processing unit, memory, and a user input device, allowing for a user-customizable list of pre-defined avionics message elements to be displayed, updated, and used to quickly access message composition screens, reducing the need to navigate through multiple levels of menus.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of operation
If pilots use conventional hierarchical menu structures to compose messages, then the system maintains comprehensive message options and organization, but the time and effort required to access message composition screens increases significantly
Solution Approach 1:
The system pre-organizes message elements into categorized lists and allows pilots to pre-configure frequently used message templates. When a pilot needs to compose a message, the system presents relevant pre-defined elements and categories, eliminating the need to navigate through entire hierarchical menu structures from scratch each time.
Solution Approach 2:
The message composition interface is segmented into discrete, selectable message elements organized in scrollable lists. Pilots can independently select from segmented categories (e.g., clearance requests, position reports, requests for information) without navigating through nested menus, allowing direct access to specific message components.
2Reliability
If the system provides comprehensive pre-defined message elements, then message composition accuracy improves, but the complexity of the interface and navigation structure increases
Solution Approach 1:
The system extracts only the essential message elements and categories needed for specific communication tasks, presenting them in simplified linear lists rather than comprehensive hierarchical structures. This extraction approach maintains reliability by including all necessary message options while reducing interface complexity by removing unnecessary navigation layers.
Solution Approach 2:
The message element lists serve multiple functions: they provide comprehensive message options, allow direct selection without navigation, support both predefined and custom message creation, and adapt to different communication scenarios. This multi-functionality reduces the need for separate specialized interfaces for each message type.
Data Source
AI summary
An avionics messaging system comprises a memory configured to store a plurality of pre-defined avionics message elements; a display unit configured to display data; a user input device configured to receive input from a user; and a processing unit configured to output a user-customizable list of pre-defined avionics message elements to the display unit, the user-customizable list comprising at least a subset of the plurality of pre-defined avionics message elements; wherein the processing unit is further configured to update the user-customizable list based on input received from the user input device; wherein the processing unit is further configured to provide a message composition screen to the display unit based on user input received from the user input device; and wherein the message composition screen corresponds to a pre-defined avionics message element selected from the user-customizable list of pre-defined avionics message elements.