Contextual Cockpit Display Navigation to Reduce Pilot Head-Down Time
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Solution Overview
Problem
Modern vehicle cockpit displays, particularly in aircraft, require significant pilot interaction for navigation and function management, diverting attention from primary operations and reducing situational awareness.
Innovation Solution
A system that automatically updates secondary cockpit displays based on user inputs on primary displays, determining operational contexts to navigate and paginate GUIs without manual user interaction, using processing systems to identify and switch to relevant destination displays.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of operation
If manual navigation of GUI displays is implemented, then display functionality is complete, but pilot workload increases and situational awareness decreases
Solution Approach 1:
The system automatically determines operational context and navigates to destination displays without requiring manual pilot input. The processing system autonomously monitors current display state, interprets pilot intentions based on operational context, and executes navigation commands, allowing the system to serve itself rather than requiring continuous pilot intervention.
Solution Approach 2:
The system proactively determines and prepares destination displays before the pilot actually needs them. By continuously monitoring operational context and anticipating navigation needs, the system has destination displays ready for immediate presentation, eliminating the need for manual navigation steps.
2Productivity
If automated display navigation is implemented, then pilot workload decreases, but system complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The processing system performs multiple functions: monitoring operational context, determining pilot intent, selecting destination displays, and executing navigation commands. This multi-functional approach consolidates what would otherwise require separate systems into a single intelligent processing unit, managing complexity through functional integration.
Solution Approach 2:
The operational context determination module serves as an intermediary between the pilot's implicit intentions and the explicit navigation commands. It translates operational state and display information into intelligent navigation decisions, mediating between the complex pilot-cognition domain and the mechanical display-navigation domain.
3Loss of information
If head down displays are used for detailed information, then information access is improved, but forward situational awareness deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The system proactively presents relevant information on forward displays before the pilot needs to look down. By anticipating information needs based on operational context and automatically navigating to appropriate displays, the system delivers information in the pilot's forward field of view, eliminating the need to divert attention to head-down displays.
Data Source
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AI summary
Vehicle systems and methods are provided for assisting operation of a vehicle by automatically updating a secondary display in response to a user input on a primary display. One method involves determining a context associated with the user input on a first graphical user interface (GUI) display based at least in part on current status information associated with the vehicle and a location of the user input on the first GUI display, determining a destination GUI display for receiving a second user input corresponding to the location of the user input on the first GUI display based at least in part on the context, and automatically updating a second GUI display distinct from the first GUI display to the destination GUI display responsive to the user input.