Voice-Activated Flight Deck Feedback for Crew Command Awareness
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Solution Overview
Problem
Voice activated flight deck systems face challenges in ensuring accurate command recognition, providing situational awareness, and minimizing crew distraction due to false positives and lack of visual cues for voice modality usage, which affect crew resource management.
Innovation Solution
Implement graphical symbology and aural feedback to indicate voice modality availability and distinguish between pilot and co-pilot commands, using directional icons and 3D Binaural Audio to enhance situational awareness and reduce distractions.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of operation
If voice modality is used to access flight deck functions, then direct access to off-screen elements and reduced heads-down time are achieved, but crew situation awareness and Crew Resource Management issues arise due to lack of visual cues
Solution Approach 1:
The patent uses visual indicators that change color or appearance to indicate voice modality availability and active voice command states. Graphical symbology on the display screen provides visual feedback about which functions are voice-enabled and which crew member is currently using voice commands, maintaining situation awareness while enabling direct voice access to functions.
Solution Approach 2:
The system implements feedback mechanisms that provide visual cues to the flight crew about voice command status. When a crew member issues a voice command, visual indicators appear on the display screen to inform the other crew member of the active voice interaction, ensuring situational awareness is maintained despite the hands-free nature of voice control.
2Loss of time
If voice commands are used for flight deck operations, then heads-down time is reduced, but false positives from ASR engines create crew distraction and safety risks
Solution Approach 1:
The system displays visual indicators before voice commands are fully executed, showing the interpreted command and providing an opportunity for verification. This preliminary visual feedback allows the crew to confirm the accuracy of ASR interpretation before the command is instantiated, reducing false positives while maintaining quick access.
Solution Approach 2:
Visual feedback is provided on the display screen to confirm accurate recognition of voice commands and to alert crew members to potential false positives. The system shows visual cues about command interpretation status, allowing crew to verify accuracy and correct errors before execution, thereby improving reliability without sacrificing the speed advantage of voice commands.
3Loss of information
If visual indicators are added to show voice modality availability, then crew awareness is improved, but device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent integrates voice modality indicators into existing display screen elements that serve multiple functions. The same display infrastructure used for flight information also conveys voice command status, eliminating the need for separate dedicated indicator systems and reducing overall device complexity while maintaining comprehensive awareness.
Solution Approach 2:
Visual indicators for voice modality are placed locally at or near the relevant controls and functions on the display screen. This localized approach provides context-specific awareness without requiring system-wide indicator changes, reducing complexity by only modifying specific areas of the interface rather than the entire system.
4Loss of information
If directional feedback is provided to identify command source, then situational awareness and CRM are improved, but system complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent uses asymmetric visual indicators that are positioned or oriented differently depending on which crew member issued the voice command. This asymmetric feedback provides clear directional information about command source using simple positional variations rather than complex identification systems, improving awareness while minimizing added complexity.
Solution Approach 2:
The directional feedback mechanism leverages existing display screen capabilities to provide command source identification. By using the same display infrastructure for both flight information and command source indication, the system achieves enhanced situational awareness without proportionally increasing device complexity.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
Enhances crew resource management by providing intuitive visual and aural cues that improve command recognition accuracy and reduce distractions, ensuring seamless interaction with flight deck systems.
Implementation Method 1
3D Binaural Audio to enhance situational awareness and reduce distractions
Data Source
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AI summary
A voice activatable flight deck system including a voice recognition and processing system for receiving and processing input voice commands and determining machine commands for the voice activatable flight deck system. The system provides indications as to whether user interface functional elements are voice command enabled, disabled or whether voice command input is not available. The system provides directional feedback to the voice command depending on whether a pilot in command or second in command issued the voice input.