Model-based human-machine interaction design of civil aircraft cockpit
Authors: Pianpian Zuo , Jun Jiang 
Published: June 2023

As aircraft systems become more complex, the cross-links between systems become more and more inseparable. The failure of certain faults can lead to a cascade of failure effects. In order for the crew to quickly locate the fault, quickly isolate the fault in the shortest possible time, and eliminate the impact of the failure, it is necessary to consider the cockpit human-machine interaction design comprehensively. At present, designers mostly analyze the impact of failure based on design documents, and the work is complicated and prone to omissions and errors. Therefore, this paper proposes a model-based human-computer interaction design method for civil aircraft cockpit to help designers quickly conduct cross-system impact analysis, so as to make the design more effective and correct.The overall architecture of the model adopted by the model-based civil aircraft cockpit human-computer interaction design method is mainly divided into the failure state layer, the system function layer and the physical component layer. The failure state layer mainly describes the different failure states of each function of the system, and the correlation between the failure state and the alarm information of the unit. The system functional layer mainly describes the functions of the system and their internal associations, in addition, the functional cross-linking relationships between different systems are also described at this layer. The physical component layer mainly describes the physical components and related physical architecture required for the realization of each function of the system, and correlates the control points and crew alert information that can be controlled by the crew.Since the spread of failure will lead to many alert messages, if the primary message is displayed at the same time as the secondary message, it will be difficult for the crew to quickly determine the true root cause fault and take appropriate countermeasures. Therefore, when designing the crew alert, the designer can analyze the failure propagation through the model, comprehensively consider the cockpit crew alert effect, and avoid excessive alert information and interference with the flight crew.In order to ensure the flight safety of the aircraft, various control devices are designed in the cockpit, which provide a channel for the interaction between the crew and the aircraft system, and facilitate the pilot to adjust the operating state of the aircraft system. When designing the control points, the rationality and effectiveness of the setting of the control points of the crew can be analyzed through the model, so as to reduce the impact of failure as much as possible and avoid excessive load on the crew.Model-based human-computer interaction design method for civil aircraft cockpit takes system functions as the core, supports failure states and physical components, and correlates crew alarm information and control points. This approach can help designers quickly perform cross-system impact analysis, and provide a reference for the design of civil aircraft cockpit crew alarm and control points.