Simulator-Based Design : Methodology and vehicle display application

Abstract: Human-in-the-loop simulators have long been used in the research community as well as in industry. The aviation field has been the pioneers in the use of simulators for design purposes. In contrast, corresponding activities in the automotive area have been less widespread. Published reports on experimental activities based on human-in-the-loop simulations have focused on methods used in the study, but nobody seems to have taken a step back and looked at the wider methodological picture of Simulator-Based Design. The purpose of this thesis is to fill this gap by drawing, in part, upon the author’s long experience in this field.In aircraft and lately also in ground vehicles there has been a technology shift from pure mechanics to computer-based systems. The physical interface has turned into screen-based solutions. This trend towards glass has just begun for ground vehicles. This development in vehicle technology has opened the door for new design approaches, not only for design itself, but also for the development process. Simulator-Based Design (SBD) is very compatible with this trend. The first part of this thesis proposes a structure for the process of SBD and links it to the corresponding methodology for software design.In the second part of the thesis the focus changes from methodology to application and specifically to the design of three-dimensional situation displays. Such displays are supposed to support the human operator with a view of a situation beyond the more or less limited visual range. In the aircraft application interest focuses on the surrounding air traffic in the light of the evolving free-flight concept, where responsibility for separation between aircraft will be (partly) transferred from ground-based flight controllers to air crews. This new responsibility must be supported by new technology and the situational view must be displayed from the perspective of the aircraft. Some basic design questions for such 3D displays were investigated resulting in an adaptive interface approach, where the current situation and task govern the details of information presentation.The thesis also discusses work on situation displays for ground vehicles. The most prominent example may be the Night Vision system, where the road situation ahead is depicted on a screen in the cab. The existing systems are based on continuous presentation, an approach that we have questioned, since there is strong evidence for negative behavioral adaptation. This means, for example, that the driver will drive faster, since vision has been enhanced, and thereby consume the safety margins that the system was supposed to deliver. Our investigation supports a situation-dependant approach and no continuous presentation.In conclusion, the results from our simulator-based studies showed advantages for adaptive interface solutions. Such design concepts are much more complicated than traditional static interfaces. This finding emphasizes the need for more dynamic design resources in order to have a complete understanding of the situation-related interface changes. The use of human-in-the-loop simulators and deployment of Simulator-Based Design will satisfy this need.