Designing Optimal Hierarchies for Information Retrieval with Multifunction Displays

Abstract

Modern aircraft use computer screens with a push button interface to replace a variety of single purpose instruments. Such multifunction displays (MFDs) are gradually being introduced into military helicopters, with future aircraft likely to be highly dependent on computers. Studies have shown that poor design of MFD hierarchies has a significant impact on user satisfaction and performance. The purpose of this study was to extend a theoretical analysis of hierarchy search into a methodology for gathering data and building a hierarchy layout that minimized the time needed to find items in a hierarchy. Pilot studies demonstrate the effectiveness of the methodology and show that optimizing hierarchy layout may lead to a 25% reduction in search times.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Jul 01, 1998
Accession Number
ADA352470

Entities

People

  • Gregory Francis

Organizations

  • United States Army Aeromedical Research Lab

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Air Platforms
  • Biomedical
  • Materials and Manufacturing Processes

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Aircrafts
  • Classification
  • Cognitive Workload
  • Computer Programming
  • Computer Programs
  • Computers
  • Helicopters
  • Human Factors Engineering
  • Information Retrieval
  • Java Programming Language
  • Laptop Computers
  • Military Aircraft
  • Pilot Studies
  • Programming Languages
  • Push Buttons
  • Rotary Wing Aircraft
  • Situational Awareness

Readers

  • Human-Computer Interaction (HCI).
  • Systems Analysis and Design

Technology Areas

  • AI & ML
  • AI & ML - Machine Learning Algorithms