Point of Maintenance Spiral One Usability Study

Abstract

The goal of the Point of Maintenance (P-O-Mx) program is to demonstrate timely, accurate, and effective data collection, and logistics operations processing to meet the maintainer's needs at the point of origin. The Spiral One Usability Test consisted of human factors and user-centered evaluations of the P-O-Mx activity. User level evaluations were conducted to determine the maintenance effectiveness of P-O-Mx devices in presenting, modifying, and transmitting maintenance and service data. The evaluations were administered to technicians in the real-world maintenance environment. The purpose of the evaluation was to compare five hardware platforms (Libretto, Itronix, FM-Net, Xybernaut-Wrist, Xybernaut-Head) for opening work orders from the flightline aircraft location. Previous empirical studies conducted by the Air Force Research Laboratory Logistics Readiness Branch (AFRL/HESR) have evaluated both portable maintenance aids and wearable computers for flightline maintenance. Both platforms have been shown to improve maintenance performance over use of paper-based platforms. While these empirical studies have compared wearable computer technologies with portable computers, usability inspection methods (such as usability testing) have not compared these devices. This study demonstrates the usability comparisons of the five hardware platforms using Usability Test Methods.

Open PDF

Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Aug 01, 2001
Accession Number
ADA400397

Entities

People

  • Allen R. Revels
  • Carlton Donahoo
  • David Kancler
  • Laurie Quill
  • Megan Gorman

Organizations

  • University of Dayton

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Air Platforms

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Air Force
  • Air Force Research Laboratories
  • Aircrafts
  • Beta Testing
  • Computers
  • Computing Devices
  • Environment
  • Governments
  • Laptop Computers
  • Logistics
  • Maintenance
  • Military Research
  • Personal Computers
  • Test And Evaluation
  • Test Methods
  • Wearable Computers
  • Wearable Technology

Fields of Study

  • Computer science
  • Engineering

Readers

  • Instructional Design and Training Evaluation.
  • Logistics and Supply Chain Management.
  • Software Engineering.