Next-gen cockpits will be single pilot, posits Thales : AINonline


Next-gen cockpits will be single pilot, posits Thales
By: Bernard Fitzsimons
July 18, 2010
Avionics, Air Transport and Cargo


Thales Aerospace is busy developing the flight decks for the Sukhoi Superjet 100, ATR 600 series, Sikorsky S-76D and Airbus A350 at its Toulouse facility. At the same time, the company is working to visualize what the cockpit of a next-generation widebody might look like 20 years from now. The biggest potential breakthrough from this could be single pilot operations for commercial aircraft.

So what current consumer technologies might find their way onto the flight decks of the future? In a press presentation just ahead of the Farnborough airshow, Dennis Bonnet, head of safety and human engineering in Thales’ cockpit center of competence, pointed to examples including the Philips Research Intelligent Shopwindow concept, jewelry that changes color to reflect the wearer’s mood and the driver monitoring system available on Lexus automobiles.

This is what Thales categorizes as “cockpit 3.0” in a classification that ranks the Concorde, with its electromechanical instruments and a processor and display for each sensor, as cockpit 1.0, and glass cockpits with information merged into displays as version 2.0.

The irony is that where the pilot using cockpit 1.0 had a limited number of tools but could master them completely and understand the cause of problems, the more capable cockpit 2.0 in some ways makes it harder for pilots, leaving them little to do when things are going well, but proving complicated to handle when something goes wrong.

“It requires too much training,” Bonnet said. “The cockpits are designed by very clever engineers but managed by pilots from diverse backgrounds. There is too much opportunity for human error and too many complex functions that are not used.” Cockpit 3.0, accordingly, needs to be crew-centric, “using the benefits of the crew’s strengths and helping them manage their weaknesses.”

Along with intelligent interfaces, such as the Philips Intelligent Shopwindow, Bonnet pointed to helpful tools, such as the Vodaphone Android, which uses GPS to show an image of the real world behind the screen and automobile engine stop/ start buttons.

Other advances include more extensive networking along with interactive languages. “Until 2000 we had only keyboards,” Bonnet said. Since then advances such as touch screens, multi-touch systems and 3-D interfaces have redefined interactivity to the extent that “if you give iPhone owner an old phone, he will think the screen is broken.”

So cockpit 3.0 is likely to feature intelligent interfaces that deduce what the pilot wants to do and help him do it, and would probably monitor crew safety. “An eye tracker, for example,” said Bonnet, “would see what the pilot is looking at and know it’s not the right tool for the problem, directing him to the right tool or even removing the wrong one from view.”

Interfaces would also be intuitive, providing a synthetic view or combined vision system to help the pilot safely navigate and manage the mission. And they would provide user-centric system management for pilots who are not engineers. “A lot of what is displayed is engineering stuff,” Bonnet said. “Pilots don’t care about it and it costs a lot to maintain their skill.” Losing the main galley at the beginning of flight, for instance, can be a serious issue. “You could have a display to suggest how to reallocate power in order to keep the galley,” he said.

There will be new interactive languages for touch screens and localized or 3-D sound. And there will be dematerialization, with several small screens replaced by one big one plus a head-up display. The upshot, in short, will be a cockpit that is safer, simpler, easier to train and smaller.

 

Sounds great, can't wait!

 

Great... one of the big benefits I'd been looking forward to was never having to pee in a bag again.

 

Great. Can you imagine a 7 leg, 16 hour duty day by yourself with no one to keep you awake.

 

I guess "diverse backgrounds" is the politically correct term for "dumber than engineers"

 

They had better start training guys right now, if they want to see heavy aircraft single seat operation in our lifetimes. As well, they'd probably be better off hiring guys who have never flown, teach them to fly, get them the minimum time required for an ATP, etc, etc. Then they'd have pilots who wouldn't know any other system, and as such would be perfectly at home in that environment.

Just think of how many guys have had such a hard time transitioning from steam gauges to glass. Then factor in all the guys who will not or can not upgrade to captain because of their (lack of) flying skills or their lack of confidence or lack of decision-making abilities. None of the above mentioned guys could ever, in my opinion, be considered for a pilots job flying a heavy-single-pilot-aircraft.

Hire some college kids who know the sh!t out of computers and video games and train them to be monkeys. Just remember, one should never allow monkeys to throw switches.

JJ

As an aside, I've been away from the computer for a week and just returned earlier today. What happened to our wayward son? The financially sound, unemployed, rocket scientist? Not that I miss him, just wondering where he went to.

 

He either found a job or was given a 'timeout'...

 

Sorry to be off topic, but I take issue with your statement.

Transitioning from steam to glass is easy. It was easy for me and it was relatively easy for dozens of pilots that I was involved with training. Sure, there are exceptions. However, your statement is based on a false premise.

Glass to steam is much harder to do than steam to glass.

 

I think the second pilot is there for much more than computers can replace, at the moment anyway. What about bathroom breaks, sickness, or even incapacitation? Bouncing your ideas off the other guy, backing each other up, etc.

Once a month the guy I'm with keeps me from doing something very stupid that I didn't notice on my own. Computers aren't that smart yet, and since my current airplane is based on computers as old as I am, the airplane I'm flying in 20 years might be based on today's stuff.

 

Still here watching you self proclaimed professionals whine about everything. It's very entertaining seeing you "professionals" get all worked up. You know "Arguing on the internet is like winning the Special Olympics. Even though you win your still a retard" This is better than reality TV. Keep up the great work kids.