Human Factors Engineering
"A successful system design maintains the user's situational awareness, freedom of action and skills. However, there is no universal recipe for the optimal distribution of tasks between man and machine. Rapid prototyping and realistic tests are therefore indispensable design methods."
Dr. Peter Lenhart, Head of Human Factors Engineering Group
The Research Group
The main focus is on the design, analysis and evaluation of human-machine systems. The design follows the "Human Centred Design“ philosophy. In analysis and evaluation, the usability of the human-machine interfaces under investigation is in the foreground.
One thematic focus is the operation of unmanned aerial vehicles (human drone interaction). This includes research on the qualification and training of personnel and research on the operation of these aircraft. For this purpose, the group operates a prototypical Remote Pilot Station (RPS) and the flying test vehicles X8, X4-350 and X4- 240.
A second focus is on the design of voice control in aircraft cockpits. The cockpit simulator of the ZAV is used as a test platform. The linguistic aspects of this research topic are developed and investigated in close cooperation with the research group «Aeronautical Communication». The Institute for Applied Information Technology (InIT) is an important partner for the technical implementation.
- Human Factors Engineering Laboratory:
Part of the laboratory serves as a research platform for human-drone interaction. The laboratory is equipped with three flight test vehicles (X8, X4-350 and X4-240), three Remote Pilot Stations and a mobile operating console. - Cockpit Simulator:
The Human Factors Engineering laboratory has its own cockpit simulator. It features a one person cockpit for single pilot operations. The simulator serves as an experimental platform for augmented reality head-mounted displays such as the Microsoft HoloLens. In addition, speech control for safety-critical on-board systems is implemented to study its usability for single pilot operations.
- RPS: Remote Pilot Station station for unmanned aerial vehicles
- mRPS: mobile control console for unmanned aerial vehicles
- Speech Enabled Cockpit: Voice Control in the Aircraft Cockpit
- Flight operations with drones up to 30 kg: Development of procedures for safe flight operations with civil drones up to 30 kg take-off weight.
- Flight operations with drones beyond visual line of sight: Safe flight operations with drones beyond visual line of sight (BVLOS)