Advanced integrated general aviation primary flight display user interface design, development and assessment

This article describes the design, development and assessment of the user interface for a primary flight display (PFD)/horizontal situation indicator (HSI). Software interfaces were developed using various techniques including the goals, operators, methods, selection rules (GOMS) keystroke-level model. A human subject evaluation using a personal computer based simulation resulted in quantitative and qualitative results that indicate significant gains over a recent prototype. Improvements to the user interface were made in several areas including task execution time, accuracy and a subjective comparison of ease of use. The application of the GOMS keystroke-level model to primary flight display user interface design was validated through the human subject evaluation. Project outcomes support the Avidyne product development goal of fielding the first 'highway-in-the-sky' (HITS) flight display for general aviation applications.