HUMAER: A Test-Bed Environment for Human Factors Investigations in the Aeronautic Domain

Abstract

This work presents the Human Factors in Aeronautics laboratory (HUMAER), from the Aeronautics Institute of Technology (ITA). This laboratory is a test-bed environment built around the SIVORthe flight simulator with a robotic motion platform from ITAwith the purpose of evaluating the different relations among the pilot cognitive, psychological and physiological states and the aircraft's human-computer interfaces and cybernetics. The lab is comprised of different virtual reality technology and non-intrusive physiologic sensor technology that can be installed on the pilot to monitor its psycho-cognitive state from a range of objective measures. Considering some characteristics of SIVOR's cockpit, like the motioncueing ability and the haptics stimuli generated from the force-feedback inceptors and shakers, some of the main prospective research lines to be explored by the ITA's team are presented according to the key technologies made available at HUMAER. To exemplify some of the current research made within the lab, some findings on pilot perception and workload evaluation from previous referenced investigations are reported.