You will use the MS Flight Simulator 2000 to estimate pilot workload during the various phases of flight.
The lab is designed under the assumption of no previous pilot or simulation experience -- so don't worry if you have never flown before. We have however, assumed that you have an understanding of basic cockpit displays. Those of you who are pilots or flight simulator gurus may wish to try some additional tasks, and/or help those students with no flight experience.
Before coming to the lab:
As a group you will decide on what kind of situation you will measure
pilot workload and methods of evaluating the pilot workload. We will
limit you to 2 to 3 flight situations and 2 assessment techniques.
You are free to change other parameters too. Flight scenarios can be saved from Flight > Save Flight menu. The scenario data will be saved to files, *.FLT and *.WX, in Program Files\Microsoft Games\FS2000\PILOTS directory. You can transfer scenarios to different computers by moving these files to the same directory on the other computers. The saved scenarios can be loaded from Select Flight menu.
1) The first measurement will be a subjective one. You have the option
to develop a new scale, modify an existing scale, or implement an
existing scale (NASA-TLX, SWAT, Cooper-Harper etc.). You will not
lose marks if you use or modify an appropriate existing method.
2) The second assessment will be a secondary task assessment. Here you
will develop, modify or implement an existing secondary task
measurement to evaluate pilot workload. The secondary task will only
be assessed where it is convenient, and will therefore not factor
heavily into the overall flight workload evaluation. Make sure that
the secondary task is easy to implement by people outside of your
group, since you may not be able to schedule a time for a fellow group
member to assist you in performing the assessment.
If necessary, you can record flight data. Choose Flight Recorder from the menu and pick parameters you want to save. The data file is an XML file, which can be read by editors & spreadsheet programs. However, this flight recorder add-on is a little bit buggy and you may encounter some "file not found" error dialogues. If it happens, hit [Enter] repeatedly until the error dialogue disappear.
You do not have to develop anything fancy. Remember, often the simpler solutions in life often tend to work the best!
During the lab: When you come to the lab please bring a diskette, a pair of headphones, and the MS Flight Simulator CD's which you can check out from the Aero/Astro library. The headphones will help you hook up to the simulator and reduce noise in the computer lab. Disk #2 of the MS Flight Simulator CD's is necessary to start the simulator.
Introduction to the MS Flight Simulator 2000 is available at,
http://web.mit.edu/aeroastro/flightsimlab/Introduction.htm
.
Note: In many cases it will not be possible to do a secondary task assessment of the workload for some of the scenarios. This is due to the difficulty in administering the secondary task during a shorter phase in the experiment. You may wish to try it, and if it does not work, don't worry. It has been left as an optional part for this reason.
The report is to be handed in as a group effort. It may include:
October 15th: Lab description handed out.
December 11th: Lab reports due.
I will have TA hours 3:30 to 4:30 on Tuesdays and Thursdays in the lobby 33 in front of the Aero/Astro library.
I hope you enjoy the lab. If there are any comments/questions/concerns please feel free to email me. The lab is intended to assist those of you who have never piloted before to gain some additional insight to some of the topics we have covered in the class thus far. Please provide any helpful feedback that may help develop this lab for future years.