Professional Pilot, September 2016

An overarching goal of the project however is to create a flightdeck interface that is intuitive and reduces the time to safely control the aircraft In one workload study that measured the timing of various keystrokes and other actions involved in complying with multiple instructions in 1 ATC clearance a traditionally configured aircraft would require an average of 30 seconds to accomplish all of the tasks whereas the same number of tasks were accomplished in only 8 secs using voice activated commands Using voice commands in 3 steps As Shapiro demonstrated the system he explained that a protocol was added for positive control of the voice activated system for any flight critical command This protocol involves 3 steps to accomplish a command 1 Talk The pilot activates the system through a dedicated push totalk switch and voices or requests a command 2 Review The system displays a text box that repeats your request on the primary flight display PFD 3 Confirm If the pilot is satisfied the confirmation button on the display is pressed and the avionics automatically fly the commanded actions From a human factors perspective this cross verification step albeit with a machine not human is critical to ensure the desired command is properly executed 24 PROFESSIONAL PILOT September 2016 Cross verification errors in highly automated aircraft are considered a vulnerability that can lead to automation induced errors or undesired aircraft states Simple actions those not safety sensitive dont require review and confirmation As an example if the pilot wants to view the engines page on the multifunction display MFD the command would simply be display engines or something similar and the system would then display the engine page on the MFD According to Shapiro the system is limited only by the level of avionics and systems integration allowed by the aircraft As another example on a highly integrated aircraft the pilot could request systems activation such as engine heat to activate the engine anti ice system An obvious challenge for any voice activated command system is the ability to accommodate various accents especially those where English is not the primary language Shapiro adds that these accents have become less of a challenge as the voice recognition software matures Likewise since the number of commands in aviation is much lower than those in a consumer electronic application the total catalog of phrases can be smaller Conversely in an aviation application Shapiro mentions that the system must be flexible enough to recognize that 1 function may be accomplished using different commands As he suggests There are many different ways of saying the same thing Seeing is believing Other emerging avionics trends are based on a confluence of events and technologies such as an air traffic environment that has largely transitioned from ground based to spacebased navaids and head up guidance systems HGS that can turn poor visibility to good and night into day As ground based navaids are decommissioned under proposed FAA rules operators with enhanced flight vision systems EFVS would be allowed to descend to 100 ft above TDZ without a natural visual reference on certain approaches under IFR Once adopted CFR 91176 would supersede 91175 l and allow certain operators of EFVSequipped aircraft to dispatch release or takeoff under IFR and to initiate and continue an approach when the destination airport is below authorized minimums These operational credits are an example of a key driver for manufacturers and operators to adopt new technologies HGS and EFVS are growing in popularity Dr Carlo Tiana principal systems engineer of head up guidance systems for Rockwell Collins has witnessed first hand the increased adoption rate of HGS by both operators and manufacturers over the For Garmin the future is now With the companys latest software release of its GTN 750 and 650 systems pictured at right pilots can now execute up to 300 functions with voice commands such as changing radio frequencies and creating waypoints Photos courtesy Garmin