Functional Interface Design for the Modern Aircraft Cockpit

There is an emerging concern that modem glass cockpits induce information overload. This is sometimes thought to be an inevitable result of the increased complexity and the need for automation that accompanies the transition to high technology. We argue here that the human performance problems created by glass cockpits are not an inevitable consequence of increased hardware complexity or of automation but, instead, are a result of nonfunctional design that increases complexity at the cockpit interface. The essential danger with computerized interfaces is that many physical design constraints are removed and designers are permitted unheralded opportunities for new information and control formats. Low technology forces the use of functional properties at the interface, but computer technology does not. On the other hand, computer technology does not preclude functional design. Computer technology may offer far broader opportunities for functional design by releasing designers from many physical constraints. In this article, we explain the concept of functional interface design and outline how it might enable the use of high technology and automation in the service of robust and cognitively economical action in an aircraft cockpit.