Avionics News January 2015 - 29

go on top of the infrastructure stage. We can see
developed when aviation was exploding in the U.S.
what some of this is going to look like, and some
and Western Europe, so the current generation of
of it will surprise us. It's very much like the iPhone
pilots and maintainers are familiar with them despite
introduction - they stuck it out there, and now there
the fact that technology has marched on in other
are somewhere around 3 million applications for it.
interface paradigms outside of aviation.
It can do stuff you never would have imagined for a
We'll see that in cockpits in 2025. The next
phone. We see that same progression for avionics.
generation of pilots will have grown up with voice
Things we imagine and are working toward are
control and hand-gesture controls. They've come
using the aircraft's advanced state, sending and
to expect that level of user interface. Asking them
networking capabilities for a variety of things.
to learn the current way of operation is a big step
Some of them are as mundane
backward for them, especially
as collecting and transmitting
for pilots who do not speak
maintenance data off the
English as their first language.
O NCE A NEW
aircraft so that the ground
In tomorrow's cockpit, you'll
infrastructure can determine
see fewer knobs, buttons and
T E CHNOLOGY
and prepare for what an
manual control devices. You're
RO LLS OVER
aircraft's particular needs are
beginning to see this type of
YO U, IF YOU'RE
during its next stop.
interface modality today because
NOT PART OF THE
But we are seeing other
of consumer electronics. The
datalinks being added. For
iPhones and iPads have no
S T E AMROLLER,
example, we are seeing
knobs; everything is done with
iPad and radio apps, on
the touch of a finger or voice.
top of weather and traffic
At Honeywell, we talk about
information, that will allow
matching the modality to the
someone flying a general
mission. In other words, what's
STEWART BRAND, creator and publisher
aviation aircraft to see what
going to be the most intuitive,
of The Whole Earth Catalog
the best places are along their
least ambiguous, and quickest
route to stop for lunch or buy
way to interact with the aircraft's
fuel - real-time uplinks of information that will
systems? What we have today is not often the best
enhance the flying experience. This will open the
solution to that question, and we also have to take
door to all kinds of other services and capabilities
pilot preference into consideration. Some pilots will
delivered to the pilot through these datalinks.
always want to change frequencies with a knob or
The flying experience will become vastly more
touchscreen; others will want voice commands.
integrated with the world experience. More like
We have this concept we work with called the
what you can have in your car today.
Honeywell User Experience. It's looking end-toend at how we make the most usable system from
ANDY DREXLER,
the time it is installed, to learning how to use it, to
Director of Marketing and Product Management for
maintaining it, to upgrading it - how do we make it
Cockpit Systems, Honeywell Aerospace
all easy and use automation to hide complexity so
We've seen a lot of changes during the past 10
the pilot can focus on what he needs to be doing,
years, and I think it's only going to accelerate in the
which is flying the airplane safely.
coming decade. One of the big changes I think we'll
see soon is in usability enhancements. If you look
Continued on following page
at today's cockpits, these interface paradigms were

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OF THE ROAD.

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Avionics News January 2015

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