The Integrated Mode Management Interface

Mode management is the processes of understanding the character and consequences of autoflight modes, planning and selecting the engagement, disengagement and transitions between modes, and anticipating automatic mode transitions made by the autoflight system itself. The state of the art is represented by the latest designs produced by each of the major airframe manufacturers, the Boeing 747-400, the Boeing 777, the McDonnell Douglas MD-11, and the Airbus A320/A340 family of airplanes. In these airplanes autoflight modes are selected by manipulating switches on the control panel. The state of the autoflight system is displayed on the flight mode annunciators. The integrated mode management interface (IMMI) is a graphical interface to autoflight mode management systems for aircraft equipped with flight management computer systems (FMCS). The interface consists of a vertical mode manager and a lateral mode manager. Autoflight modes are depicted by icons on a graphical display. Mode selection is accomplished by touching (or mousing) the appropriate icon. The IMMI provides flight crews with an integrated interface to autoflight systems for aircraft equipped with flight management computer systems (FMCS). The current version is modeled on the Boeing glass-cockpit airplanes (747-400, 757/767). It runs on the SGI Indigo workstation. A working prototype of this graphics-based crew interface to the autoflight mode management tasks of glass cockpit airplanes has been installed in the Advanced Concepts Flight Simulator of the CSSRF of NASA Ames Research Center. This IMMI replaces the devices in FMCS equipped airplanes currently known as mode control panel (Boeing), flight guidance control panel (McDonnell Douglas), and flight control unit (Airbus). It also augments the functions of the flight mode annunciators. All glass cockpit airplanes are sufficiently similar that the IMMI could be tailored to the mode management system of any modern cockpit. The IMMI does not replace the functions of the FMCS control and display unit. The purpose of the INMI is to provide flight crews with a shared medium in which they can assess the state of the autoflight system, take control actions on it, reason about its behavior, and communicate with each other about its behavior. The design is intended to increase mode awareness and provide a better interface to autoflight mode management. This report describes the IMMI, the methods that were used in designing and developing it, and the theory underlying the design and development processes.