Ranking the enabling technologies to design all conditions operations cockpits

Innovation in the design of future cockpits is strongly envisioned in the VII Framework Programme of the European Commission. A major challenge is recognised in the definition of advanced HMI (Human Machine Interface) architectures, implementing technologies that provide allcondition capabilities. In order to clarify the task and start the early phase of new concepts definition we need to identify the fundamental technologies which are currently available on the market or are under experimentation in the major industrial and academic research centres. To this aim, SVEs/EVEs (Synthetic Vision Environments and Enhanced Vision Environments) are investigated in this paper, considering their capability of meeting all conditions requirements and providing adequate SA (Situation Awareness) levels. Moreover, we present a ranking of such technologies from the user’s point of view. The pilot’s perception of all-conditions operations concept and opinions on the operative advantages of candidate technologies are collected in a focus group. For this purpose new HMI concepts are simulated in our Virtual Reality Lab