Programmable Cockpit - Inter-Computer Communications and Data Flow

The Programmable Cockpit is a multi computer system which is used for research into display design, cockpit layouts, crew workload and other human factors issues. It currently consists of four closely arranged screens onto which different cockpit instruments can be displayed, all driven from a common aircraft model. This provides a test-bed for determining the effectiveness of new or modified instruments, as they can be assessed in an environment simulating the cockpit as a whole. The system incorporates a distributed processing network of five processors, each performing a distinctive part of the simulation. The tasks are broken up as follows. FDM Flight Dynamic Model CD Control Display HUD Head Up Display HDD Head Down Display and MMD moving Map Display.