AAWSAP DIRD, Cockpits in the Era of Breakthrough Flight, November 2010

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CONTROLS
Similar to the blend of physical and virtual displays, the control methods will also be
primarily physical controls (joystick), with augmentations possible through gesture,
voice, and thought commands.
Vector Motion: Six-Degree Joysticks
Adapting to human norms of physical analogies and taking advantage of force-feedback
features, the primary control for the vehicle's motion will be a pair of six-degree-of­
freedom joysticks, one for both the left and right hands, located at the edge of the arm
rests.
By moving either hand to mimic the orientation or direction of the desired
motion, the craft will respond accordingly.
Studies suggest that force-proportional, instead of displacement-proportional, operation
of joysticks is optimum. Accordingly, the joystick does not require much space to
encompass its motions. The intensity of the force input corresponds with the intensity
of the resulting motion of the craft.
There is, however, a limit to the span of forces that can be input from the hand
compared to the span of intensity of the vehicle's propulsion. For example, consider
that the hand can resolve speed settings of ±2 mph, but only over a span of zero to 45
mph, while the vehicle is capable of speeds from zero to relativistic. Obviously, some
additional input, analogous to a throttle, is necessary. The challenge for the
breakthrough craft is that such a throttle is an option for all three linear axes, not just
the primary axis of motion. With such uncertainty, and not having any simulations run
on test subjects, it is uncertain how best to provide the directional intensity control.
Provisionally, it is recommended to have a trigger and/or a combination of buttons that
the user selects to convey the maximum intensity of the propulsion system that
corresponds to the maximum force input to the joystick.
For example, with a light
trigger input, the full joystick force might only correspond to a speed comparable to
driving a car. With a heaver trigger input or buttons selected to provide deep-space
flight speeds, the maximum force on the joystick might correspond to 0. 9 c.
Accommodating such uncertainties would be a subject of future study.
Owing to lessons of natural relaxed positions of wrist rotation, 52 the neutral palm (with
the thumb-side facing inward and forward) is at 35° upward relative to the horizontal
and 25° forward. This deviates from the normally upward-pointed joystick, but recall
that contemporary flight joysticks are just for rotational axes' command inputs.
Gesture Commands
Gesture-augmented commands are used in conjunction with the virtual surround
display to identify and act on objects in that display. For example, the pilot can point to
an object of interest, which is then highlighted, and issue the voice command, "go
there." This would be an option in the interactive assist flight mode.
Other options for the gesture-based commands are difficult to define at this time, due
to the uncertainty of actually operating such a vehicle. Regardless, however, provisions
to account for buffeting and other possible input errors would need to be included in
future plans.
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