Human Factors for Engineers
This volume introduces readers to the subject of human factors and provides practical and pragmatic advice to assist engineers in designing interactive systems that are safer, more secure and easier to use.
TABLE OF CONTENTS Human Factors for Engineers
Chapter 13: The Application of Simulators in Systems Evaluation
Ed Marshall
13.1 Background
Having designed a system, be it a piece of software, or the human machine interface (HMI) for a complex system, there comes a point where the designers, or indeed the customers, will require an assessment to demonstrate that the product does actually perform safely and effectively. Simulators and other simulation techniques provide powerful tools for such assessments and ergonomists are often involved in the required investigation and evaluation exercises. This chapter will describe, using some examples, the use of simulators in the verification and validation of system performance.
13.1.1 Simulators and simulation
At the start it is perhaps useful to consider two definitions:
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Simulator: a machine designed to provide a realistic imitation of the controls and operation of a vehicle, aircraft, or other complex system, used for training purposes. For example, a flight simulator is a machine designed to resemble the cockpit of an aircraft, with computer-generated images that mimic the pilot's view, typically with mechanisms that move the entire structure in corresponding imitation of an aircraft's motion, used for training pilots ( New Oxford Dictionary of English). Figure 13.1 shows a view of a modern flight simulator.
Figure 13.1: A modern aircraft flight deck simulator (reproduced by permission of Thales Simulation) -
Simulation: a research or teaching technique, used in industry, science, and in education, that reproduces actual events and processes under test conditions. Simulation may range from pencil and paper, or board-game, reproductions of situations, to complex computer-aided interactive systems ( Encyclopaedia Britannica
Copyright The Institution of Electrical Engineers 2004 under license agreement with Books24x7
