Intro.

To Aerospace
Eng. Design

• Human factors in design

Outline

• Design priorities in HFE

• History of HFE
• Human limitations
• Human senses
• Human information processing
• Design of controls
• Design of displays and symbols
• Anthropometric measurement

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Human factors in design

• To date, we have discussed how to define a design problem

and how to develop a solution to satisfy a client’s need.
• What consideration should we give to the users of our design?

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Human factors in design

• To date, we have discussed how to define a design problem

and how to develop a solution to satisfy a client’s need.
• What consideration should we give to the users of our design?
• Ultimately, designs must interact with and be usable by
humans. We must give consideration to how our design is to
be used by all possible users.
• The safety of our design, both in production and use must be
considered.
• Finally, given that there can be wide variation in human
interaction with a design, we must design for a universal
experience.

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Industry 4.0 (Factory of future)

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Industry 4.0 life cycle

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Human factors and ergonomics

• Ergonomics (or human factors) is the scientific discipline

concerned with the understanding of interactions among
humans and other elements of a system, and the profession
that applies theory, principles, data and methods to design in
order to optimize human well-being and overall system
performance.
• Ergonomists contribute to the design and evaluation of tasks,
jobs, products, environments, and systems in order to make
them compatible with the needs, abilities, and limitations of
people.

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Collab robots

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Design priorities

• As engineer, we are typically responsible for the design of

systems (an aggregation of components and processes for a
specific purpose). The complexity of designing a system
requires us to consider the entire life-cycle of the design.

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Design priorities

• As engineer, we are typically responsible for the design of

systems (an aggregation of components and processes for a
specific purpose). The complexity of designing a system
requires us to consider the entire life-cycle of the design.
• From a human factors perspective, the goals of system design
are:
1. Safety
2. Productivity
3. Operator satisfaction

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Goals of safety

• The safety of a system must be judged by comparing the

performance requirements of the environment with the
performance limitations of the operator.

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Goals of safety

• The safety of a system must be judged by comparing the

performance requirements of the environment with the
performance limitations of the operator.
• For example, consider the design of a car. Use of a car requires
varying level of attention over time. Driving in different traffic
situations may involve different demands. The state of the
driver affects his or her ability to operate the car. For design
safety, it is important to take into account the limitations
imposed by user perception, decision making, and controlling
actions.

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Car new safety features

• Brake assist
• Forward-collision warning (FCW)
• Automatic emergency braking (AEB)
• Pedestrian detection
• Adaptive cruise control
• Blind-spot warning (BSW)
• Rear cross-traffic alert
• Lane-departure warning (LDW)
• Lane-keeping assist (LKA)
• Backup camera
• Automatic high beams

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Workplace safety

• While injury in the workplace is infrequent today, due in part

to laws and regulations, it is necessary to consider worker
safety in the production of a design.

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Workplace safety

• A worker may be viewed as a direct user of a designed

manufacturing process, or an indirect user in the production of
a designed product.
• Designing for workplace safety, may require consideration of:
• the allocation of tasks between workers and machines
• Examination of work processes for ergonomics
• Ambient environment (illumination, noise, vibration, heat, or cold)
• Organizational factors (worker responsibilities and autonomy to control
processes)

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Work process for ergonomics

• The Chairless Chair by Noonee

• locks into place while a worker has to sit or stand for
prolonged periods of time in the same place.
• It reduces the pressure on the knee and the rest of the leg
allowing for workers to stay on task longer.

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Source: just-auto.com
Productivity and safety

• In designing for manufacturing, another human factor

consideration is worker productivity. A design that is difficult
to assemble, requires many components, requires specialized
worker skills, or depends upon repetitive tasks may lead to low
quality control and poor production rates.

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Productivity and safety (Cont.)

• Research has repeatedly shown that increasing productivity

leads to an increase in worker error, and a reduction in quality
control.
• Squeezing work processes to improve productivity typically
results in a reduction of worker safety.
• In design, you should consider not only the form and function
of your design, but also how it will be made and the
limitations of manufacturing process.

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Operator satisfaction

• Designing for operator satisfaction (both work and user), is an

important human factor to consider. Determining operator
satisfaction requires that the designer consider the needs of all
possible operators of the design.

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Operator satisfaction (Cont.)

• This task is difficulty to satisfy, as what may satisfy a worker

or a consumer can vary substantially between different
counties and cultures.
• If the needs of the operator are not met, dissatisfaction with
the design may result in an economic failure of the product.

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Operator satisfaction (Cont.)

• Consider the design of modern commercial aircraft:

• These are built by multiple manufacturing partners, by
workers around the world, to be used by many different
operators, each with different expectation of use.
• A design that flies is only one consideration of many!

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History of human factors and ergonomics

• Designing with the operator in mind is nothing new.

• Consideration of how a tool would be used is something we
have been doing since tool use began.
• However, a formal analysis of ergonomics and worker
performance is largely a product of the industrial revolution.

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History of human factors and ergonomics

• Modern ergonomics can largely attributed to studies

completed after WWII. For example, during the Korean war,
the US DoD recognized that more pilots were being killed In
training than in actual combat.

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History of human factors and ergonomics

• Modern ergonomics can largely attributed to studies

completed after WWII. For example, during the Korean war,
the US DoD recognized that more pilots were being killed In
training than in actual combat.
• It was recognized that fatalities could be reduced if pilots were
provided with better situational awareness. By redesigning
aircraft controls with the user and usage in mind, fatalities
were significantly decreased (to 5% of previous values).

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Shape-coded controls for airplanes

(Dym et al. 2014)

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Human limitations

• Human factors and ergonomics generally require an

understanding of the capabilities and limitations of humans.
This is a broad field of study; however, in the case of design
the following human characteristics can be considered:
• Size and shape
• Fueled requirements
• Input
• Information processing
• Output
• Environmental tolerances

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Human limitations (Cont.)

• Size and shape: body measurements and range of movements.

• Fueled requirements: humans need fuel (food, water, air) to
function properly, while fuel deficiencies affect performance.
• Input: humans have a variety of senses which allow a human
operator to perceive information.
• Information processing: how humans process and react to
information can affect the performance of the design.
Cognitive processes can lead to errors.

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Human limitations (Cont.)

• Output: upon processing information received, how humans

react and the actions performed must be predictable.
• Environmental tolerances: humans function effectively in a
narrow range of environmental conditions. Environment can
affect human.

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Human limitations (Cont.)

• When designing with human interaction in mind, consider

humans vary widely with respect to the preceding
characteristics.
• The characteristics of a population of users can be determined
through descriptive, experimental, or evaluation studies.
• Results can he be collected into anthropometric database, with
human interaction modelled in a statistical sense.

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Human limitations (Cont.)

• Note that it is difficult to model and predict all aspects of

human factor in design. As a result, it is often necessary to
design for the most common or most stable human interaction.

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Human vision

• The human eye uses the

refractive properties of the
cornea (8) , fine-tuned by an
adjustable lens (10, 11) and iris
(9) to focus light on the light-
sensitive cells of the retina
lining the inside of the eye.

Structure of the human eye

(Dym et al. 2014)

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Human vision (Cont.)

• The light-sensitive cells distributed across the retina are

connected to the optic nerve (22) which transmits information
to the visual cortex for processing.

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Human vision (Cont.)

• Near the center of the retina, the fovea (26) consist mostly
cone-shaped cells which provide sensitivity to color, and high-
resolution vision.
• Away from the fovea, the retina consists of mostly rod-shaped
cells which are sensitive to black and white, but provide
lower-resolution vision. Tod cells are much more sensitive to
light intensity than cone cells.

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Vision considerations

• Although the eye can accommodate a range of focal length,

the range of accommodation deceases with age.
• Refractive errors may exist due to eye shape (myopia,
hyperopia, astigmatism, presbyobia) affect the ability to focus.
• The eye is adaptable to a wide range of light intensities (about
12 decades).
• Adaptation to light threshold is a function of time (dark
adaptation).
• The eye’s sensitivity to light is dependent on frequency of the
spectrum. Some humans cannot distinguish specific colors.

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Design considerations

Consider the design of an aircraft flight deck. Pilots need

situational awareness when flying; however, when flying at
night, illumination levels must be kept low. Designing the flight
deck with human vision in mind:
• Cones do not operate in low illumination. Small objects or
details may be hard to see in low illumination conditions.
• In low illumination, humans cannot distinguish colors easily,
so color-coded signals should be avoided when flying at night.
• Dark adaptation can take upwards of 30 min to gain full
sensitivity. Flight deck lighting at the red end of the spectrum
will maintain pilot adaptation.

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Commercial Transport Flight Deck Lighting and
Display

• Early vision
• Electronic and Flat-Panel Displays
• Liquid crystals and light-emitting diodes

747-200 and 747-400 flight deck comparison

Source: Boeing company

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New LG displays

• Flexible large screens (50” , 60”)

• Can be used inside the cabin

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Human information processing

• How humans interpret and process input from the senses is

important to consider in design. Operators are expected to
gather signals from a design, and react according to the
designer’s plan. However, different humans may process
information differently, resulting in control errors, issues of
safety, or operator dissatisfaction with the design.

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Human information processing (Cont.)

• Some understanding of human information processing can be

determined from cognitive phycology and cognitive science.
Based upon experimentation, we can derive models of human
cognitive function.

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Human information processing

• For example, the human reaction time to input RT varies

according to the umber of available choices N (Hick’s law)

RT = a + b log2N
Where a and b are constants. A design with many different
control alternatives will require a substantially longer human
reaction time, than a simpler control with fewer inputs.

Source: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hick's_law
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Human information processing (Cont.)

Humans process information in thee distinct steps or processes:

• A perceptual process (seeing, hearing)
• A cognitive process (thinking)
• A motor process (acting)
How long it takes for a human to process information depends
upon the complexity of the task. While motor processes can be
somewhat constant in duration (30-100 ms), perceptual and
cognitive processes may vary in the length of time to complete
(25-200 ms) depending on how short-term and long-term
memory is required. Processing a task relies on short-term
memory which is limited in capacity.

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Human information processing (Cont.)

• To cope with the limitations of short-term memory and too

much information, humans typically employ heuristics (e.g.
rule of thumb) to make decisions, this can affect how users
interact with your design.

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Human information processing (Cont.)

• A example of a cognitive heuristic is confirmation bias.

• If you are responsible for hiring a new employee, and a
candidate makes a bad first impression, you will likely
emphasize negative information or positive information when
making a decision about whether or not to hire this individual.
• Using this bias, you will make decision that avoid confirming
the balance of negatives versus positives.

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Human information processing (Cont.)

• The Three Mile Island nuclear accident in 1979 is a good

example of confirmation bias. When attempting to diagnose a
problem, operators focused on a display that indicated a
critical relief valve was closed. In reality, the valve was open,
resulting in a loss of cooling water for the reactor and a
runaway reaction.
• Due to uses with the presentation of information in the control
room, operators searched for evidence to confirm that the
water level was high, and ignored indirect contradictory
information. This problem may have been solved had alternate
displays of valve position been implemented.

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Design of controls

• The design of controls for a device or system is another

example of human factors considerations. Many devices
created by different designers use standardized controls.
• This is often based upon best practice or research, but
sometimes is the result of reluctance to change.

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Design of controls (Cont.)

• For example, common standardized controls are

1. Steering wheel for steering
2. Control stick for aircraft pitch and roll
3. Foot pedals for braking and acceleration (car) or yaw
(aircraft).
4. Manual levers for aircraft throttle
5. Lever control for gear shifting

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Push button calculator vs telephone

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Design of displays and symbols

• Another important human factor consideration is the presentation of

visual information.
• Visual displays may include a variety of forms of displays from
posters, signs, and computer screens.
• In the interest of clear communication, especially with issues of
safety or danger, international standards for symbols are used.
• Symbols have the benefit of conveying information in a graphical
form while (usually) avoiding issues of culture or language.
• For example, the clothing you are wearing includes care instructions
in graphical form.

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International hazard symbols

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WHMIS symbols

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Anthropometric measurement

• Several databases of measurements of human populations have

been created.
• For example, NASA published a reference publication in 1978
containing measures of 306 body dimensions from 91 different
worldwide populations.
• Over half of the measured population in this database are
airplane pilots.

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Anthropometric measurement (Cont.)

• Most of the measured dimensions fall into distribution (see

MTH 410), typically organized by gender or country.
• A common procedure is to design for either the smallest class
of operator (5th percentile of the population) or the largest
class of operator (95th percentile)

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Anthropometric measurement (Cont.)

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Anthropometric measurement (Cont.)

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Anthropometric measurement (Cont.)

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System of Assistive Wearable Device
• Muscle sensor
biceps brachii muscle

Sensor value

Convert the analog date

voltage (0.0 – 5.0V)

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 elbow joint movements shoulder joint movements
:extensions -bend :extensions -bend
5 5

4.5 4.5

4 4

3.5 3.5

3 3

vslue [V]
value [V]

2.5 2.5

2 2

1.5 1.5

1 1

0.5 0.5
0 0
0 5000 10000 15000 20000 25000 30000 35000 40000 45000 0 5000 10000 15000 20000 25000 30000 35000 40000 45000
time [msec]
time [msec]

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Kirigami 3D printed

• elbow torque
• Estimate tension tension of biceps muscle

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