American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics

NTL-AVIATION-Aviation Human Factors ; NTL-AVIATION-Aviation Safety/AirworthinessNTL-SAFETY AND SECURITY-Aviation Safety/Airworthiness ; NTL-SAFETY AND SECURITY-Human Factors ;

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There is currently no common symbology standard for the

electronic display of navigation information. The wide

range of display technologies and the different functions

these displays support make it difficult to design symbols

that are easily recognized across platforms. This paper

presents the findings of an experiment that addressed the

issue of symbol stereotypes, i.e., whether symbols have key

features that are necessary for recognition. Pilots were

shown symbols for navigation aids collected from five

aviation display manufacturers and published documents.

They were asked to indicate whether they considered the

symbol shapes to be representative of a specific symbol

type. The results showed that pilots do have stereotypes

regarding what symbol shapes are representative of a

symbol type. Stereotypical shapes for navigation symbols

were identified despite variations in the size, color, and fill

with which the test symbol shapes were presented. The

results suggest that symbol stereotypes exist and should be

considered in the design of electronic symbols to maintain

safety. While the scope of this work addresses electronic

navigation symbology, the techniques used here are

applicable to addressing other types of symbology.

Volpe National Transportation Systems Center, Technical Reference Center