{"244741":{"#nid":"244741","#data":{"type":"news","title":"Researchers Evaluate Electronic Flight Bags for Air National Guard Pilots","body":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EWhen pilots encounter an in-flight emergency \u2013 such as engine or hydraulic failure \u2013 they consult with manuals, emergency procedures and other reference materials contained in their flight bags for information on how to respond. In the future, these cumbersome flight bags could be replaced by \u201celectronic flight bags\u201d consisting of a lightweight tablet computer loaded with electronic versions of documents that today are printed on paper. A tablet computer could easily store an entire library of aeronautical publications and charts and also include the most up-to-date versions.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EResearchers at the \u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/www.gtri.gatech.edu\/\u0022\u003EGeorgia Tech Research Institute\u003C\/a\u003E (GTRI) are currently assessing the usability of electronic flight bags by Air National Guard pilots. Electronic flight bags could improve safety, operational effectiveness and efficiency for crew members, plus save paper and printing costs. The Federal Aviation Administration has already approved in-flight use of Apple iPads as electronic flight bags by commercial pilots.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cThe Air National Guard asked us to conduct an operational utility evaluation of various tablet computers to determine whether they were feasible as electronic flight bags and whether\u0026nbsp; standardized hardware and software platforms could be selected for use by all of their squadrons,\u201d said Byron Coker, a GTRI principal research engineer who is leading the project.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThis work is supported by the Air National Guard Air Force Reserve Command Test Center in Tucson, Ariz. Coker\u2019s collaborators on this project include research engineer Thomas Glimmerveen and student Joshua Fordham, who are based in GTRI\u2019s Warner Robins, Ga. Field Office, and research engineer Thomas Norris, who is based in GTRI\u2019s Tucson, Ariz. Field Office.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cAir Combat Command requested that we execute an operational test of the electronic flight bag due to some critical paper flight products that will no longer be printed in 2015,\u201d said Lt. Col. Rogelio Maldonado of the Air National Guard Air Force Reserve Command Test Center. \u201cThe electronic flight bag has shown great promise and is likely to revolutionize cockpit management by consolidating flight products and providing the means for quickly navigating all resources.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EWith GTRI\u2019s assistance, pilots of A-10 and F-16 aircraft have executed flight simulator missions to test and evaluate two commercially-available tablets loaded with a software app developed by GTRI researchers called \u201cQuickTOs\u201d and commercially available flight planning apps. The flight simulator missions include emergencies, such as a cockpit fire or engine failure, which require the pilot to refer to the \u201cQuickTOs\u201d app that that enables quick access to technical orders.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cTechnical orders can contain several hundred pages of safety procedures, technical information and instructions pertaining to the aircraft that need to be flipped through quickly in an emergency to find the relevant information and checklists,\u201d explained Coker. \u201cWe electronically formatted the publications for our app and added links so that the documents could be easily and quickly organized, navigated and read on a tablet.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThe flight simulator missions also include executing landing approaches in simulated weather conditions that require the pilot to use instrument approach procedure charts. These charts are frequently updated due to the constantly changing environment around airports and must be reprinted and distributed to pilots each time a new version becomes available. Using electronic approach charts could greatly reduce paper and printing costs and increase the ease and speed of obtaining up-to-date charts. To date, more than a half-dozen multi-hour flight simulator missions have been conducted, each with several emergency procedures performed.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EBefore the flight simulator tests began, the GTRI researchers conducted a market survey of tablets that could be used as electronic flight bags. They evaluated 24 touch-screen devices commercially available based on the following criteria: battery life, weight, ruggedness, night-vision goggle compatibility, glove compatibility, performance, physical size, screen size and software compatibility. They evaluated devices that operated on Android, Apple iOS and Hewlett-Packard operating systems.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EAir National Guard pilots then evaluated the tablets that scored highest against the criteria and judged each device\u2019s ease-of-use and functionality as an electronic flight bag. The pilots judged whether each device functioned better, the same or less well than the standard paper publications and whether each device would support the basic requirements for flight and possibly even provide information not previously available.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EAs a result of the evaluations, two tablet computers were selected for flight simulator testing. Future work on this project will include additional flight simulations, followed by electromagnetic interference tests and real flight testing of the devices.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cOnce we get the necessary approvals to begin flight tests, we will conduct them for about a year to gather enough data so that we can provide our recommendation for how the Air National Guard should move forward with fielding electronic flight bags,\u201d said Coker.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EBased on the initial simulator missions, Coker believes the electronic flight bag could be integrated as part of the pilot\u2019s kneeboard \u2013 a clipboard strapped to the pilot\u2019s knee that keeps flight-pertinent information, such as charts, maps and approach plates, close at hand during flight. \u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EResearch News\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EGeorgia Institute of Technology\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003E177 North Avenue\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EAtlanta, Georgia\u0026nbsp; 30332-0181\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EMedia Relations Contacts\u003C\/strong\u003E: Lance Wallace (404-407-7280)(\u003Ca href=\u0022mailto:lance.wallace@gtri.gatech.edu\u0022\u003Elance.wallace@gtri.gatech.edu\u003C\/a\u003E) or John Toon (404-894-6986)(\u003Ca href=\u0022mailto:jtoon@gatech.edu\u0022\u003Ejtoon@gatech.edu\u003C\/a\u003E).\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EWriter\u003C\/strong\u003E: Abby Robinson\u003C\/p\u003E","summary":null,"format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":"","field_summary":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EResearchers are assessing the usability of electronic flight bags based on tablet computers for Air National Guard pilots. Electronic flight bags could improve safety, operational effectiveness and efficiency for crew members, plus save paper and printing costs.\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"field_summary_sentence":[{"value":"Researchers are evaluating the use of electronic flight bags based on tablet computers."}],"uid":"27303","created_gmt":"2013-10-13 20:00:42","changed_gmt":"2016-10-08 03:15:09","author":"John Toon","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","field_article_url":"","dateline":{"date":"2013-10-15T00:00:00-04:00","iso_date":"2013-10-15T00:00:00-04:00","tz":"America\/New_York"},"extras":[],"hg_media":{"244731":{"id":"244731","type":"image","title":"Electronic flight bag","body":null,"created":"1449243722","gmt_created":"2015-12-04 15:42:02","changed":"1475894921","gmt_changed":"2016-10-08 02:48:41","alt":"Electronic flight bag","file":{"fid":"197884","name":"electronic-flight-bag.jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/electronic-flight-bag_0.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/tlwarc.hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/electronic-flight-bag_0.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":2151428,"path_740":"http:\/\/tlwarc.hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/images\/electronic-flight-bag_0.jpg?itok=jH11W_6h"}},"245131":{"id":"245131","type":"image","title":"Electronic flight bag2","body":null,"created":"1449243722","gmt_created":"2015-12-04 15:42:02","changed":"1475894921","gmt_changed":"2016-10-08 02:48:41","alt":"Electronic flight bag2","file":{"fid":"197895","name":"electronic-flight-bag86.jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/electronic-flight-bag86_0.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/tlwarc.hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/electronic-flight-bag86_0.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":1703270,"path_740":"http:\/\/tlwarc.hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/images\/electronic-flight-bag86_0.jpg?itok=zbhh5O0M"}}},"media_ids":["244731","245131"],"groups":[{"id":"1188","name":"Research Horizons"}],"categories":[{"id":"147","name":"Military Technology"}],"keywords":[{"id":"76471","name":"Air National Guard"},{"id":"36081","name":"Byron Coker"},{"id":"76461","name":"electronic flight bag"},{"id":"416","name":"GTRI"},{"id":"71241","name":"tablet computer"},{"id":"76481","name":"technical orders"}],"core_research_areas":[{"id":"39481","name":"National Security"},{"id":"39501","name":"People and Technology"}],"news_room_topics":[{"id":"71881","name":"Science and Technology"}],"event_categories":[],"invited_audience":[],"affiliations":[],"classification":[],"areas_of_expertise":[],"news_and_recent_appearances":[],"phone":[],"contact":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EJohn Toon\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EResearch News\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022mailto:jtoon@gatech.edu\u0022\u003Ejtoon@gatech.edu\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E(404) 894-6986\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"email":["jtoon@gatech.edu"],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}}}