Research Development & Human Factors Laboratory
The RDHFL is a multipurpose facility with flexible capabilities. It contains approximately 10,000 square feet of laboratory space, including four Experiment Rooms (ER), each with its own Experiment Operator Station (EOS). The EOS is a smaller room and it serves as the central control point for each experiment. Depending on the specific experiment, the ERs can be used separately or together. Links between all four ERs and the Briefing Room (BR) are provided to distribute video, audio, computer and voice communication information. While an experiment is in progress, observers can sit in either the EOS or the BR and unobtrusively monitor an experiment.
The RDHFL also has a Blackroom that can provide a completely dark or light controlled environment and is, for example, capable of supporting the research, development, and evaluation of advanced visual display technologies. Research requiring more rigorous control of sound-levels than is possible in the ERs is conducted in the Laboratory's semi-anechoic Audiometric Booth located in the Blackroom.
The Federal Aviation Administration William J. Hughes Technical Center (WJHTC) has developed state-of-the-art capabilities for conducting research in the areas of virtual environments and advanced visualization, also known as Virtual Reality (VR). Users can dynamically interact with a three dimensional (3-D) graphical representations of concepts, designs, and data sets that might otherwise be too complex to visualize.
The RDHFL has a team of computer scientists and engineers skilled in a number of hardware and software tools. This team is able to create rapid prototypes of software, concepts, and interfaces proposed for future NAS use. These tools are used to support the aviation human factors researchers in their quest to better understand the relationship between man and machine. This capability is further enhanced by the Laboratory's ability to then integrate these prototypes into real-time simulated operational scenarios.
