[RichB]

Hi guys,

Is anyone aware if the current crop of EFIS support alternative palettes for their displays, terrain, AoA etc?

Reason I ask is that some folks with red/green color-blindness can have trouble with some of the symbology, warnings, overlays, etc, and as a software guy I know it's fairly easy to implement this kind of feature - it's just not something I've seen mentioned anywhere. I understand that things like TAWS have the colors specified, and most all gauges go green-yellow-red, however this doesn't really work for the ~10% of guys with this kind of problem. E.g. Is that dark area on the 3D terrain a peak or is it the next valley?

I suspect it'll be more prevalent factor in the LSA market, but either way, I'm hoping some vendor can offer a solution to make things like airspaces overlays, gauges, and terrain warnings more legible. If you're trying to visualize what I mean, I liked this simulator site which has a tool you can use to see how things might appear with this condition:
http://homepage.mac.com/lpetrich/ColorBlindnessSim/ColorBlindnessSim.html
http://homepage.mac.com/lpetrich/ColorBlindnessSim/WebpageCBSim.xhtml

Open up the second link and paste in the URL of your favorite EFIS page.

I figure it'll be easy enough to swap out the LEDs in an AFS Sport AoA but hacking an EFIS might be harder... Some do seem to be easier to read than others though.

Cheers,
Rich

 

[mburch]

Hi Rich,

I meant to reply to this sooner, but ironically I have been out of the office recovering from eye surgery!

The cockpit displays that I work with typically follow a set of human factors guidelines which are in turn based on what's used for certified products, since we have a lot of experience in that area. Often this involves subtle details of presentation that aren't always apparent at first glance. It generally happens that the same UI design rules intended to address low-light and high-glare situations often lead to UI elements that are useful to colorblind pilots too. However I'm sure there is always room for improvement, so if you care to drop me an email I'd be happy to hear from someone with your perspective.

cheers,
mcb