Human Performance Time Model of Spacecraft Control Panel Operation in Simulated Microgravity

Human performance modeling plays an important role in the design and management of human spaceflight missions. Previous studies reported that manual control task time increased in microgravity conditions. The current study aimed to find a modeling method that can quantify and predict the task time of spacecraft control panel operation in the simulated microgravity condition.

We proposed the application of a predetermined elemental task method together with an information processing time model to quantify both physical motion time and cognitive time. The time increment due to microgravity was hypothesized to be proportional to physical motion time. The total task time in the microgravity condition could be calculated as the model time from the normal ground condition plus the predicted time increment. Human data were collected from an experiment asking participants to perform six emergency operating procedure tasks in both normal ground and simulated microgravity conditions.

The proposed method resulted in good fitness to human data in both conditions, as shown by both regression fitness (R2 values = 0.99) and modeling error measures (root mean square error ≤ 3.3 s; mean absolute percentage error ≤ 16.1%).

Although the method has its limitations, the current findings suggest that it has value in aerospace human factors and ergonomics applications.Cao S, Zhang Y, Guo Y, Chen S. Human performance time model of spacecraft control panel operation in simulated microgravity. Aerosp Med Hum Perform. 2017; 88(8):743-751.