Abstract
A usability engineering (UE) method has been developed for the European Space Agency to assist the development teams of payload user interfaces in the International Space Station (ISS). It attempts to synchronize the activities of 2 traditionally separated groups-the operations group involved in procedure development and the software group involved in display development-to realize adequate online procedural operation support (instead of the traditional paper-based support). An example application of the UE method resulted in a prototype user interface with the online procedures integrated into the operation display, and with consistent navigation support in procedure and operation interface components. A controlled experiment showed that the integration and the navigation support enhance the efficiency of payload operations substantially as a first validation of this example interface design.