Lessons Learned in Applying Simulators to Crewstation Evaluation

As crewstations have become more sophisticated, crewstation designers have tried to evaluate them earlier in their development (to minimize design changes) and in simulators (to minimize evaluation costs). However, selecting the simulator to use during evaluation is driven more by simulator usage costs and availability than by an analysis of the simulator features needed for an effective crewstation evaluation. This problem stems in part from a lack of well-documented lessons learned in identifying which simulator features are required to produce the same results as those obtained in night. Such a set of lessons learned has been collected and is presented in this article.