Many manufacturers design a product first, then attempt to “fix” the design later to meet the applicable safety standard. Prior knowledge of the applicable safety standard and its requirements for the product will help meet deadlines, keep design costs down, and result in a properly designed product.
Automobiles typically have dozens of electronic systems operating interactively in a relatively compact space. These systems must operate reliably in a wide range of environments over extended periods of time. As a growing number of these systems play an ever expanding role in protecting the safety of a vehicle’s occupants, there is an increasing need to ensure that the integrity of these systems will not be compromised by electromagnetic interference.
How do you construct a building without metallic components of any kind? When you are engineers charged with overseeing the design and construction of an Open Area Test Site (OATS) for your company, you find out very quickly how to build a structurally sound facility while still keeping the area free of reflective materials.
The reliable operation of complex electronic communications, control and armament systems in extreme environments demands stringent design criteria and careful validation. Severe shock, vibration, heat, humidity and airborne contaminants are common in land, sea and air platforms.
Up until now there’s been much emphasis on designing to make a product “idiot proof”. This has provided some benefit, but what Usability Engineering is reminding us is that it is the designers who are sometimes viewed as idiots by the users. It is the users who are the experts (in usability).
