Flying Solo

Direct voice input on aircrafts

Speech recognition is becoming an essential tool in the life of every individual. Voice innovation is redefining the ways we interact with machines. Gone are the days when you needed codes to access the information system. Today we say the command “Open” to open a door and like “Abra Kadabra” it’s open.

Direct Voice Input (DVI) was developed to automate in flight communication systems, so that the pilots can actually focus on more important information. DVI was implemented in the early part of the 21^st century.

Direct voice input is a speech recognition system that is employed in the military aircrafts such as the Eurofighter Typhoon. It is a style of human–machine interaction, in which the user gives voice commands to issue instructions to the aircraft. The development of aircraft capabilities and functionalities has dramatically increased pilot workload.

The goal of this interaction is to increase efficiency of operations and to control the machine on the user's end. The feedback from the machine aids the operator in making operational decisions. Examples of this broad concept of user interfaces include the interactive aspects of computer operating systems, hand tools, heavy machines and aircrafts.

Looking at its history, it has been in service on the Eurofighter Typhoon since 2005. In addition to aircraft’s capability enhancements, DVI has further potential for growth.

The technical process consists of a real time comparison between the incoming audio signal, the pilot voice, and stored data speech models. DVI is a great example of speech recognition applications. Nonetheless, there are challenges that include background audio signal acoustics — the pilot’s speech style/accent or the cockpit noise of the engines.

Direct Voice Input does not compromise flight safety, but actually enhances it. Pilots work environment is becoming more efficient and manageable thanks to the optimization of DVI. DVI has opened a new frontier in automated flights that are more performance oriented when the number of tasks increase and the maneuvering of the aircraft depends on both of the pilot’s hands.