FACILE: A Computer Program for Space Station Facilities Layout and Activity Simulation

FACILE is a computer program for the Apple Macintosh™ that aids in the design of interior layouts for complex facilities like the Space Station. The program supports three kinds of functions; design, evaluation, and simulation. The design features of FACILE include a direct-manipulation style of user interface for defining and manipulating the functional compartments of the facility. The evaluation features include the capability of quantitatively comparing any candidate layout against five crew-interface criteria: Crew movement. Sequential dependencies, Shared support equipment, Noise interference, and Privacy requirements. The simulation features include the capability of simulating the activities of any number of crew members within the candidate layout. Statistics such as crew movement distances, compartment usage rates, and queueing times waiting for compartments are available from the simulations.