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Corker, Kevin

Publications and source records attributed to Corker, Kevin.

18 records
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
NASA NTRS2001

Flight Deck Data Link Displays: An Evaluation of Textual and Graphical Implementations

In Experiment 1, 16 pilots participated in a part-task simulation study that evaluated pilot data link communication for short and long message types and for two textual formats. No differences were found between the two textual formats when evaluating data link transaction times and pilot performance on a secondary task. Pilots initiated flight changes more quickly with the T-Scan format, where location of clearance information roughly corresponded to the cockpit instrument layout. Longer messages were less problematic than two short messages sent in close succession as pilots required more verbal clarification for closely spaced messages. 24 pilots participated in a second experiment that evaluated pilot communication performance for textual data link, two implementations of graphical data link, and a combined graphical and textual information modality. The two modalities incorporating text resulted in significantly faster transaction times and better performance on the secondary task than the two graphical-only implementations. The interval between messages was also more systematically varied in Experiment 2, and a short interval between messages significantly increased the access time for the second message. This delay in access was long enough to increase significantly the total transaction time of the second message, and this effect was exaggerated for the graphical-only implementations. Time to view the message before acknowledgement and time to initiate flight changes were not affected by the interval manipulation, This suggests that pilots adopt a sequential message handling strategy, and presenting messages closely in succession may present operational problems in a data link Air Traffic Control (ATC) environment. The results of this study also indicate that the perceived importance of message content is currently a crucial element in pilot data link communication.

McGann, Alison↗
NASA NTRS1997

Pilot Non-Conformance to Alerting System Commands During Closely Spaced Parallel Approaches

Cockpit alerting systems monitor potentially hazardous situations, both inside and outside the aircraft. When a hazard is projected to occur, the alerting system displays alerts and/or command decisions to the pilot. However, pilots have been observed to not conform to alerting system commands by delaying their response or by not following the automatic commands exactly. This non-conformance to the automatic alerting system can reduce its benefit. Therefore, a need exists to understand the causes and effects of pilot non-conformance in order to develop automatic alerting systems whose commands the pilots are more likely to follow. These considerations were examined through flight simulator evaluations of the collision avoidance task during closely spaced parallel approaches. This task provided a useful case-study because the effects of non-conformance can be significant, given the time-critical nature of the task. A preliminary evaluation of alerting systems identified non-conformance in over 40% of the cases and a corresponding drop in collision avoidance performance. A follow-on experiment found subjects' alerting and maneuver selection criteria were consistent with different strategies than those used by automatic systems, indicating the pilot may potentially disagree with the alerting system if the pilot attempts to verify automatic alerts and commanded avoidance maneuvers. A final experiment found supporting automatic alerts with the explicit display of its underlying criteria resulted in more consistent subject reactions. In light of these experimental results, a general discussion of pilot non-conformance is provided. Contributing factors in pilot non-conformance include a lack of confidence in the automatic system and mismatches between the alerting system's commands and the pilots' own decisions based on the information available to them. The effects of non-conformance on system performance are discussed. Possible methods of reconciling mismatches are given, and design considerations for alerting systems which alleviate the problem of non-conformance are provided.

Pritchett, Amy Ruth↗
NASA NTRS1997

Research Initiatives and Preliminary Results In Automation Design In Airspace Management in Free Flight

The NASA and the FAA have entered into a joint venture to explore, define, design and implement a new airspace management operating concept. The fundamental premise of that concept is that technologies and procedures need to be developed for flight deck and ground operations to improve the efficiency, the predictability, the flexibility and the safety of airspace management and operations. To that end NASA Ames has undertaken an initial development and exploration of "key concepts" in the free flight airspace management technology development. Human Factors issues in automation aiding design, coupled aiding systems between air and ground, communication protocols in distributed decision making, and analytic techniques for definition of concepts of airspace density and operator cognitive load have been undertaken. This paper reports the progress of these efforts, which are not intended to definitively solve the many evolving issues of design for future ATM systems, but to provide preliminary results to chart the parameters of performance and the topology of the analytic effort required. The preliminary research in provision of cockpit display of traffic information, dynamic density definition, distributed decision making, situation awareness models and human performance models is discussed as they focus on the theme of "design requirements".

Corker, Kevin↗
NASA NTRS1995

A Multiple Agent Model of Human Performance in Automated Air Traffic Control and Flight Management Operations

A predictive model of human operator performance (flight crew and air traffic control (ATC)) has been developed and applied in order to evaluate the impact of automation developments in flight management and air traffic control. The model is used to predict the performance of a two person flight crew and the ATC operators generating and responding to clearances aided by the Center TRACON Automation System (CTAS). The purpose of the modeling is to support evaluation and design of automated aids for flight management and airspace management and to predict required changes in procedure both air and ground in response to advancing automation in both domains. Additional information is contained in the original extended abstract.

Corker, Kevin↗
NASA NTRS1994

Models of Human Information Requirements: "When Reasonable Aiding Systems Disagree"

Aircraft flight management and Air Traffic Control (ATC) automation are under development to maximize the economy of flight and to increase the capacity of the terminal area airspace while maintaining levels of flight safety equal to or better than current system performance. These goals are being realized by the introduction of flight management automation aiding and operations support systems on the flight deck and by new developments of ATC aiding systems that seek to optimize scheduling of aircraft while potentially reducing required separation and accounting for weather and wake vortex turbulence. Aiding systems on both the flight deck and the ground operate through algorithmic functions on models of the aircraft and of the airspace. These models may differ from each other as a result of variations in their models of the immediate environment. The resultant flight operations or ATC commands may differ in their response requirements (e.g. different preferred descent speeds or descent initiation points). The human operators in the system must then interact with the automation to reconcile differences and resolve conflicts. We have developed a model of human performance including cognitive functions (decision-making, rule-based reasoning, procedural interruption recovery and forgetting) that supports analysis of the information requirements for resolution of flight aiding and ATC conflicts. The model represents multiple individuals in the flight crew and in ATC. The model is supported in simulation on a Silicon Graphics' workstation using Allegro Lisp. Design guidelines for aviation automation aiding systems have been developed using the model's specification of information and team procedural requirements. Empirical data on flight deck operations from full-mission flight simulation are provided to support the model's predictions. The paper describes the model, its development and implementation, the simulation test of the model predictions, and the empirical validation process. The model and its supporting data provide a generalizable tool that is being expanded to include air/ground compatibility and ATC crew interactions in air traffic management.

Corker, Kevin↗
NASA NTRS1994

An Experimental Evaluation of Data Link Textual Formats

Problems resulting from the use of verbal communications in the National Airspace System have lead to an increasing necessity for digitized air-ground communications or data link. This report describes an investigation of digitized communications through the evaluation of message length and different textual formats of clearance data. Current line pilots flew in a part-task simulation where the message length (one message with four commands vs. two messages with two commands each) and the textual format of ATC clearances were varied. Pilots also monitored a secondary task while flying. Secondary task measures and data link response times revealed no significant differences between the two formats under investigation. Message length did impact communication timing with only the first of a pair of two short messages resulting in significantly faster response times than either the second short or long message types.

McGann, Alison↗
NASA NTRS1993

Data link air traffic control and flight deck environments: Experiment in flight crew performance

This report describes an experiment undertaken in a full mission simulation environment to investigate the performance impact of, and human/system response to, data-linked Air Traffic Control (ATC) and automated flight deck operations. Subjects were twenty pilots (ten crews) from a major United States air carrier. Crews flew the Advanced Concepts Flight Simulator (ACFS), a generic 'glass cockpit' simulator at NASA Ames. The method of data link used was similar to the data link implementation plans for a next-generation aircraft, and included the capability to review ATC messages and directly enter ATC clearance information into the aircraft systems. Each crew flew experimental scenarios, in which data reflecting communication timing, errors and clarifications, and procedures were collected. Results for errors and clarifications revealed an interaction between communication modality (voice v. data link) and communication type (air/ground v. intracrew). Results also revealed that voice crews initiated ATC contact significantly more than data link crews. It was also found that data link crews performed significantly more extraneous activities during the communication task than voice crews. Descriptive data from the use of the review menu indicate the pilot-not-flying accessing the review menu most often, and also suggest diffulty in accessing the target message within the review menu structure. The overall impact of communication modality upon air/ground communication and crew procedures is discussed.

Lozito, Sandy↗
NASA NTRS1993

Design of a cooperative problem-solving system for enroute flight planning: An empirical study of its use by airline dispatchers

In a previous report, an empirical study of 30 pilots using the Flight Planning Testbed was reported. An identical experiment using the Flight Planning Testbed (FPT), except that 27 airline dispatchers were studied, is described. Five general questions were addressed in this study: (1) under what circumstances do the introduction of computer-generated suggestions (flight plans) influence the planning behavior of dispatchers (either in a beneficial or adverse manner); (2) what is the nature of such influences (i.e., how are the person's cognitive processes changed); (3) how beneficial are the general design concepts underlying FPT (use of a graphical interface, embedding graphics in a spreadsheet, etc.); (4) how effective are the specific implementation decisions made in realizing these general design concepts; and (5) how effectively do dispatchers evaluate situations requiring replanning, and how effectively do they identify appropriate solutions to these situations.

Smith, Philip J.↗
NASA NTRS1992

Cockpit data link displays - An evaluation of textual formats

Data link technologies are being investigated for air/ground information transfer for commercial aircraft operation. This study was designed to measure which of four alpha-numeric display formats for display of data link information would lead to the quickest and most accurate memory retrieval in a part-task simulation environment. Pilots viewed a clearance for 10-15 seconds and were subsequently queried about the content of that clearance. Speed and accuracy of responses were measured across three retention tasks. The three retention tasks included free recall of a particular clearance. recognition of a previous clearance, and the comparison of element values between a previously displayed and current clearance. Each format was tested with and without a distraction task. Subjective ratings of each format were also collected. The analyses revealed no significant differences for reaction time or accuracy among the four formats. Explanations for these results as well as alternative methodologies are discussed.

Mcgann, Alison↗
NASA NTRS1990

Fault recovery recommendation

Information on Recovery Recommendation System (RECORS) is given in viewgraph form. The system goal is to provide intelligent aiding for monitoring, diagnosis and response to aircraft system failures. Information is given on levels of abstraction, RECORS implementation, and architecture.

Hudlicka, Eva↗
NASA NTRS1990

Information management

Primary Flight Display (PFD) information management and cockpit display of information management research is presented in viewgraph form. The information management problem in the cockpit, information management burdens, the key characteristics of an information manager, the interface management system handling the flow of information and the dialogs between the system and the pilot, and overall system architecture are covered.

Ricks, Wendell↗
NASA NTRS1989

Simulation-modeling tool for evaluation of space telerobotic control strategies

An object-oriented software graphic simulation and modeling tool is developed to explore human/autonomous control allocation for varied operational scenarios. The system provides designers with LISP workstations through which to simulate telerobotic operations, model human performance in those operations, examine task performance profiles, and investigate control and diagnostic strategies. It is suggested that the provision of such analytic tools along with the presentation of performance projections can assist designers in rapidly and conveniently exploring design alternatives for telerobotic system control.

Corker, Kevin↗
NASA NTRS1989

Intelligent situation assessment and response aiding in flight emergencies

A knowledge-based pilot aiding system which performs situation assessment and response aiding is described. The system uses a causal model of the flight domain to both simulate the effects of identified failures on flight and to derive responses during emergencies. The model represents information at two levels of abstraction: Boolean, which simply states whether a subsystem or aircraft component is normal or abnormal, and qualitative, which expresses the subsystem or component status as one of several qualitative values, such as increasing, decreasing, or stable.

Hudlicka, Eva↗
NASA NTRS1988

Integrating causal reasoning at different levels of abstraction

In this paper, a problem-solving system which uses a multilevel causal model of its domain is described. The system functions in the role of a pilot's assistant in the domain of commercial air transport emergencies. The model represents causal relationships among the aircraft subsystems, the effectors (engines, control surfaces), the forces that act on an aircraft in flight (thrust, lift), and the aircraft's flight profile (speed, altitude, etc.). The causal relationships are represented at three levels of abstraction: Boolean, qualitative, and quantitative, and reasoning about causes and effects can take place at each of these levels. Since processing at each level has different characteristics with respect to speed, the type of data required, and the specificity of the results, the problem-solving system can adapt to a wide variety of situations. The system is currently being implemented in the KEE(TM) development environment on a Symbolics Lisp machine.

Hudlicka, Eva↗
NASA NTRS1987

A situation-response model for intelligent pilot aiding

An intelligent pilot aiding system needs models of the pilot information processing to provide the computational basis for successful cooperation between the pilot and the aiding system. By combining artificial intelligence concepts with the human information processing model of Rasmussen, an abstraction hierarchy of states of knowledge, processing functions, and shortcuts are developed, which is useful for characterizing the information processing both of the pilot and of the aiding system. This approach is used in the conceptual design of a real time intelligent aiding system for flight crews of transport aircraft. One promising result was the tentative identification of a particular class of information processing shortcuts, from situation characterizations to appropriate responses, as the most important reliable pathway for dealing with complex time critical situations.

Schudy, Robert↗
NASA NTRS1987

Intelligent interfaces to aircraft systems

An approach for developing intelligent aiding systems for airline flight crews is proposed. This approach proceeds in four cycles: (1) National Traffic Safety Board data and pilot interviews are used to determine the areas in which pilots require aid; (2) a pilot information processing model is designed; (3) an intelligent pilot-aiding model is developed; and (4) systems for implementing aiding functions are defined. This approach is utilized to design a general situation-response pilot-aiding system. The situation-response model and the structure of a general situation-response pilot-aiding system are described. The computer implementation of the situation-response information processing model is examined.

Schudy, Robert↗