Engineering Papers⌕ Search

SEARCH · Engineering Papers

Results for “human computers”

Search indexed NASA NTRS and DOE OSTI research on propulsion, heat transfer, battery materials and energy systems. Follow report and document links to the original sources.

Quote a phrase for an exact phrase match. Source license links do not imply unrestricted reuse.

At least 199 records · Page 11
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
NASA NTRS1993

Experimenter's laboratory for visualized interactive science

The science activities of the 1990's will require the analysis of complex phenomena and large diverse sets of data. In order to meet these needs, we must take advantage of advanced user interaction techniques: modern user interface tools; visualization capabilities; affordable, high performance graphics workstations; and interoperatable data standards and translator. To meet these needs, we propose to adopt and upgrade several existing tools and systems to create an experimenter's laboratory for visualized interactive science. Intuitive human-computer interaction techniques have already been developed and demonstrated at the University of Colorado. A Transportable Applications Executive (TAE+), developed at GSFC, is a powerful user interface tool for general purpose applications. A 3D visualization package developed by NCAR provides both color-shaded surface displays and volumetric rendering in either index or true color. The Network Common Data Form (NetCDF) data access library developed by Unidata supports creation, access and sharing of scientific data in a form that is self-describing and network transparent. The combination and enhancement of these packages constitutes a powerful experimenter's laboratory capable of meeting key science needs of the 1990's. This proposal encompasses the work required to build and demonstrate this capability.

Hansen, Elaine R.↗
NASA NTRS1993

Attention in a multi-task environment

Two experiments used a low fidelity multi-task simulation to investigate the effects of cue specificity on task preparation and performance. Subjects performed a continuous compensatory tracking task and were periodically prompted to perform one of several concurrent secondary tasks. The results provide strong evidence that subjects enacted a strategy to actively divert resources towards secondary task preparation only when they had specific information about an upcoming task to be performed. However, this strategy was not as much affected by the type of task cued (Experiment 1) or its difficulty level (Experiment 2). Overall, subjects seemed aware of both the costs (degraded primary task tracking) and benefits (improved secondary task performance) of cue information. Implications of the present results for computational human performance/workload models are discussed.

Andre, Anthony D.↗
NASA NTRS1994

Rule based design of conceptual models for formative evaluation

A Human-Computer Interface (HCI) Prototyping Environment with embedded evaluation capability has been investigated. This environment will be valuable in developing and refining HCI standards and evaluating program/project interface development, especially Space Station Freedom on-board displays for payload operations. This environment, which allows for rapid prototyping and evaluation of graphical interfaces, includes the following four components: (1) a HCI development tool; (2) a low fidelity simulator development tool; (3) a dynamic, interactive interface between the HCI and the simulator; and (4) an embedded evaluator that evaluates the adequacy of a HCI based on a user's performance. The embedded evaluation tool collects data while the user is interacting with the system and evaluates the adequacy of an interface based on a user's performance. This paper describes the design of conceptual models for the embedded evaluation system using a rule-based approach.

Moore, Loretta A.↗
NASA NTRS1995

The power of pezonomics

This reflection of human-computer interface and its requirements as virtual technology is advanced, proposes a new term: 'Pezonomics'. The term replaces the term ergonomics ('the law of work') with a definition pointing to 'the law of play.' The necessity of this term, the author reasons, comes from the need to 'capture the essence of play and calibrate our computer systems to its cadences.' Pezonomics will ensure that artificial environments, in particular virtual reality, are user friendly.

Orr, Joel N.↗
NASA NTRS1994

Simulation in a dynamic prototyping environment: Petri nets or rules?

An evaluation of a prototyped user interface is best supported by a simulation of the system. A simulation allows for dynamic evaluation of the interface rather than just a static evaluation of the screen's appearance. This allows potential users to evaluate both the look (in terms of the screen layout, color, objects, etc.) and feel (in terms of operations and actions which need to be performed) of a system's interface. Because of the need to provide dynamic evaluation of an interface, there must be support for producing active simulations. The high-fidelity training simulators are delivered too late to be effectively used in prototyping the displays. Therefore, it is important to build a low fidelity simulator, so that the iterative cycle of refining the human computer interface based upon a user's interactions can proceed early in software development.

Moore, Loretta A.↗
NASA NTRS1996

User participation in the development of the human/computer interface for control centers

Technological advances coupled with the requirements to reduce operations staffing costs led to the demand for efficient, technologically-sophisticated mission operations control centers. The control center under development for the earth observing system (EOS) is considered. The users are involved in the development of a control center in order to ensure that it is cost-efficient and flexible. A number of measures were implemented in the EOS program in order to encourage user involvement in the area of human-computer interface development. The following user participation exercises carried out in relation to the system analysis and design are described: the shadow participation of the programmers during a day of operations; the flight operations personnel interviews; and the analysis of the flight operations team tasks. The user participation in the interface prototype development, the prototype evaluation, and the system implementation are reported on. The involvement of the users early in the development process enables the requirements to be better understood and the cost to be reduced.

Broome, Richard↗
NASA NTRS1998

Intelligent Systems and Advanced User Interfaces for Design, Operation, and Maintenance of Command Management Systems

Historically Command Management Systems (CMS) have been large, expensive, spacecraft-specific software systems that were costly to build, operate, and maintain. Current and emerging hardware, software, and user interface technologies may offer an opportunity to facilitate the initial formulation and design of a spacecraft-specific CMS as well as a to develop a more generic or a set of core components for CMS systems. Current MOC (mission operations center) hardware and software include Unix workstations, the C/C++ and Java programming languages, and X and Java window interfaces representations. This configuration provides the power and flexibility to support sophisticated systems and intelligent user interfaces that exploit state-of-the-art technologies in human-machine systems engineering, decision making, artificial intelligence, and software engineering. One of the goals of this research is to explore the extent to which technologies developed in the research laboratory can be productively applied in a complex system such as spacecraft command management. Initial examination of some of the issues in CMS design and operation suggests that application of technologies such as intelligent planning, case-based reasoning, design and analysis tools from a human-machine systems engineering point of view (e.g., operator and designer models) and human-computer interaction tools, (e.g., graphics, visualization, and animation), may provide significant savings in the design, operation, and maintenance of a spacecraft-specific CMS as well as continuity for CMS design and development across spacecraft with varying needs. The savings in this case is in software reuse at all stages of the software engineering process.

Mitchell, Christine M.↗
NASA NTRS1998

Locating Biodiversity Data Through The Global Change Master Directory

The Global Change Master Directory (GCMD) presently holds descriptions for almost 7000 data sets held worldwide. The directory's primary purpose is for data discovery. The information provided through the GCMD's Directory Interchange Format (DIF) is the set of information that a researcher would need to determine if a particular data set could be of value. By offering data set descriptions worldwide in many scientific disciplines - including meteorology, oceanography, ecology, geology, hydrology, geophysics, remote sensing, paleoclimate, solar-terrestrial physics, and human dimensions of climate change - the GCMD simplifies the discovery of data sources. Direct linkages to many of the data sets are also provided. In addition, several data set registration tools are offered for populating the directory. To search the directory, one may choose the Guided Search or Free-Text Search. Two experimental interfaces were also made available with the latest software release - one based on a keyword search and another based on a graphical interface. The graphical interface was designed in collaboration with the Human Computer Interaction Laboratory at the University of Maryland. The latest version of the software, Version 6, was released in April, 1998. It features the implementation of a scheme to handle hierarchical data set collections (parent-child relationships); a hierarchical geospatial location search scheme; a Java-based geographic map for conducting geospatial searches; a Related-URL field for project-related data set collections, metadata extensions (such as more detailed inventory information), etc.; a new implementation of the Isite software; a new dataset language field; hyperlinked email addresses, and more. The key to the continued evolution of the GCMD is in the flexibility of the GCMD database, allowing modifications and additions to made relatively easily to maintain currency, thus providing the ability to capitalize on current technology while importing all existing records. Changes are discussed and approved through an online "interoperability" forum. The next major release of the GCMD is scheduled for early 1999 and will include the incorporation of a new matrix-based interface, a rapid valids-based query system; improvement in the operations facility - important for future distributed options; new streamlined code for greater performance and maintainability; improvements in the handling of seven current fields proposed through the interoperability forum (at no expense to the data providers); and the release of DOCmorph, a more robust version of DIFmorph to translate many 'standards' multi-directionally. Issues and actions will also be addressed.

Olsen, Lola M.↗
NASA NTRS2003

Developing Visualization Techniques for Semantics-based Information Networks

Information systems incorporating complex network structured information spaces with a semantic underpinning - such as hypermedia networks, semantic networks, topic maps, and concept maps - are being deployed to solve some of NASA s critical information management problems. This paper describes some of the human interaction and navigation problems associated with complex semantic information spaces and describes a set of new visual interface approaches to address these problems. A key strategy is to leverage semantic knowledge represented within these information spaces to construct abstractions and views that will be meaningful to the human user. Human-computer interaction methodologies will guide the development and evaluation of these approaches, which will benefit deployed NASA systems and also apply to information systems based on the emerging Semantic Web.

Keller, Richard M.↗
NASA NTRS2003

Monitoring Outpatient Care

Each year, health care costs for managing chronically ill patients increase as the life expectancy of Americans continues to grow. To handle this situation, many hospitals, doctors practices, and home care providers are turning to disease management, a system of coordinated health care interventions and communications, to improve outpatient care. By participating in daily monitoring programs, patients with congestive heart failure, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, diabetes, and other chronic conditions requiring significant self-care are facing fewer emergency situations and hospitalizations. Cybernet Medical, a division of Ann Arbor, Michigan-based Cybernet Systems Corporation, is using the latest communications technology to augment the ways health care professionals monitor and assess patients with chronic diseases, while at the same time simplifying the patients interaction with technology. Cybernet s newest commercial product for this purpose evolved from research funded by NASA, the National Institute of Mental Health, and the Advanced Research Projects Agency. The research focused on the physiological assessment of astronauts and soldiers, human performance evaluation, and human-computer interaction. Cybernet Medical's MedStar Disease Management Data Collection System is an affordable, widely deployable solution for improving in-home-patient chronic disease management. The system's battery-powered and portable interface device collects physiological data from off-the-shelf instruments.

Source record↗
NASA NTRS2003

Journal of Air Transportation, Volume 8, No. 2

The mission of the Journal of Air Transportation (JAT) is to provide the global community immediate key resource information in all areas of air transportation. This journal contains articles on the following:Fuel Consumption Modeling of a Transport Category Aircraft: A FlightOperationsQualityAssurance (F0QA) Analysis;Demand for Air Travel in the United States: Bottom-Up Econometric Estimation and Implications for Forecasts by Origin and Destination Pairs;Blind Flying on the Beam: Aeronautical Communication, Navigation and Surveillance: Its Origins and the Politics of Technology: Part I1 Political Oversight and Promotion;Blind Flying on the Beam: Aeronautical Communication, Navigation and Surveillance: Its Origins and the Politics of Technology: Part 111: Emerging Technologies;Ethics Education in University Aviation Management Programs in the US: Part Two B-Statistical Analysis of Current Practice;Integrating Human Factors into the Human-computer Interface: and How Best to Display Meteorological Information for Critical Aviation Decision-making and Performance.

Bowen, Brent↗
NASA NTRS1995

A Comparison of Different HCI styles in a KBSE System

There has been a sizable amount of research about the relative merits of different styles of human-computer interfaces and information presentation. However, it has not been possible to declare a definitive winner between graphical and text-based interfaces. Each of these interface styles provides its own advantages that may be more relevant than the other depending on the domain and characteristics of the user population in which they are applied. This paper compares graphical and text-based interfaces for formal specifications in the context of the Amphion system. It focuses in those features that make the text-based interface desirable as a substitute or a complement to a graphical interface. In order to address these problems, a new, text-based interface has been developed as an alternative/complement to the existing graphical interface. The text-based interface avoids problems by representing the information about objects and their relationships in the form of natural language sentences. This representation makes it easy for novice users to better understand the specifications. By presenting the specification information organized in the form of outlines that can be selectively expanded and collapsed, the user is given a high degree of control over the information that is displayed at any given time.

Lazzeri, Santos Gerardo↗
NASA NTRS2002

Nuclear model calculations and their role in space radiation research

Proper assessments of spacecraft shielding requirements and concomitant estimates of risk to spacecraft crews from energetic space radiation requires accurate, quantitative methods of characterizing the compositional changes in these radiation fields as they pass through thick absorbers. These quantitative methods are also needed for characterizing accelerator beams used in space radiobiology studies. Because of the impracticality/impossibility of measuring these altered radiation fields inside critical internal body organs of biological test specimens and humans, computational methods rather than direct measurements must be used. Since composition changes in the fields arise from nuclear interaction processes (elastic, inelastic and breakup), knowledge of the appropriate cross sections and spectra must be available. Experiments alone cannot provide the necessary cross section and secondary particle (neutron and charged particle) spectral data because of the large number of nuclear species and wide range of energies involved in space radiation research. Hence, nuclear models are needed. In this paper current methods of predicting total and absorption cross sections and secondary particle (neutrons and ions) yields and spectra for space radiation protection analyses are reviewed. Model shortcomings are discussed and future needs presented. c2002 COSPAR. Published by Elsevier Science Ltd. All right reserved.

NASA Center JSC↗
NASA NTRS2000

Next Generation CTAS Tools

The FAA's Free Flight Phase 1 Office is in the process of deploying the current generation of CTAS tools, which are the Traffic Management Advisor (TMA) and the passive Final Approach Spacing Tool (pFAST), at selected centers and airports. Research at NASA is now focussed on extending the CTAS software and computer human interfaces to provide more advanced capabilities. The Multi-center TMA (McTMA) is designed to operate at airports where arrival flows originate from two or more centers whose boundaries are in close proximity to the TRACON boundary. McTMA will also include techniques for routing arrival flows away from congested airspace and around airspace reserved for arrivals into other hub airports. NASA is working with FAA and MITRE to build a prototype McTMA for the Philadelphia airport. The active Final Approach Spacing Tool (aFAST) provides speed and heading advisories to help controllers achieve accurate spacing between aircraft on final approach. These advisories will be integrated with those in the existing pFAST to provide a set of comprehensive advisories for controlling arrival traffic from the TRACON boundary to touchdown at complex, high-capacity airports. A research prototype of aFAST, designed for the Dallas-Fort Worth is in an advanced stage of development. The Expedite Departure Path (EDP) and Direct-To tools are designed to help controllers guide departing aircraft out of the TRACON airspace and to climb to cruise altitude along the most efficient routes.

Erzberger, Heinz↗
NASA NTRS2005

IVHM Framework for Intelligent Integration for Vehicle Health Management

Integrated Vehicle Health Management (IVHM) systems for aerospace vehicles, is the process of assessing, preserving, and restoring system functionality across flight and techniques with sensor and communication technologies for spacecraft that can generate responses through detection, diagnosis, reasoning, and adapt to system faults in support of Integrated Intelligent Vehicle Management (IIVM). These real-time responses allow the IIVM to modify the affected vehicle subsystem(s) prior to a catastrophic event. Furthermore, this framework integrates technologies which can provide a continuous, intelligent, and adaptive health state of a vehicle and use this information to improve safety and reduce costs of operations. Recent investments in avionics, health management, and controls have been directed towards IIVM. As this concept has matured, it has become clear that IIVM requires the same sensors and processing capabilities as the real-time avionics functions to support diagnosis of subsystem problems. New sensors have been proposed, in addition to augment the avionics sensors to support better system monitoring and diagnostics. As the designs have been considered, a synergy has been realized where the real-time avionics can utilize sensors proposed for diagnostics and prognostics to make better real-time decisions in response to detected failures. IIVM provides for a single system allowing modularity of functions and hardware across the vehicle. The framework that supports IIVM consists of 11 major on-board functions necessary to fully manage a space vehicle maintaining crew safety and mission objectives. These systems include the following: Guidance and Navigation; Communications and Tracking; Vehicle Monitoring; Information Transport and Integration; Vehicle Diagnostics; Vehicle Prognostics; Vehicle Mission Planning, Automated Repair and Replacement; Vehicle Control; Human Computer Interface; and Onboard Verification and Validation. Furthermore, the presented framework provides complete vehicle management which not only allows for increased crew safety and mission success through new intelligence capabilities, but also yields a mechanism for more efficient vehicle operations.

Paris, Deidre↗
NASA NTRS2005

Apex Reference Manual 3.0 Beta

Apex is a toolkit for constructing software that behaves intelligently and responsively in demanding task environments. Reflecting its origin at NASA where Apex continues to be developed, current applications include: a) Providing autonomous mission management and tactical control capabilities for unmanned aerial vehicles including an autonomous surveillance helicopter and a simulation prototype of an unmanned fixed-wing aircraft to be used for wildfire mapping; b) Simulating human air traffic controllers, pilots and astronauts to help predict how people might respond to changes in equipment or procedures; and c) Predicting the precise duration and sequence of routine human behaviors based on a human-computer interaction engineering technique called CPM-GOMS. Among Apex s components are a set of implemented reasoning services, such as those for reactive planning and temporal pattern recognition; a software architecture that embeds and integrates these services and allows additional reasoning elements to be added as extensions; a formal language for specifying agent knowledge; a simulation environment to facilitate prototyping and analysis; and Sherpa, a set of tools for visualizing autonomy logic and runtime behavior. In combination, these are meant to provide a flexible and usable framework for creating, testing, and deploying intelligent agent software. Overall, our goal in developing Apex is to lower economic barriers to developing intelligent software agents. New ideas about how to extend or modify the system are evaluated in terms of their impact in reducing the time, expertise, and inventiveness required to build and maintain applications. For example, potential enhancements to the AI reasoning capabilities in the system are reviewed not only for usefulness and distinctiveness, but also for their impact on the readability and general usability of Apex s behavior representation language (PDL) and on the transparency of resulting behavior. A second central part of our approach is to iteratively refine Apex based on lessons learned from as diverse a set of applications as possible. Many applications have been developed by users outside the core development team including engineers, researchers, and students. Usability is thus a central concern for every aspect of Apex visible to a user, including PDL, Sherpa, the Apex installation process, APIs, and user documentation. Apex users vary in their areas of expertise and in their familiarity with autonomy technology. Focusing on usability, a development philosophy summarized by the project motto "Usable Autonomy," has been important part of enabling diverse users to employ Apex successfully and to provide feedback needed to guide iterative, user-centered refinement.

Freed, Michael A.↗
NASA NTRS2007

High-Speed Noninvasive Eye-Tracking System

The figure schematically depicts a system of electronic hardware and software that noninvasively tracks the direction of a person s gaze in real time. Like prior commercial noninvasive eye-tracking systems, this system is based on (1) illumination of an eye by a low-power infrared light-emitting diode (LED); (2) acquisition of video images of the pupil, iris, and cornea in the reflected infrared light; (3) digitization of the images; and (4) processing the digital image data to determine the direction of gaze from the centroids of the pupil and cornea in the images. Relative to the prior commercial systems, the present system operates at much higher speed and thereby offers enhanced capability for applications that involve human-computer interactions, including typing and computer command and control by handicapped individuals,and eye-based diagnosis of physiological disorders that affect gaze responses.

Talukder, Ashit↗
NASA NTRS2009

Latency and User Performance in Virtual Environments and Augmented Reality

System rendering latency has been recognized by senior researchers, such as Professor Fredrick Brooks of UNC (Turing Award 1999), as a major factor limiting the realism and utility of head-referenced displays systems. Latency has been shown to reduce the user's sense of immersion within a virtual environment, disturb user interaction with virtual objects, and to contribute to motion sickness during some simulation tasks. Latency, however, is not just an issue for external display systems since finite nerve conduction rates and variation in transduction times in the human body's sensors also pose problems for latency management within the nervous system. Some of the phenomena arising from the brain's handling of sensory asynchrony due to latency will be discussed as a prelude to consideration of the effects of latency in interactive displays. The causes and consequences of the erroneous movement that appears in displays due to latency will be illustrated with examples of the user performance impact provided by several experiments. These experiments will review the generality of user sensitivity to latency when users judge either object or environment stability. Hardware and signal processing countermeasures will also be discussed. In particular the tuning of a simple extrapolative predictive filter not using a dynamic movement model will be presented. Results show that it is possible to adjust this filter so that the appearance of some latencies may be hidden without the introduction of perceptual artifacts such as overshoot. Several examples of the effects of user performance will be illustrated by three-dimensional tracking and tracing tasks executed in virtual environments. These experiments demonstrate classic phenomena known from work on manual control and show the need for very responsive systems if they are indented to support precise manipulation. The practical benefits of removing interfering latencies from interactive systems will be emphasized with some classic final examples from surgical telerobotics, and human-computer interaction.

Ellis, Stephen R.↗