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Assistive Detect and Avoid for Pilots in the Cockpit
Aircraft not receiving radar services rely on see and avoid and radio coordination via Common Traffic Advisory Frequencies to remain well clear of each other and avoid mid-air collisions. Radio coordination is usually performed in the vicinity of non-towered airports whereas non-radar services en-route operations rely solely on see and avoid. This paper presents the results of a simulation study of the effectiveness of assistive detect and avoid technologies when used to enhance pilots’ ability to see and avoid nearby traffic. Three different experimental conditions are modeled, representing “unaided see and avoid”, “see and avoid with traffic advisories”, and “see and avoid with assistive detect and avoid technology”. The effectiveness of see and avoid is evaluated using a set of head-on, crossing, and overtaking encounter scenarios and a model of visual acquisition embedded in a Monte Carlo simulation. The effectiveness of assistive detect and avoid is estimated for the same encounter scenarios. A prototype system for detect and avoid and a summary of results are presented. Preliminary results strongly suggest that assistive detect and avoid could greatly enhance the capabilities of flight crews to avoid traffic and remain well clear.
DANTi, DAA in the Cockpit
DANTi is a prototype Electronic Flight Bag which incorporates an assistive Detect and Avoid (DAA) capability developed by NASA.
Assistive Detect and Avoid for Pilots in the Cockpit
Aircraft not receiving radar services rely on see and avoid and radio coordination via Common Traffic Advisory Frequencies to remain well clear of each other and avoid mid-air collisions. Radio coordination is usually performed in the vicinity of non-towered airports whereas non-radar services en-route operations rely solely on see and avoid. This paper presents the results of a simulation study of the effectiveness of assistive detect and avoid technologies when used to enhance pilots’ ability to see and avoid nearby traffic. Three different experimental conditions are modeled, representing “unaided see and avoid”, “see and avoid with traffic advisories”, and “see and avoid with assistive detect and avoid technology”. The effectiveness of see and avoid is evaluated using a set of head-on, crossing, and overtaking encounter scenarios and a model of visual acquisition embedded in a Monte Carlo simulation. The effectiveness of assistive detect and avoid is estimated for the same encounter scenarios. A prototype system for detect and avoid and a summary of results are presented. Preliminary results strongly suggest that assistive detect and avoid could greatly enhance the capabilities of flight crews to avoid traffic and remain well clear.
X-57 Cockpit Display System and Features
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A3I visibility modeling project
The Army-NASA Aircrew Aircraft Integration program is supporting a joint project to build a visibility computer-aided design (CAD) tool. CAD has become an essential tool in modern engineering applications. CAD tools are used to create engineering drawings and to evaluate potential designs before they are physically realized. The visibility CAD tool will provide the design engineer with a tool to aid in the location and specification of windows, displays, and control in crewstations. In an aircraft cockpit the location of instruments and the emissive and reflective characteristics of the surfaces must be determined to assure adequate aircrew performance. The visibility CAD tool will allow the designer to ask and answer many of these questions in the context of a three-dimensional graphical representation of the cockpit. The graphic representation of the cockpit is a geometrically valid model of the cockpit design. A graphic model of a pilot, called the pilot manikin, can be placed naturalistically in the cockpit model. The visibility tool has the capability of mapping the cockpit surfaces and other objects modeled in this graphic design space onto the simulated pilot's retinas for a given visual fixation.
Design outline for a new multiman ATC simulation facility at NASA-Ames Research Center
A new and unique facility for studying human factors aspects in aeronautics is being planned for use in the Man-Vehicle Systems Research Division at the NASA-Ames Research Center. This facility will replace the existing three cockpit-single ground controller station and be expandable to include approximately seven cockpits and two ground controller stations. Unlike the previous system, each cockpit will be mini-computer centered and linked to a main CPU to effect a distributed computation facility. Each simulator will compute its own flight dynamic and flight path predictor. Mechanical flight instruments in each cockpit will be locally supported and CRT cockpit displays of (e.g.) traffic and or RNAV information will be centrally computed and distributed as a means of extending the existing computational and graphical resources. An outline of the total design is presented which addresses the technical design options and research possibilities of this unique man-machine facility and which may also serve as a model for other real time distributed simulation facilities.
Effects of checklist interface on non-verbal crew communications
The investigation looked at the effects of the spatial layout and functionality of cockpit displays and controls on crew communication. Specifically, the study focused on the intra-cockpit crew interaction, and subsequent task performance, of airline pilots flying different configurations of a new electronic checklist, designed and tested in a high-fidelity simulator at NASA Ames Research Center. The first part of this proposal establishes the theoretical background for the assumptions underlying the research, suggesting that in the context of the interaction between a multi-operator crew and a machine, the design and configuration of the interface will affect interactions between individual operators and the machine, and subsequently, the interaction between operators. In view of the latest trends in cockpit interface design and flight-deck technology, in particular, the centralization of displays and controls, the introduction identifies certain problems associated with these modern designs and suggests specific design issues to which the expected results could be applied. A detailed research program and methodology is outlined and the results are described and discussed. Overall, differences in cockpit design were shown to impact the activity within the cockpit, including interactions between pilots and aircraft and the cooperative interactions between pilots.
Portable aircraft controller devices and systems
A portable computerized device for an aircraft control system includes an input system for inputting commands, a device display for displaying information on the computerized device, a processor, a wireless communication module, and a non-transitory computer readable medium comprising computer executable instructions, the computer executable instructions configured to cause the processor to perform a method. The method can include detecting whether the portable computerized device is in a cockpit state such that the portable computerized device is in and/or docked to an aircraft cockpit or if the portable computerized device is in a remote state such that the portable computerized device is not in an aircraft cockpit or is not docked to an aircraft cockpit. If the portable computerized device is determined to be in a remote state, the method includes operating the remote device in a remote mode. If the portable computerized device is determined to be in a cockpit state, the method includes operating the device in a local mode.
NASA aviation safety reporting system
An analytical study of reports relating to cockpit altitude alert systems was performed. A recent change in the Federal Air Regulation permits the system to be modified so that the alerting signal approaching altitude has only a visual component; the auditory signal would continue to be heard if a deviation from an assigned altitude occurred. Failure to observe altitude alert signals and failure to reset the system were the commonest cause of altitude deviations related to this system. Cockpit crew distraction was the most frequent reason for these failures. It was noted by numerous reporters that the presence of altitude alert system made them less aware of altitude; this lack of altitude awareness is discussed. Failures of crew coordination were also noted. It is suggested that although modification of the altitude alert system may be highly desirable in short-haul aircraft, it may not be desirable for long-haul aircraft in which cockpit workloads are much lower for long periods of time. In these cockpits, the aural alert approaching altitudes is perceived as useful and helpful. If the systems are to be modified, it appears that additional emphasis on altitude awareness during recurrent training will be necessary; it is also possible that flight crew operating procedures during climb and descent may need examination with respect to monitoring responsibilities. A selection of alert bulletins and responses to them is presented.
Automatic speech recognition in air-ground data link
In the present air traffic system, information presented to the transport aircraft cockpit crew may originate from a variety of sources and may be presented to the crew in visual or aural form, either through cockpit instrument displays or, most often, through voice communication. Voice radio communications are the most error prone method for air-ground data link. Voice messages can be misstated or misunderstood and radio frequency congestion can delay or obscure important messages. To prevent proliferation, a multiplexed data link display can be designed to present information from multiple data link sources on a shared cockpit display unit (CDU) or multi-function display (MFD) or some future combination of flight management and data link information. An aural data link which incorporates an automatic speech recognition (ASR) system for crew response offers several advantages over visual displays. The possibility of applying ASR to the air-ground data link was investigated. The first step was to review current efforts in ASR applications in the cockpit and in air traffic control and evaluated their possible data line application. Next, a series of preliminary research questions is to be developed for possible future collaboration.
Aerospace crew station design
Consideration is given to spacecraft cockpits and work stations, commercial aircraft cockpits and crew stations, high performance aircraft cockpits and crew stations, and space stations and habitat crew stations. Particular attention is given to an historical review of NASA manned spacecraft crew stations, ESA spacelab crew stations, the evolution of commercial aircraft flight station design, Boeing 757/767 flight deck, a historical review of Concorde flight deck design, trends in the cockpit design of new European fighters, and state-of-the-art applications for Space Station crew interface design.
Altitude deviations: Breakdowns of an error-tolerant system
Pilot reports of aviation incidents to the Aviation Safety Reporting System (ASRS) provide a window on the problems occurring in today's airline cockpits. The narratives of 10 pilot reports of errors made in the automation-assisted altitude-change task are used to illustrate some of the issues of pilots interacting with automatic systems. These narratives are then used to construct a description of the cockpit as an information processing system. The analysis concentrates on the error-tolerant properties of the system and on how breakdowns can occasionally occur. An error-tolerant system can detect and correct its internal processing errors. The cockpit system consists of two or three pilots supported by autoflight, flight-management, and alerting systems. These humans and machines have distributed access to clearance information and perform redundant processing of information. Errors can be detected as deviations from either expected behavior or as deviations from expected information. Breakdowns in this system can occur when the checking and cross-checking tasks that give the system its error-tolerant properties are not performed because of distractions or other task demands. Recommendations based on the analysis for improving the error tolerance of the cockpit system are given.
Some inadequacies of the current human factors certification process of advanced aircraft technologies
Automation related accidents or serious incidents are not limited to advanced technology aircraft. There is a full history of such accidents with conventional technology aircraft. However, this type of occurrence is far from sparing the newest 'glass cockpit' generation, and it even seems to be a growing contributor to its accident rate. Nevertheless, all these aircraft have been properly certificated according to the relevant airworthiness regulations. Therefore, there is a growing concern that with the technological advancement of air transport aircraft cockpits, the current airworthiness regulations addressing cockpit design and human factors may have reached some level of inadequacy. This paper reviews some aspects of the current airworthiness regulations and certification process related to human factors of cockpit design and focuses on questioning their ability to guarantee the intended safety objectives.
The Integrated Mode Management Interface
Mode management is the processes of understanding the character and consequences of autoflight modes, planning and selecting the engagement, disengagement and transitions between modes, and anticipating automatic mode transitions made by the autoflight system itself. The state of the art is represented by the latest designs produced by each of the major airframe manufacturers, the Boeing 747-400, the Boeing 777, the McDonnell Douglas MD-11, and the Airbus A320/A340 family of airplanes. In these airplanes autoflight modes are selected by manipulating switches on the control panel. The state of the autoflight system is displayed on the flight mode annunciators. The integrated mode management interface (IMMI) is a graphical interface to autoflight mode management systems for aircraft equipped with flight management computer systems (FMCS). The interface consists of a vertical mode manager and a lateral mode manager. Autoflight modes are depicted by icons on a graphical display. Mode selection is accomplished by touching (or mousing) the appropriate icon. The IMMI provides flight crews with an integrated interface to autoflight systems for aircraft equipped with flight management computer systems (FMCS). The current version is modeled on the Boeing glass-cockpit airplanes (747-400, 757/767). It runs on the SGI Indigo workstation. A working prototype of this graphics-based crew interface to the autoflight mode management tasks of glass cockpit airplanes has been installed in the Advanced Concepts Flight Simulator of the CSSRF of NASA Ames Research Center. This IMMI replaces the devices in FMCS equipped airplanes currently known as mode control panel (Boeing), flight guidance control panel (McDonnell Douglas), and flight control unit (Airbus). It also augments the functions of the flight mode annunciators. All glass cockpit airplanes are sufficiently similar that the IMMI could be tailored to the mode management system of any modern cockpit. The IMMI does not replace the functions of the FMCS control and display unit. The purpose of the INMI is to provide flight crews with a shared medium in which they can assess the state of the autoflight system, take control actions on it, reason about its behavior, and communicate with each other about its behavior. The design is intended to increase mode awareness and provide a better interface to autoflight mode management. This report describes the IMMI, the methods that were used in designing and developing it, and the theory underlying the design and development processes.
Infrared Avionics Signal Distribution using Wavelength Division Multiplexing
Pilots in the cockpits of aircrafts currently communicate with ground stations using Radio Frequency (RF) signals. Antennas mounted outside the aircraft receive and transmit RF signals from and to the ground stations. The RF signals received at the antennas are sent to the cockpit using coaxial cables. As the number of antennas needed to provide more than one frequency band in aircrafts increases, RF distribution media (such as coaxial cable) adds to the complexity and weight of the cockpit wiring. Concomitantly, the safety and signal to noise ratio also decreases due to the use of RF signals. The University of Oklahoma is collaborating with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration to develop optical fiber based schemes to replace the coaxial cable used for RF signal distribution within an aircraft. The project aims at exploiting emerging Wavelength Division Multiplexing (WDM) techniques to reduce the weight of cabling, and increase the signal to noise ratio and reliability. This will be achieved by wavelength division multiplexing the signals from the various antennas and then demultiplexing the signals to recover the original signals at the cockpit. This paper will show that (i) RF signals can not only be wavelength multiplexed at the end of a fiber, but additional signals can be inserted into the middle of the fiber using WDM technology, and (ii) the signals can also be successfully extracted by tapping into the middle of the fiber. We are currently extending our previous laboratory prototype (which could multiplex signals only at the end of the fiber) to include additional multiplexing and demultiplexing of RF signals from the middle of the optical backbone with a view to validating the proof of concept, and carrying out measurements to determine the effectiveness of Wavelength Division Multiplexing for avionics applications. A test bed to perform measurements of several relevant parameters for various modulation schemes and frequencies (such as VHF, UHF, and L-Band) has been implemented. In particular, results of transmitter and receiver noise, bit-error-rate (BER), effect of cross talk on the quality of the multiplexed signals, and Signal to Noise ratio and Carrier to Noise ratio, obtained using the aforementioned test bed, will be presented.
Helicopter force-feel and stability augmentation system with parallel servo-actuator
A force-feel system is implemented by mechanically coupling a servo-actuator to and in parallel with a flight control system. The servo-actuator consists of an electric motor, a gearing device, and a clutch. A commanded cockpit-flight-controller position is achieved by pilot actuation of a trim-switch. The position of the cockpit-flight-controller is compared with the commanded position to form a first error which is processed by a shaping function to correlate the first error with a commanded force at the cockpit-flight-controller. The commanded force on the cockpit-flight-controller provides centering forces and improved control feel for the pilot. In an embodiment, the force-feel system is used as the basic element of stability augmentation system (SAS). The SAS provides a stabilization signal that is compared with the commanded position to form a second error signal. The first error is summed with the second error for processing by the shaping function.
Wrap-Around Out-the-Window Sensor Fusion System
The Advanced Cockpit Evaluation System (ACES) includes communication, computing, and display subsystems, mounted in a van, that synthesize out-the-window views to approximate the views of the outside world as it would be seen from the cockpit of a crewed spacecraft, aircraft, or remote control of a ground vehicle or UAV (unmanned aerial vehicle). The system includes five flat-panel display units arranged approximately in a semicircle around an operator, like cockpit windows. The scene displayed on each panel represents the view through the corresponding cockpit window. Each display unit is driven by a personal computer equipped with a video-capture card that accepts live input from any of a variety of sensors (typically, visible and/or infrared video cameras). Software running in the computers blends the live video images with synthetic images that could be generated, for example, from heads-up-display outputs, waypoints, corridors, or from satellite photographs of the same geographic region. Data from a Global Positioning System receiver and an inertial navigation system aboard the remote vehicle are used by the ACES software to keep the synthetic and live views in registration. If the live image were to fail, the synthetic scenes could still be displayed to maintain situational awareness.