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NASA NTRS2015

Simulated Transmission of the Dengue Virus Across the US-Mexico Border Using Remotely Sensed and Ground Based Weather Data

Incidence of dengue fever, caused by a mosquito transmitted virus, have increased in the Americas during recent decades. In the US, local transmission has been reported in southern Texas and Florida. However, despite its close proximity to dengue endemic areas in Mexico and the presence of a primary mosquito vector, there are no reports of local transmission in Arizona. Many studies have demonstrated that weather influences dengue virus transmission by regulating vector development rates, vector habitat availability, and the duration of the virus extrinsic incubation period (EIP). The EIP, the period between mosquito infection and the ability for it to retransmit the virus, is especially important given its high sensitivity to temperature and the short lifespan of mosquitoes. Other studies, however, have suggested that human related factors such as socioeconomic status and herd immunity may explain much of the disparity in dengue incidence in the US‐Mexico border region. Using a meteorologically driven model of vector population dynamics and virus transmission we compare simulations of dengue fever cases in southern Arizona and northern Mexico. A Monte Carlo approach is employed to select parameter values by evaluating simulations in Hermosillo Mexico with reported dengue fever case data. Simulations that replicate the case data best are retained and rerun using remotely sensed climate data from other Arizona and Mexico locations to determine the relative influence of weather on virus transmission. Although human and environmental factors undoubtedly influence dengue transmission in the US‐Mexico border regions, weather is a major facilitator of the transmission process.

Dengue↗

NASA NTRS2016

Development of a Mars Environmental Control and Life Support System (ECLSS).

ECLS systems for very long-duration human missions to Mars will be designed to operate reliably for many years and will never be returned to Earth. The need for high reliability is driven by unsympathetic abort scenarios. Abort from a Mars mission could be as long as 450 days to return to Earth. Simply put, the goal of an ECLSS is to duplicate the functions the Earth provides in terms of human living and working on our home planet but without the benefit of the Earth's large buffers - the atmospheres, the oceans and land masses. With small buffers a space-based ECLSS must operate as a true dynamic system rather than independent processors taking things from tanks, processing them, and then returning them to product tanks. Key is a development process that allows for a logical sequence of validating successful development (maturation) in a stepwise manner with key performance parameters (KPPs) at each step; especially KPPs for technologies evaluated in a full systems context with human crews on Earth and on space platforms such as the ISS. This paper will explore the implications of such an approach to ECLSS development and the roles of ground and space-based testing necessary to develop a highly reliable life support system for long duration human exploration missions. Historical development and testing of ECLS systems from Mercury to the International Space Station (ISS) will be reviewed. Current work as well as recommendations for future work will be described.

Henninger, Donald L.↗

NASA NTRS2000

An all-woman crew to Mars: a radical proposal

It is logical to propose that if a human mission is flown to Mars, it should be composed of an entirely female crew. On the average, women have lower mass and take less volume than males, and use proportionately less consumables. In addition, sociological research indicates that a female crew may have a preferable interpersonal dynamic, and be likely to choose non-confrontational approaches to solve interpersonal problems.

Space Flight/organization & administration↗

NASA NTRS2006

Analysis of Aircraft Control Performance using a Fuzzy Rule Base Representation of the Cooper-Harper Aircraft Handling Quality Rating

The Cooper-Harper rating of Aircraft Handling Qualities has been adopted as a standard for measuring the performance of aircraft since it was introduced in 1966. Aircraft performance, ability to control the aircraft, and the degree of pilot compensation needed are three major key factors used in deciding the aircraft handling qualities in the Cooper- Harper rating. We formulate the Cooper-Harper rating scheme as a fuzzy rule-based system and use it to analyze the effectiveness of the aircraft controller. The automatic estimate of the system-level handling quality provides valuable up-to-date information for diagnostics and vehicle health management. Analyzing the performance of a controller requires a set of concise design requirements and performance criteria. Ir, the case of control systems fm a piloted aircraft, generally applicable quantitative design criteria are difficult to obtain. The reason for this is that the ultimate evaluation of a human-operated control system is necessarily subjective and, with aircraft, the pilot evaluates the aircraft in different ways depending on the type of the aircraft and the phase of flight. In most aerospace applications (e.g., for flight control systems), performance assessment is carried out in terms of handling qualities. Handling qualities may be defined as those dynamic and static properties of a vehicle that permit the pilot to fully exploit its performance in a variety of missions and roles. Traditionally, handling quality is measured using the Cooper-Harper rating and done subjectively by the human pilot. In this work, we have formulated the rules of the Cooper-Harper rating scheme as fuzzy rules with performance, control, and compensation as the antecedents, and pilot rating as the consequent. Appropriate direct measurements on the controller are related to the fuzzy Cooper-Harper rating system: a stability measurement like the rate of change of the cost function can be used as an indicator if the aircraft is under control; the tracking error is a good measurement for performance needed in the rating scheme. Finally, the change of the control amount or the output of a confidence tool, which has been developed by the authors, can be used as an indication of pilot compensation. We use a number of known aircraft flight scenarios with known pilot ratings to calibrate our fuzzy membership functions. These include normal flight conditions and situations in which partial or complete failure of tail, aileron, engine, or throttle occurs.

Tseng, Chris↗

NASA NTRS1975

Study of toxicological evaluation of fire suppressants and extinguishers

The application of fluorocarbons as possible candidates for fire extinguishers and/or suppressants in confined spaces (such as spacecraft, aircraft, or submarines) was investigated, with special emphasis on their safety to man since they would be inhaled on an almost continuous basis. Short-term exposure experiments, using various animal species, were devised to look at specific parameters in order to determine which of the candidate compounds were sufficiently non-toxic to warrant long-term investigations. The following physiologic criteria were examined; tissue distribution, fluoride concentration, effect on mitochondria, microsomes, liposomes, and liver cell nuclei, erythrocyte fragility, clinical chemistry values, hematology, pathology, cardiac sensitization, behavioral effects. Various rodent species were used for initial investigations, with non-human primate exposures for Freon 116 which was warranted for negative results on rodents. Various types of exposure chambers were used, including closed dynamic chambers allowing for a recirculating atmosphere.

Source record↗

NASA NTRS1989

Software systems for modeling articulated figures

Research in computer animation and simulation of human task performance requires sophisticated geometric modeling and user interface tools. The software for a research environment should present the programmer with a powerful but flexible substrate of facilities for displaying and manipulating geometric objects, yet insure that future tools have a consistent and friendly user interface. Jack is a system which provides a flexible and extensible programmer and user interface for displaying and manipulating complex geometric figures, particularly human figures in a 3D working environment. It is a basic software framework for high-performance Silicon Graphics IRIS workstations for modeling and manipulating geometric objects in a general but powerful way. It provides a consistent and user-friendly interface across various applications in computer animation and simulation of human task performance. Currently, Jack provides input and control for applications including lighting specification and image rendering, anthropometric modeling, figure positioning, inverse kinematics, dynamic simulation, and keyframe animation.

Phillips, Cary B.↗

NASA NTRS1990

The procedure safety system

Telerobotic operations, whether under autonomous or teleoperated control, require a much more sophisticated safety system than that needed for most industrial applications. Industrial robots generally perform very repetitive tasks in a controlled, static environment. The safety system in that case can be as simple as shutting down the robot if a human enters the work area, or even simply building a cage around the work space. Telerobotic operations, however, will take place in a dynamic, sometimes unpredictable environment, and will involve complicated and perhaps unrehearsed manipulations. This creates a much greater potential for damage to the robot or objects in its vicinity. The Procedural Safety System (PSS) collects data from external sensors and the robot, then processes it through an expert system shell to determine whether an unsafe condition or potential unsafe condition exists. Unsafe conditions could include exceeding velocity, acceleration, torque, or joint limits, imminent collision, exceeding temperature limits, and robot or sensor component failure. If a threat to safety exists, the operator is warned. If the threat is serious enough, the robot is halted. The PSS, therefore, uses expert system technology to enhance safety thus reducing operator work load, allowing him/her to focus on performing the task at hand without the distraction of worrying about violating safety criteria.

Obrien, Maureen E.↗

NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Detecting And Characterizing Archetypes of Unintended Consequences in Engineered Systems

When designing engineered systems, the potential for unintended consequences of design policies or design decisions exists despite best intentions. Conditions that might cause the formation of unintended consequences are often known only in hindsight. However, since these conditions are associated with a single event, it is difficult to uncover the general patterns of conditions leading to unintended consequences. In this research, patterns of conditions associated with unintended consequences are learned from historical data and represented in the form of archetypes. While previous work using systems theoretic modeling has identified high-level archetypes, this work leverages a self-organizing map to learn archetypes of unintended consequences from human-tagged risk factors in a large data set of lessons learned from adverse events at NASA. The sixty-six identified archetypes contain patterns of conditions such as complexity and human-machine interaction associated with the formation of unintended consequences. To validate the archetypes, a sample of the archetypes is represented using system dynamics in order to illustrate that the identified archetypes are specialized versions of known high-level archetypes of unintended consequences. While the research is based upon a specific dataset, the archetypes apply to any engineered system and the pattern of leading indicators open a new path to manage unintended consequences and mitigate the magnitude of potentially adverse outcomes.

Hannah S Walsh↗

NASA NTRS2022

Satellite-derived Cyanobacteria Frequency and Magnitude in Headwaters & Near-dam Reservoir Surface Waters of the Southern U.S.

Reservoirs are dominant features of the modern hydrologic landscape and provide vital services. However, the unique morphology of reservoirs can create suitable conditions for excessive algae growth and associated cyanobacteria blooms in shallow in-flow reservoir locations by providing warm water environments with relatively high nutrient inputs, deposition, and nutrient storage. Cyanobacteria harmful algal blooms (cyanoHAB) are costly water management issues and bloom recurrence is associated with economic costs and negative impacts to human, animal, and environmental health. As cyanoHAB occurrence varies substantially within different regions of a water body, understanding in-lake cyanoHAB spatial dynamics is essential to guide reservoir monitoring and mitigate potential public exposure to cyanotoxins. Cloud-based computational processing power and high temporal frequency of satellites enables advanced pixel-based spatial analysis of cyanoHAB frequency and quantitative assessment of reservoir headwater in-flows compared to near-dam surface waters of individual reservoirs. Additionally, extensive spatial coverage of satellite imagery allows for evaluation of spatial trends across many dozens of reservoir sites. Surface water cyanobacteria concentrations for sixty reservoirs in the southern U.S. were estimated using 300 m resolution European Space Agency (ESA) Ocean and Land Colour Instrument (OLCI) satellite sensor for a five year period (May 2016–April 2021). Of the reservoirs studied, spatial analysis of OLCI data revealed 98% had more frequent cyanoHAB occurrence above the concentration of >100,000 cells/mL in headwaters compared to near-dam surface waters (P < 0.001). Headwaters exhibited greater seasonal variability with more frequent and higher magnitude cyanoHABs occurring mid-summer to fall. Examination of reservoirs identified extremely high concentration cyanobacteria events (>1,000,000 cells/mL) occurring in 70% of headwater locations while only 30% of near-dam locations exceeded this threshold. Wilcoxon signed-rank tests of cyanoHAB magnitudes using paired-observations (dates with observations in both a reservoir's headwater and near-dam locations) confirmed significantly higher concentrations in headwater versus near-dam locations (p < 0.001).

Amber R Ignatius↗

NASA NTRS2022

Satellite-derived cyanobacteria frequency and magnitude in headwaters & near-dam reservoir surface waters of the Southern U.S.

Reservoirs are dominant features of the modern hydrologic landscape and provide vital services. However, the unique morphology of reservoirs can create suitable conditions for excessive algae growth and associated cyanobacteria blooms in shallow in-flow reservoir locations by providing warm water environments with relatively high nutrient inputs, deposition, and nutrient storage. Cyanobacteria harmful algal blooms (cyanoHAB) are costly water management issues and bloom recurrence is associated with economic costs and negative impacts to human, animal, and environmental health. As cyanoHAB occurrence varies substantially within different regions of a water body, understanding in-lake cyanoHAB spatial dynamics is essential to guide reservoir monitoring and mitigate potential public exposure to cyanotoxins. Cloud-based computational processing power and high temporal frequency of satellites enables advanced pixel-based spatial analysis of cyanoHAB frequency and quantitative assessment of reservoir headwater in-flows compared to near-dam surface waters of individual reservoirs. Additionally, extensive spatial coverage of satellite imagery allows for evaluation of spatial trends across many dozens of reservoir sites. Surface water cyanobacteria concentrations for sixty reservoirs in the southern U.S. were estimated using 300m resolution European Space Agency (ESA) Ocean and Land Colour Instrument (OLCI) satellite sensor for a five year period (May 2016–April 2021). Of the reservoirs studied, spatial analysis of OLCI data revealed 98% had more frequent cyanoHAB occurrence above the concentration of >100,000 cells/mL in headwaters compared to near-dam surface waters (P < 0.001). Headwaters exhibited greater seasonal variability with more frequent and higher magnitude cyanoHABs occurring mid-summer to fall. Examination of reservoirs identified extremely high concentration cyanobacteria events (>1,000,000 cells/mL) occurring in 70% of headwater locations while only 30% of near-dam locations exceeded this threshold. Wilcoxon signed-rank tests of cyanoHAB magnitudes using paired-observations (dates with observations in both a reservoir's headwater and near-dam locations) confirmed significantly higher concentrations in headwater versus near-dam locations (p < 0.001).

cyanobacteria↗

NASA NTRS2009

Open-Loop Pitch Table Optimization for the Maximum Dynamic Pressure Orion Abort Flight Test

NASA has scheduled the retirement of the space shuttle orbiter fleet at the end of 2010. The Constellation program was created to develop the next generation of human spaceflight vehicles and launch vehicles, known as Orion and Ares respectively. The Orion vehicle is a return to the capsule configuration that was used in the Mercury, Gemini, and Apollo programs. This configuration allows for the inclusion of an abort system that safely removes the capsule from the booster in the event of a failure on launch. The Flight Test Office at NASA's Dryden Flight Research Center has been tasked with the flight testing of the abort system to ensure proper functionality and safety. The abort system will be tested in various scenarios to approximate the conditions encountered during an actual Orion launch. Every abort will have a closed-loop controller with an open-loop backup that will direct the vehicle during the abort. In order to provide the best fit for the desired total angle of attack profile with the open-loop pitch table, the table is tuned using simulated abort trajectories. A pitch table optimization program was created to tune the trajectories in an automated fashion. The program development was divided into three phases. Phase 1 used only the simulated nominal run to tune the open-loop pitch table. Phase 2 used the simulated nominal and three simulated off nominal runs to tune the open-loop pitch table. Phase 3 used the simulated nominal and sixteen simulated off nominal runs to tune the open-loop pitch table. The optimization program allowed for a quicker and more accurate fit to the desired profile as well as allowing for expanded resolution of the pitch table.

Stillwater, Ryan A.↗

NASA NTRS2015

The Solar Probe Plus Mission: Humanity's First Visit to Our Star

Solar Probe Plus (SPP) will be the first spacecraft to fly into the low solar corona. SPPs main science goal is to determine the structure and dynamics of the Suns coronal magnetic field, understand how the solar corona and wind are heated and accelerated, and determine what processes accelerate energetic particles. Understanding these fundamental phenomena has been a top-priority science goal for over five decades, dating back to the 1958 Simpson Committee Report. The scale and concept of such a mission has been revised at intervals since that time, yet the core has always been a close encounter with the Sun. The mission design and the technology and engineering developments enable SPP to meet its science objectives to: (1) Trace the flow of energy that heats and accelerates the solar corona and solar wind; (2) Determine the structure and dynamics of the plasma and magnetic fields at the sources of the solar wind; and (3) Explore mechanisms that accelerate and transport energetic particles. The SPP mission was confirmed in March 2014 and is under development as a part of NASAs Living with a Star (LWS) Program. SPP is scheduled for launch in mid-2018, and will perform 24 orbits over a 7-year nominal mission duration. Seven Venus gravity assists gradually reduce SPPs perihelion from 35 solar radii (RS) for the first orbit to less than 10 RS for the final three orbits. In this paper we present the science, mission concept and the baseline vehicle for SPP, and examine how the mission will address the key science questions.

Fox, N. J.↗

NASA NTRSDate not supplied

An Overview of Spacecraft Aerosols: Sources, Dynamics, and Knowledge Gaps

NASA has prioritized development of airborne particulate monitoring systems and mitigation strategies for future Lunar, Martian, and deep-space exploration missions. Airborne particles, also called aerosols, can cause human health problems ranging from mild respiratory discomfort to more severe disease. NASA’s suspended cabin particle and Lunar dust concentration requirements are motivated by protecting crew health and comfort during spaceflight, especially as mission durations lengthen and become increasingly ground-independent. Spacecraft cabin aerosols can originate from a variety of sources, including skin flakes, fibers from clothes and other materials, mechanical wear from equipment, and personal care products (e.g., antiperspirant). As NASA plans future expeditions to the Moon and Mars, Lunar and planetary dust compose an additional, under-characterized source for airborne particles. In addition to these known sources, recent studies on ISS cabin aerosols also revealed particles with unknown origins and poorly understood formation mechanisms, including some that may be formed by oxidative and/or heterogeneous chemical processes. The aerosol monitors payload, to be launched February 2025, will focus on understanding these unknown sources and processes, as well as demonstrating novel technologies for particulate monitoring to be infused in future space flight programs. In this presentation, we will present our knowledge of spacecraft cabin aerosols to date, summarizing aerosol measurement experiments from Shuttle through ISS. Cabin aerosol sources, known and unknown, will be summarized, and knowledge gaps for future long-duration space exploration missions will be discussed.

Claire Fortenberry↗

NASA NTRS2012

Comparison of Controller and Flight Deck Algorithm Performance During Interval Management with Dynamic Arrival Trees (STARS)

Managing the interval between arrival aircraft is a major part of the en route and TRACON controller s job. In an effort to reduce controller workload and low altitude vectoring, algorithms have been developed to allow pilots to take responsibility for, achieve and maintain proper spacing. Additionally, algorithms have been developed to create dynamic weather-free arrival routes in the presence of convective weather. In a recent study we examined an algorithm to handle dynamic re-routing in the presence of convective weather and two distinct spacing algorithms. The spacing algorithms originated from different core algorithms; both were enhanced with trajectory intent data for the study. These two algorithms were used simultaneously in a human-in-the-loop (HITL) simulation where pilots performed weather-impacted arrival operations into Louisville International Airport while also performing interval management (IM) on some trials. The controllers retained responsibility for separation and for managing the en route airspace and some trials managing IM. The goal was a stress test of dynamic arrival algorithms with ground and airborne spacing concepts. The flight deck spacing algorithms or controller managed spacing not only had to be robust to the dynamic nature of aircraft re-routing around weather but also had to be compatible with two alternative algorithms for achieving the spacing goal. Flight deck interval management spacing in this simulation provided a clear reduction in controller workload relative to when controllers were responsible for spacing the aircraft. At the same time, spacing was much less variable with the flight deck automated spacing. Even though the approaches taken by the two spacing algorithms to achieve the interval management goals were slightly different they seem to be simpatico in achieving the interval management goal of 130 sec by the TRACON boundary.

Battiste, Vernol↗

NASA NTRS2015

Orion Launch Abort System Performance During Exploration Flight Test 1

The Orion Launch Abort System Office is taking part in flight testing to enable certification that the system is capable of delivering the astronauts aboard the Orion Crew Module to a safe environment during both nominal and abort conditions. Orion is a NASA program, Exploration Flight Test 1 is managed and led by the Orion prime contractor, Lockheed Martin, and launched on a United Launch Alliance Delta IV Heavy rocket. Although the Launch Abort System Office has tested the critical systems to the Launch Abort System jettison event on the ground, the launch environment cannot be replicated completely on Earth. During Exploration Flight Test 1, the Launch Abort System was to verify the function of the jettison motor to separate the Launch Abort System from the crew module so it can continue on with the mission. Exploration Flight Test 1 was successfully flown on December 5, 2014 from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station's Space Launch Complex 37. This was the first flight test of the Launch Abort System preforming Orion nominal flight mission critical objectives. The abort motor and attitude control motors were inert for Exploration Flight Test 1, since the mission did not require abort capabilities. Exploration Flight Test 1 provides critical data that enable engineering to improve Orion's design and reduce risk for the astronauts it will protect as NASA continues to move forward on its human journey to Mars. The Exploration Flight Test 1 separation event occurred at six minutes and twenty seconds after liftoff. The separation of the Launch Abort System jettison occurs once Orion is safely through the most dynamic portion of the launch. This paper will present a brief overview of the objectives of the Launch Abort System during a nominal Orion flight. Secondly, the paper will present the performance of the Launch Abort System at it fulfilled those objectives. The lessons learned from Exploration Flight Test 1 and the other Flight Test Vehicles will certainly contribute to the vehicle architecture of a human-rated space launch vehicle.

McCauley, Rachel↗

NASA NTRS2009

Evaluating Effectiveness of Modeling Motion System Feedback in the Enhanced Hess Structural Model of the Human Operator

In order to use the Hess Structural Model to predict the need for certain cueing systems, George and Cardullo significantly expanded it by adding motion feedback to the model and incorporating models of the motion system dynamics, motion cueing algorithm and a vestibular system. This paper proposes a methodology to evaluate effectiveness of these innovations by performing a comparison analysis of the model performance with and without the expanded motion feedback. The proposed methodology is composed of two stages. The first stage involves fine-tuning parameters of the original Hess structural model in order to match the actual control behavior recorded during the experiments at NASA Visual Motion Simulator (VMS) facility. The parameter tuning procedure utilizes a new automated parameter identification technique, which was developed at the Man-Machine Systems Lab at SUNY Binghamton. In the second stage of the proposed methodology, an expanded motion feedback is added to the structural model. The resulting performance of the model is then compared to that of the original one. As proposed by Hess, metrics to evaluate the performance of the models include comparison against the crossover models standards imposed on the crossover frequency and phase margin of the overall man-machine system. Preliminary results indicate the advantage of having the model of the motion system and motion cueing incorporated into the model of the human operator. It is also demonstrated that the crossover frequency and the phase margin of the expanded model are well within the limits imposed by the crossover model.

Zaychik, Kirill↗

NASA NTRS2016

Anthropomorphic Robot Design and User Interaction Associated with Motion

Though in its original concept a robot was conceived to have some human-like shape, most robots now in use have specific industrial purposes and do not closely resemble humans. Nevertheless, robots that resemble human form in some way have continued to be introduced. They are called anthropomorphic robots. The fact that the user interface to all robots is now highly mediated means that the form of the user interface is not necessarily connected to the robots form, human or otherwise. Consequently, the unique way the design of anthropomorphic robots affects their user interaction is through their general appearance and the way they move. These robots human-like appearance acts as a kind of generalized predictor that gives its operators, and those with whom they may directly work, the expectation that they will behave to some extent like a human. This expectation is especially prominent for interactions with social robots, which are built to enhance it. Often interaction with them may be mainly cognitive because they are not necessarily kinematically intricate enough for complex physical interaction. Their body movement, for example, may be limited to simple wheeled locomotion. An anthropomorphic robot with human form, however, can be kinematically complex and designed, for example, to reproduce the details of human limb, torso, and head movement. Because of the mediated nature of robot control, there remains in general no necessary connection between the specific form of user interface and the anthropomorphic form of the robot. But their anthropomorphic kinematics and dynamics imply that the impact of their design shows up in the way the robot moves. The central finding of this report is that the control of this motion is a basic design element through which the anthropomorphic form can affect user interaction. In particular, designers of anthropomorphic robots can take advantage of the inherent human-like movement to 1) improve the users direct manual control over robot limbs and body positions, 2) improve users ability to detect anomalous robot behavior which could signal malfunction, and 3) enable users to be better able to infer the intent of robot movement. These three benefits of anthropomorphic design are inherent implications of the anthropomorphic form but they need to be recognized by designers as part of anthropomorphic design and explicitly enhanced to maximize their beneficial impact. Examples of such enhancements are provided in this report. If implemented, these benefits of anthropomorphic design can help reduce the risk of Inadequate Design of Human and Automation Robotic Integration (HARI) associated with the HARI-01 gap by providing efficient and dexterous operator control over robots and by improving operator ability to detect malfunctions and understand the intention of robot movement.

automation/robotic integration↗

NASA NTRS2012

An Evaluation of Controller and Pilot Performance, Workload and Acceptability under a NextGen Concept for Dynamic Weather Adapted Arrival Routing

In todays terminal operations, controller workload increases and throughput decreases when fixed standard terminal arrival routes (STARs) are impacted by storms. To circumvent this operational constraint, Prete, Krozel, Mitchell, Kim and Zou (2008) proposed to use automation to dynamically adapt arrival and departure routing based on weather predictions. The present study examined this proposal in the context of a NextGen trajectory-based operation concept, focusing on the acceptability and its effect on the controllers ability to manage traffic flows. Six controllers and twelve transport pilots participated in a human-in-the-loop simulation of arrival operations into Louisville International Airport with interval management requirements. Three types of routing structures were used: Static STARs (similar to current routing, which require the trajectories of individual aircraft to be modified to avoid the weather), Dynamic routing (automated adaptive routing around weather), and Dynamic Adjusted routing (automated adaptive routing around weather with aircraft entry time adjusted to account for differences in route length). Spacing Responsibility, whether responsibility for interval management resided with the controllers (as today), or resided with the pilot (who used a flight deck based automated spacing algorithm), was also manipulated. Dynamic routing as a whole was rated superior to static routing, especially by pilots, both in terms of workload reduction and flight path safety. A downside of using dynamic routing was that the paths flown in the dynamic conditions tended to be somewhat longer than the paths flown in the static condition.

Johnson, Walter W.↗