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At least 19 records
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
NASA NTRS2015

Analysis of Eye-Tracking Data with Regards to the Complexity of Flight Deck Information Automation and Management - Inattentional Blindness, System State Awareness, and EFB Usage

In the constant drive to further the safety and efficiency of air travel, the complexity of avionics-related systems, and the procedures for interacting with these systems, appear to be on an ever-increasing trend. While this growing complexity often yields productive results with respect to system capabilities and flight efficiency, it can place a larger burden on pilots to manage increasing amounts of information and to understand intricate system designs. Evidence supporting this observation is becoming widespread, yet has been largely anecdotal or the result of subjective analysis. One way to gain more insight into this issue is through experimentation using more objective measures or indicators. This study utilizes and analyzes eye-tracking data obtained during a high-fidelity flight simulation study wherein many of the complexities of current flight decks, as well as those planned for the next generation air transportation system (NextGen), were emulated. The following paper presents the findings of this study with a focus on electronic flight bag (EFB) usage, system state awareness (SSA) and events involving suspected inattentional blindness (IB).

Dill, Evan T.↗
NASA NTRS1973

Portable light detection system for the blind

System can be used to detect "ready" light on automatic cooking device, to tell if lights are on for visitors, or to tell whether it is daylight or dark outside. Device is actuated like flashlight. Light impinging on photo cell activates transistor which energizes buzzer to indicate presence of light.

Wilber, R. L.↗
NASA NTRS1988

Public-Facilities Locator For The Blind

Proposed optoelectronic system guides blind people to important locations in public buildings, With system, sightless person easily determines directions and distances of restrooms, water fountains, stairways, emergency exits, and elevators. Circuitry uncomplicated and inexpensive, in both transmitter and receiver. Readily-available light-emitting diodes, photodiodes, and integrated-circuit chips used to build locator aid for the blind.

Moore, Kevin D.↗
NASA NTRS1976

A tactile paging system for deaf-blind people, phase 1

A tactile paging system for deaf-blind people has been brought from the concept stage to the development of a first model. The model consists of a central station that transmits coded information via radio link to an on-body (i.e., worn on the wrist) receiving unit, the output from which is a coded vibrotactile signal. The model is a combination of commercially available equipment, customized electronic circuits, and electromechanical transducers. The paging system facilitates communication to deaf-blind clients in an institutional environment as an aid in their training and other activities. Several subunits of the system were individually developed, tested, and integrated into an operating system ready for experimentation and evaluation. The operation and characteristics of the system are described and photographs are shown.

Baer, J. A.↗
NASA NTRS1979

A tactile-output paging communication system for the deaf-blind

A radio frequency paging communication system that has coded vibrotactile outputs suitable for use by deaf-blind people was developed. In concept, the system consists of a base station transmitting and receiving unit and many on-body transmitting and receiving units. The completed system has seven operating modes: fire alarm; time signal; repeated single character Morse code; manual Morse code; emergency aid request; operational status test; and message acknowledge. The on-body units can be addressed in three ways: all units; a group of units; or an individual unit. All the functions developed were integrated into a single package that can be worn on the user's wrist. The control portion of the on-body unit is implemented by a microcomputer. The microcomputer is packaged in a custom-designed hybrid circuit to reduce its physical size.

Baer, J. A.↗
NASA NTRS1974

Auditory display for the blind

A system for providing an auditory display of two-dimensional patterns as an aid to the blind is described. It includes a scanning device for producing first and second voltages respectively indicative of the vertical and horizontal positions of the scan and a further voltage indicative of the intensity at each point of the scan and hence of the presence or absence of the pattern at that point. The voltage related to scan intensity controls transmission of the sounds to the subject so that the subject knows that a portion of the pattern is being encountered by the scan when a tone is heard, the subject determining the position of this portion of the pattern in space by the frequency and interaural difference information contained in the tone.

Fish, R. M.↗
NASA NTRS1988

Blindness in designing intelligent systems

New investigations of the foundations of artificial intelligence are challenging the hypothesis that problem solving is the cornerstone of intelligence. New distinctions among three domains of concern for humans--description, action, and commitment--have revealed that the design process for programmable machines, such as expert systems, is based on descriptions of actions and induces blindness to nonanalytic action and commitment. Design processes focusing in the domain of description are likely to yield programs like burearcracies: rigid, obtuse, impersonal, and unable to adapt to changing circumstances. Systems that learn from their past actions, and systems that organize information for interpretation by human experts, are more likely to be successful in areas where expert systems have failed.

Denning, Peter J.↗
NASA NTRS1977

A tactile paging system for deaf-blind people, phase 2

Control logic and the on-body radio transmitter is investigated. The control logic capability and studied methods for implementing the on-body portion of the logic in a small package are improved. A small low power, on-body transmitter was designed, developed, and tested with a wrist-strap antenna to extend the one-way communication system developed during Phase 1 to a two-way communication system.

Baer, J. A.↗
NASA NTRS1986

"Speaking" Microcomputer

Microcomputer system allows blind person to use portable computer and communicate with remote mainframe computer. System prepares data for transmission to mainframe, translates data transmitted from mainframe for its own use, and converts data ordinarily displayed on its video screen into synthesized speech.

Mandy, C.↗
NASA NTRS2003

Blind Leak Detection for Closed Systems

The current inspection technique for locating interstitial leaking in the Space Shuttle Main Engine nozzles is the application of a liquid leak check solution in the openings where the interstitials space between the tubing and the structural jacket vent out the aft end of the nozzle, while its cooling tubes are pressurized to 25 psig with Helium. When a leak is found, it is classified, and if the leak is severe enough the suspect tube is cut open so that a boroscope can be inserted to find the leak point. Since the boroscope can only cover a finite tube length and since it is impossible to identify which tube (to the right or left of the identified interstitial) is leaking, many extra and undesired repairs have been made to fix just one leak. In certain instances when the interstitials are interlinked by poor braze bonding, many interstitials will show indications of leaking from a single source. What is desired is a technique that can identify the leak source so that a single repair can be performed. Dr, Samuel Russell and James Walker, both with NASA/MSFC have developed a thermographic inspection system that addresses a single repair approach. They have teamed with Boeing/Rocketdyne to repackage the inspection processes to be suitable to address full scale Shuttle development and flight hardware and implement the process at NASA centers. The methods and results presented address the thermographic identification of interstitial leaks in the Space Shuttle Main Engine nozzles. A highly sensitive digital infrared camera (capable of detecting a delta temperature difference of 0.025 C) is used to record the cooling effects associated with a leak source, such as a crack or pinhole, hidden within the nozzle wall by observing the inner hot wall surface as the nozzle is pressurized, These images are enhanced by digitally subtracting a thermal reference image taken before pressurization. The method provides a non-intrusive way of locating the tube that is leaking and the exact leak source position to within a very small axial distance. Many of the factors that influence the inspectability of the nozzle are addressed; including pressure rate, peak pressure, gas type, ambient temperature and surface preparation. Other applications for this thermographic inspection system are the Reinforced-Carbon-Carbon (RCC) leading edge of the Space Shuttle orbiter and braze joint integrity.

Oelgoetz, Peter↗
NASA NTRS1977

Market study: Tactile paging system

A market survey was conducted regarding the commercialization potential and key market factors relevant to a tactile paging system for deaf-blind people. The purpose of the tactile paging system is to communicate to the deaf-blind people in an institutional environment. The system consists of a main console and individual satellite wrist units. The console emits three signals by telemetry to the wrist com (receiving unit) which will measure approximately 2 x 4 x 3/4 inches and will be fastened to the wrist by a strap. The three vibration signals are fire alarm, time period indication, and a third signal which will alert the wearer of the wrist com to the fact that the pin on the top of the wrist is emitting a morse coded message. The Morse code message can be felt and recognized with the finger.

Source record↗
NASA NTRS1974

Blindness

The possibilities are considered that modern electronics and engineering have to offer the individual with a damaged or disordered nervous system, especially the blind person. Discussed are the incidence and principal causes of blindness, past research activities, and a capsule review of some of the more interesting programs designed to provide the blind with the ability to be mobile in their environment and to read printed matter.

Pudenz, R. H.↗
NASA NTRS1988

Antenna pointing compensation based on precision optical measurement techniques

The pointing control loops of the Deep Space Network 70 meter antennas extend only to the Intermediate Reference Structure (IRS). Thus, distortion of the structure forward of the IRS due to unpredictable environmental loads can result in uncompensated boresight shifts which degrade blind pointing accuracy. A system is described which can provide real time bias commands to the pointing control system to compensate for environmental effects on blind pointing performance. The bias commands are computed in real time based on optical ranging measurements of the structure from the IRS to a number of selected points on the primary and secondary reflectors.

Schumacher, L. L.↗
NASA NTRSDate not supplied

A Preliminary Development of The Intelligent Change Detection System (ICDS): Using Machine Learning to Combat Change Blindness in Remote Operation Environments

The emergence of Advance Air Mobility (AAM) will increase the number and types of aerial vehicles operating in shared airspaces, which will subsequently affect the amount of actionable data that ground control station operators (GCSOs) will be expected to manage. In this environment, GCSOs are particularly susceptible to the visual perceptual phenomenon known as change blindness, in which a stimulus undergoes a change without the change being noticed by its observer. A machine agent designed to detect change blindness and mitigate the effects could improve human agent performance in a data-saturated remote operations environment. The objective of this paper is to describe a proof-of-concept system architecture that integrates real-time eye tracking and vehicle telemetry data to prevent human-agent errors resulting from change blindness while operating aircraft from a remote ground control station (GCS).

Real-Time Streaming Data Architecture↗
NASA NTRSDate not supplied

A Preliminary Development of The Intelligent Change Detection System (ICDS): Using Machine Learning to Combat Change Blindness in Remote Operation Environments

The emergence of Advance Air Mobility (AAM) will increase the number and types of aerial vehicles operating in shared airspaces, which will subsequently affect the amount of actionable data that ground control station operators (GCSOs) will be expected to manage. In this environment, GCSOs are particularly susceptible to the visual perceptual phenomenon known as change blindness, in which a stimulus undergoes a change without the change being noticed by its observer. A machine agent designed to detect change blindness and mitigate the effects could improve human agent performance in a data-saturated remote operations environment. The objective of this paper is to describe a proof-of-concept system architecture that integrates real-time eye tracking and vehicle telemetry data to prevent human-agent errors resulting from change blindness while operating aircraft from a remote ground control station (GCS).

Real-Time Streaming Data Architecture↗
NASA NTRS2005

Application of Eddy Current Techniques for Orbiter Reinforced Carbon-Carbon Structural Health Monitoring

The development and application of advanced nondestructive evaluation techniques for the Reinforced Carbon-Carbon (RCC) components of the Space Shuttle Orbiter Leading Edge Structural Subsystem (LESS) was identified as a crucial step toward returning the shuttle fleet to service. In order to help meet this requirement, eddy current techniques have been developed for application to RCC components. Eddy current technology has been found to be particularly useful for measuring the protective coating thickness over the reinforced carbon-carbon and for the identification of near surface cracking and voids in the RCC matrix. Testing has been performed on as manufactured and flown RCC components with both actual and fabricated defects representing impact and oxidation damage. Encouraging initial results have led to the development of two separate eddy current systems for in-situ RCC inspections in the orbiter processing facility. Each of these systems has undergone blind validation testing on a full scale leading edge panel, and recently transitioned to Kennedy Space Center to be applied as a part of a comprehensive RCC inspection strategy to be performed in the orbiter processing facility after each shuttle flight.

Wincheski, Buzz↗