DEVELOPMENT OF ADVANCED COMPUTATIONAL MODELS FOR THE DESIGN OF AUTOMATED SYSTEMS WIENER HAS SUGGESTED THAT…

Public award description

DEVELOPMENT OF ADVANCED COMPUTATIONAL MODELS FOR THE DESIGN OF AUTOMATED SYSTEMS WIENER HAS SUGGESTED THAT WITHIN THE CONTEXT OF COMMERCIAL AVIATION, AUTOMATED SYSTEMS HAVE HELPED TO REDUCE FLIGHT TIMES, IMPROVE FUEL EFFICIENCY AND PASSENGER COMFORT, ENHANCE THE EFFICIENCY OF NAVIGATION, AND TO EXTEND THE PERCEPTUAL AND COGNITIVE ABILITIES OF CREWMEMBERS. HOWEVER, THE INCREASED PREVALENCE AND COMPLEXITY OF THESE SYSTEMS HAS ALSO INTRODUCED A NUMBER OF NEW SAFETY CONCERNS INCLUDING REDUCED SITUATION AWARENESS, CREW SKILL DEGRADATION, AND AUTOMATION-INDUCED COMPLACENCY. FOR EXAMPLE, PILOTS LACK OF AWARENESS OF THE STATE OF AUTOMATED AIRCRAFT SYSTEMS HAS BEEN IMPLICATED IN A NUMBER OF AVIATION ACCIDENTS. AS A RESULT OF INCIDENT AND ACCIDENT DATA IMPLICATING FLIGHT DECK AUTOMATION, BILLINGS SUGGESTED THAT THE ROLES FOR THE HUMANS AND AUTOMATED AGENTS SHOULD BE AN EXPLICIT FACTOR IN THE DESIGN OF FLIGHT DECK AUTOMATION. THIS TASK DIRECTLY SUPPORTS: INTEGRATED INTELLIGENT FLIGHT DECK TECHNOLOGIES (IIFDT)RESEARCH MILESTONE 1.7.1,TO DEVELOP A COMPUTATIONAL MODEL TO PREDICT HUMAN-AUTOMATION INTEGRATION VULNERABILITIES OF FLIGHT DECK TECHNOLOGIES, IIFDT MILESTONE 1.8.6, AND ADVANCE THE CAPABILITY TO DEFINE VALIDATION AND VERIFICATION METRICS AND DESIGN PROCESS GUIDELINES FOR FLIGHT DECK TECHNOLOGIES, IIFDT MILESTONE 2.2.4 (NASA AVIATION SAFETY PROGRAM TECHNICAL PLAN SUMMARY, 2006). THE CONTRACTOR WILL DEVELOP A SERIES OF PREDICTIVE ALGORITHMS TO SERVE AS INITIAL PARAMETER ESTIMATES REPRESENTING THE MATHEMATICAL RELATIONSHIPS BETWEEN HUMAN PERFORMANCE DIMENSIONS AND TYPES/LEVELS OF AUTOMATION WITHIN THE COMPUTATIONAL MODEL(S). AFTER COMPLETION, THE CONTRACTOR WILL INSTANTIATE THE INITIAL PREDICTIVE ALGORITHMS AS MODEL COMPONENTS DESCRIBING THE RELATIONSHIPS BETWEEN A SUBSET OF FACTORS RELATED TO HUMAN-AUTOMATION INTERACTION. THE MODELS WILL CONSIST OF AN OPERATOR MODEL AND A SYSTEM MODEL.