scholarly journals Computational Platform for Analyzing the Safety of the National Airspace System

2018 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
P. K. Menon ◽  
Bong-Jun Yang ◽  
Parikshit Dutta ◽  
Sang Gyun Park ◽  
Oliver Chen ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Traffic Control ◽  
Computational Models ◽  
Human Performance ◽  
Federal Aviation Administration ◽  
Operating Conditions ◽  
Weather Data ◽  
National Airspace System ◽  
Modeling Framework ◽  
Flight Operations ◽  
Computational Platform

Safety analysis of complex systems can be carried out using computational models of the subsystems and their interactions. A modeling framework for analyzing the safety of the national airspace operations is described. The framework enables investigators to collaboratively formulate models of the subsystems of the National Airspace System and insert off-nominal operating conditions to assess their impact on the overall system safety. The software is designed to allow popular computational frameworks such as Python and Java to interact with it in a seamless manner. Interfaces to one of the popular commercial computational package are also provided. The software incorporates detailed aspects of the national airspace system infrastructure such as airport taxi ways and runways, approach-departure procedures, jet routes, air traffic control Sector and Center boundaries. It also includes simplified human performance models of controllers, pilots and ground vehicle operators. Performance data for over 400 different aircraft types, derived from a well-known database have also been incorporated. Airspace flight operations data is obtained from the Federal Aviation Administration data feed, and the weather data is derived from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration web site. Two example applications of the software are given.

Capturing Air Traffic Controller Expertise for Incorporation in Automated Air Traffic Control Systems

1988 ◽  
Vol 32 (16) ◽  
pp. 1031-1035
Author(s):  
Howard L. Bregman ◽  
Warren L. McCabe ◽  
William G. Sutcliffe
Keyword(s):  
Control Systems ◽  
Traffic Control ◽  
Air Traffic Control ◽  
Human Performance ◽  
Federal Aviation Administration ◽  
Air Traffic ◽  
Lessons Learned ◽  
Flight Safety ◽  
Air Traffic Controller ◽  
Air Traffic Controllers

Under Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) sponsorship, MITRE's Human Performance Assessment Group is contributing to the design of an expert system to support air traffic control. We are working closely with a team of expert, full-performance-level air traffic controllers to capture the formal and informal rules they use in maintaining flight safety and efficiency. This paper documents our approach to working with these experts, the results of using that approach, and a distillation of lessons learned.

Human-in-the-Loop Simulation Experiment of Integrated Arrival/Departure Control Services For NextGen Operational Improvement

2017 ◽  
Vol 61 (1) ◽  
pp. 101-105 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sehchang Hah ◽  
Ben Willems ◽  
Gary Mueller ◽  
Daniel R. Johnson ◽  
Kenneth Schulz ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Cognitive Processes ◽  
Traffic Control ◽  
Simulation Experiment ◽  
Federal Aviation Administration ◽  
High Fidelity ◽  
National Airspace System ◽  
Subjective Data ◽  
Control Center ◽  
Human In The Loop ◽  
Operational Improvement

The National Airspace System suffers from a reduction in airport throughput or even closure when weather or traffic volume constrains arrival or departure gates to and from the Terminal Radar Approach Control (TRACON) facilities. To alleviate this, the Federal Aviation Administration introduced the Integrated Arrival and Departure Control Services (IADCS) concept that would extend terminal separations and procedures to the adjacent Air Route Traffic Control Center (ARTCC) sectors for more flexible traffic. It proposes the use of resectorization, bidirectional gates, bidirectional routes, and Air Traffic Control assigned routes. We evaluated them in the human-in-the-loop high-fidelity experiment and collected objective and subjective data. Our results clearly showed that all IADCS procedures except the vertically separated/bidirectional gate procedure were more effective than the Baseline condition that controllers currently use in the field. We conjecture the vertically separated/bidirectional gate procedure requires more complex perceptual and cognitive processes than the other procedures.

Stress Management and Air Traffic Control Trainees: Development and Evaluation of a New Training Course

2020 ◽  
Vol 64 (1) ◽  
pp. 1155-1159
Author(s):  
Jamie D. Barrett ◽  
Brett Torrence ◽  
Michelle Bryant ◽  
Linda Pierce ◽  
Julia Buck
Keyword(s):  
Stress Management ◽  
Traffic Control ◽  
Management Training ◽  
Federal Aviation Administration ◽  
Air Traffic ◽  
Medical Institute ◽  
Stress Management Training ◽  
Air Traffic Controllers ◽  
Aerospace Medical ◽  
And Performance

The primary mission of the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) is to maintain the safety of the National Airspace System (NAS). As part of this mission, the FAA is tasked with ensuring that future air traffic controllers are adequately trained to perform the high-risk job of directing air traffic. The FAA Academy curriculum for newly hired controllers involves 3-4 months of intensive lessons and performance assessments. It has been suggested that this training program is quite stressful, and successful trainees tend to be those who can better manage stress. To support ATC trainees, researchers at the Civil Aerospace Medical Institute (CAMI) have conducted operational research to develop and evaluate a stress management training to help trainees manage their stress during training at the FAA Academy.

scholarly journals Advanced Flight Planning and the Benefit of In-Flight Aircraft Trajectory Optimization

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (3) ◽  
pp. 1383
Author(s):  
Judith Rosenow ◽  
Martin Lindner ◽  
Joachim Scheiderer
Keyword(s):  
New York ◽  
Traffic Control ◽  
Traffic Management ◽  
Trajectory Optimization ◽  
Service Providers ◽  
Weather Conditions ◽  
Air Traffic ◽  
Weather Data ◽  
Weather Forecasts ◽  
Aircraft Trajectory

The implementation of Trajectory-Based Operations, invented by the Single European Sky Air Traffic Management Research program SESAR, enables airlines to fly along optimized waypoint-less trajectories and accordingly to significantly increase the sustainability of the air transport system in a business with increasing environmental awareness. However, unsteady weather conditions and uncertain weather forecasts might induce the necessity to re-optimize the trajectory during the flight. By considering a re-optimization of the trajectory during the flight they further support air traffic control towards achieving precise air traffic flow management and, in consequence, an increase in airspace and airport capacity. However, the re-optimization leads to an increase in the operator and controller’s task loads which must be balanced with the benefit of the re-optimization. From this follows that operators need a decision support under which circumstances and how often a trajectory re-optimization should be carried out. Local numerical weather service providers issue hourly weather forecasts for the coming hour. Such weather data sets covering three months were used to re-optimize a daily A320 flight from Seattle to New York every hour and to calculate the effects of this re-optimization on fuel consumption and deviation from the filed path. Therefore, a simulation-based trajectory optimization tool was used. Fuel savings between 0.5% and 7% per flight were achieved despite minor differences in wind speed between two consecutive weather forecasts in the order of 0.5 m s−1. The calculated lateral deviations from the filed path within 1 nautical mile were always very small. Thus, the method could be easily implemented in current flight operations. The developed performance indicators could help operators to evaluate the re-optimization and to initiate its activation as a new flight plan accordingly.

Expertise in Air Traffic Control (ATC): What is it, and how Can we Train for It?

1992 ◽  
Vol 36 (17) ◽  
pp. 1326-1330 ◽  
Author(s):  
Richard E. Redding ◽  
John R. Cannon ◽  
Thomas L. Seamster
Keyword(s):  
Traffic Control ◽  
Task Analysis ◽  
Cognitive Task ◽  
Federal Aviation Administration ◽  
Cognitive Task Analysis ◽  
Air Traffic ◽  
Curriculum Redesign ◽  
Air Traffic Controllers ◽  
Data Collection And Analysis ◽  
Training Efficiency

The Federal Aviation Administration has embarked on a major curriculum redesign effort to improve the training efficiency of en route air traffic controllers. Included in this effort was a comprehensive cognitive task analysis conducted in several phases, spanning several years. Eight different types of data collection and analysis procedures were used, resulting in an integrated model of controller expertise. This paper provides a description of controller expertise, and describes the training program under development. This is one of the first examples of cognitive task analysis being applied to study expertise in complex cognitive tasks performed in time-constrained, multi-tasking environments.

Development of a Probabilistic Convective Weather Forecast Threshold Parameter for Flight-Routing Decisions

2013 ◽  
Vol 28 (5) ◽  
pp. 1175-1187 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kapil Sheth ◽  
Thomas Amis ◽  
Sebastian Gutierrez-Nolasco ◽  
Banavar Sridhar ◽  
Daniel Mulfinger
Keyword(s):  
Traffic Control ◽  
Weather Forecast ◽  
Threshold Value ◽  
Air Traffic ◽  
Weather Data ◽  
Traffic Data ◽  
Threshold Parameter ◽  
Probability Threshold ◽  
Convective Cells ◽  
Convective Weather

Abstract This paper presents a method for determining a threshold value of probabilistic convective weather forecast data. By synchronizing air traffic data and an experimental probabilistic convective weather forecast product, it was observed that aircraft avoid areas of specific forecasted probability. Both intensity and echo top of the forecasted weather were synchronized with air traffic data to derive the probability threshold parameter. This value can be used by dispatchers for flight planning and by air traffic managers to reroute streams of aircraft around convective cells. The main contribution of this paper is to provide a method to compute the probability threshold parameters using a specific experimental probabilistic convective forecast product providing hourly guidance up to 6 h. Air traffic and weather data for a 4-month period during the summer of 2007 were used to compute the parameters for the continental United States. The results are shown for different altitudes, times of day, aircraft types, and airspace users. Threshold values for each of the 20 Air Route Traffic Control Centers were also computed. Additional details are presented for seven high-altitude sectors in the Fort Worth, Texas, center. For the analysis reported here, flight intent was not considered and no assessment of flight deviation was conducted since only aircraft tracks were used.

Tools for Human Performance Enhancement in Aviation Maintenance

1995 ◽  
Vol 39 (1) ◽  
pp. 60-60
Author(s):  
William B. Johnson
Keyword(s):  
Human Factors ◽  
Research Program ◽  
Human Performance ◽  
Performance Enhancement ◽  
Federal Aviation Administration ◽  
Cd Rom ◽  
Aviation Maintenance ◽  
Multi Media ◽  
Maintenance And Inspection ◽  
The Right

Human Factors and ergonomics professionals are often asked to “show” how their research has affected on-the-job human performance. They are asked to show measurable changes in human effectiveness and efficiency at work. There is always the demand for HF&E researchers to create procedures and tools that can guide non-human factors personnel to make the “right” human-centered decisions. This symposium will show and distribute such tools that have been designed and tested in an aviation maintenance environment. For over six years now, the Federal Aviation Administration Office of Aviation Medicine has conducted an extensive research program centered on human factors in aviation maintenance and inspection. The research program has earned a reputation of demonstrating a “hands-on” understanding of aviation maintenance and maintaining a close working relationship with all segments of the industry. The symposium will begin with an overview of FAA-sponsored research results applied to aviation maintenance and safety over the past six years. In the second paper the Human Factors Guide for Aviation Maintenance, completed in 1995, will be described. The third presentation will demonstrate a CD-ROM version of the Guide. The presentation shall also discuss human-computer interface issues pertinent to developing interactive multi-media information systems. The final presentation will show a multi-media software package to conduct ergonomics audits in a variety of industrial environments. The system has evolved from three years of ergonomics audit research in aviation maintenance workplaces. Each of the session presentations will demonstrate and distribute HF&E tools to session attendees.

Effective engagement on process safety fundamentals in challenging times

2021 ◽  
Vol 61 (2) ◽  
pp. 540
Author(s):  
Olivia K. Cary ◽  
Nick Netscher
Keyword(s):  
Human Performance ◽  
Safety Management ◽  
Health Management ◽  
Operating Conditions ◽  
Activity Levels ◽  
Process Safety ◽  
Product Price ◽  
Hydrocarbon Production ◽  
Safety Risks ◽  
Operations And Maintenance

Esso Australia Resources Pty Ltd (EAPL) and BHP Billiton Petroleum (Bass Strait) Pty Ltd own a range of offshore and onshore hydrocarbon production facilities, which have been operated by EAPL for over 50 years. Over this time, EAPL has lived a rich history of process safety experiences, and developed a range of processes and systems to manage process safety risks. Despite technical system refinement and advances across industry we continue to experience process safety events, and manage risks with plant both at the start and end of its lifecycle. Many of our major hazards are inherent to our operations, and do not become lower risk with lower product price or field activity levels. It is therefore critical that we maintain a laser focus on managing process safety risks during this time of unprecedented change, and find impactful opportunities to engage with operations, maintenance and technical teams on their role in process safety. To this end, EAPL have commenced a journey of scenario based process safety management and applying it to our most significant risks. The outcome has been a step change in process safety literacy across our business, an increased awareness of safe operating conditions and a workforce engaged in managing safeguard health. This study shares how a scenario based approach can leverage a traditional safety case and safety management system approach and make process safety personal: Simplifying communication of higher risks and the equipment and processes that keep us safe Clarifying safeguard ownership and responsibilities for safeguard health management Embedding safeguard health management in routine operations and maintenance tasks Strengthening critical safeguards which mostly depend on human performance to be effective

Deep Convolutional Neural Network for Object Classification

2021 ◽  
pp. 317-343
Author(s):  
Amira Ahmad Al-Sharkawy ◽  
Gehan A. Bahgat ◽  
Elsayed E. Hemayed ◽  
Samia Abdel-Razik Mashali
Keyword(s):  
Neural Network ◽  
Neural Networks ◽  
Convolutional Neural Network ◽  
Computational Models ◽  
Human Performance ◽  
Deep Neural Networks ◽  
Object Classification ◽  
Classification Problem ◽  
Deep Convolutional Neural Network ◽  
Object Appearance

Object classification problem is essential in many applications nowadays. Human can easily classify objects in unconstrained environments easily. Classical classification techniques were far away from human performance. Thus, researchers try to mimic the human visual system till they reached the deep neural networks. This chapter gives a review and analysis in the field of the deep convolutional neural network usage in object classification under constrained and unconstrained environment. The chapter gives a brief review on the classical techniques of object classification and the development of bio-inspired computational models from neuroscience till the creation of deep neural networks. A review is given on the constrained environment issues: the hardware computing resources and memory, the object appearance and background, and the training and processing time. Datasets that are used to test the performance are analyzed according to the images environmental conditions, besides the dataset biasing is discussed.

NextGen Technologies Shape the Future of Aviation

2011 ◽  
Vol 1 (2) ◽  
pp. 46-57
Author(s):  
Lori J. Brown
Keyword(s):  
Traffic Control ◽  
New Technologies ◽  
Federal Aviation Administration ◽  
Air Transportation ◽  
Flight Attendants ◽  
Environmental Concerns ◽  
Transformative Change ◽  
Wireless Technology ◽  
Fuel Burn ◽  
Industry Professionals

Today, wireless technology forms the communications backbone of many industries—including aviation, transportation, government, and defense. The era of the Next Generation Air Transportation System, (NextGen), is upon us. The Federal Aviation Administration, in collaboration with industry, is deploying NextGen technology on the ground, in the air, at air traffic control facilities and in the cockpit. These new technologies in aviation represent a global, transformative change. NextGen blends new and existing technologies, including satellite navigation and digital communications, to improve safety outcomes, increase on time performance, offer reduced fuel burn and positively impact aviation's adverse environmental concerns. Significant growth in technologies like global connectivity and cloud computing over the last few years has begun to unlock potential for seamless wireless communications, improved training processes, real-time weather and navigational displays. While technology has spurred improvements in aviation, basic hands-free wireless communication between flight attendants and pilots is still viewed as inadequate by industry professionals.

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