scholarly journals A REVIEW OF IMPORTANT COGNITIVE CONCEPTS IN AVIATION

Aviation ◽  
2016 ◽  
Vol 20 (2) ◽  
pp. 65-84 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ana P. G. MARTINS
Keyword(s):  
Literature Review ◽  
Situation Awareness ◽  
Human Error ◽  
Human Performance ◽  
New Technologies ◽  
Accident Rate ◽  
High Workload ◽  
Machine Interface ◽  
Cockpit Design ◽  
Flight Deck

Even considering the current low accident rate in aviation, the anticipated growth in the number of airplanes in the air in the next decades will lead to an inadmissible rise in the number of accidents. These have been mostly attributed to human error and a misunderstanding of automation by the crew, especially during periods of high workload and stress in the cockpit. Therefore, increased safety requires not only advances in technology, but improved cockpit design including better human-machine interface. These cannot be achieved however, without considering some of the cognitive constructs that affect the behaviour of pilots in the cockpit. In fact, given its characteristics and public visibility, the flight deck of commercial jets is one of the most common arenas for the study of complex and skilled human performance. Here I present a literature review on the selected topics of workload, situation awareness, stress and automation in the cockpit, with the goal of supporting the development of new technologies.

Apply Performance Evaluation Matrix on Investigating Human Error Events in the Main Control Room

2010 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tzu-Chung Yenn ◽  
Yung-Tsan Jou ◽  
Chiuhsiang Joe Lin ◽  
Wan-Shan Tsai ◽  
Tsung-Ling Hsieh
Keyword(s):  
Performance Evaluation ◽  
Situation Awareness ◽  
Power Plants ◽  
Human Error ◽  
Human Performance ◽  
Main Stream ◽  
Control Room ◽  
Human Errors ◽  
Wrong Decision ◽  
Evaluation Matrix

Digitalized nuclear instruments and control systems have become the main stream design for the main control room (MCR) of advanced nuclear power plants (NPPs) nowadays. Digital human-system interface (HSI) could improve human performance and, on the other hand, could reduce operators’ situation awareness as well. It might cause humans making wrong decision during an emergency unintentionally. Besides, digital HSI relies on computers to integrate system information automatically instead of human operation. It has changed the operator’s role from mainly relating operational activity to mainly relating monitoring. However, if operators omit or misjudge the information on the video display units or wide display panel, the error of omission and error of commission may occur. Therefore, how to avoid and prevent human errors has become a very imperative and important issue in the nuclear safety field. This study applies Performance Evaluation Matrix to explore the potential human errors problems of the MCR. The results show that the potential problems which would probably affect to the human performance of the MCR in advanced NPPs are multiple accidents, pressure level, number of operators, and other factors such as working environmental.

Distraction of Connected Vehicle Human–Machine Interface for Truck Drivers

2020 ◽  
Vol 2674 (9) ◽  
pp. 438-449 ◽  
Author(s):  
Guangchuan Yang ◽  
Mohamed M. Ahmed ◽  
Biraj Subedi
Keyword(s):  
Human Error ◽  
Driving Simulator ◽  
Situational Awareness ◽  
Revealed Preference ◽  
Human Machine Interface ◽  
Truck Drivers ◽  
Connected Vehicle ◽  
Cognitive Distraction ◽  
High Workload ◽  
Machine Interface

Connected vehicle (CV) technology aims to improve drivers’ situational awareness through audible and visual warnings, commonly displayed on a human–machine interface (HMI), thus reducing the likelihood of crashes caused by human error. Nevertheless, the presence of an in-vehicle CV HMI may pose an increasing threat to driver distraction, particularly for truck drivers and under high workload driving conditions. With this concern, this research investigated the effects of a HMI developed by the Wyoming Department of Transportation CV Pilot on truck drivers’ cognitive distraction and driving behavior through a driving simulator experiment. Revealed preference survey and vehicle dynamics data were employed to assess the cognitive distractions of the Pilot’s HMI. Simulation results indicated that when CV warnings were displayed on the HMI, they did not introduce significant effects on participants’ longitudinal and lateral control of the vehicle. Nevertheless, from the revealed preference survey, it was found that approximately 27% of the participants indicated that the CV HMI tended to introduce additional visual workload for them, particularly when approaching an active freeway work zone under reduced visibility condition. In this regard, this research pointed out that the design of CV warnings and HMI displays needs to incorporate drivers’ ability to recognize and react safely to the received CV warnings to minimize the cognitive distractions introduced by the CV HMI.

scholarly journals Designing for Situation Awareness in the Main Control Room of a Small Modular Reactor

2019 ◽  
Vol 63 (1) ◽  
pp. 2185-2189
Author(s):  
Maggie Kirkwood
Keyword(s):  
Situation Awareness ◽  
Human Error ◽  
Human Performance ◽  
New Technology ◽  
Nuclear Industry ◽  
Control Room ◽  
Energy Needs ◽  
Potential Applications ◽  
Automated Processes ◽  
And Control

The nuclear industry is entering into a generation in which Small Modular Reactors (SMRs) could provide solutions to the worlds future energy needs. New technology and operations will be associated with new Human Factors (HF) design challenges. Operators may be faced with a higher cognitive workloads while monitoring several reactor units at once from a central main control room (MCR), or when monitoring units remotely. Automated processes may be implemented to mitigate human error, however may also result in a reduced sense of operator awareness in situations where operators fail to develop an accurate mental model of plant status. The present article highlights design recommendations that should be considered during the early stages of SMR MCR design to optimize human performance. Also discussed is the potential applications of eye tracking, and virtual reality (VR) to inform designers on best practices in display design and control room environments, respectively.

Flight Deck Automation

2013 ◽  
Vol 21 (3) ◽  
pp. 22-26 ◽  
Author(s):  
Eric E. Geiselman ◽  
Christopher M. Johnson ◽  
David R. Buck
Keyword(s):  
Human Performance ◽  
Partial Solution ◽  
Human Machine Interface ◽  
Context Aware ◽  
Subsequent Issue ◽  
Airline Pilots ◽  
Design Philosophy ◽  
Machine Interface ◽  
Flight Deck ◽  
Interface Designs

We respond to claims that airline pilots may be losing their ability to manually control aircraft because overreliance on automation is eroding basic manual flying skills. We propose that better training is only a partial solution and that automation can be designed to better support human performance. We do not simply advocate more automation; rather, we envision a more context-aware automation design philosophy that promotes a more communicative and collaborative human-machine interface. Examples are used to illustrate the benefits of this approach. A companion piece to this article, which includes proposed mitigation interface designs, will be available in a subsequent issue of Ergonomics in Design.

scholarly journals Charting the Edges of Human Performance

2019 ◽  
Vol 304 ◽  
pp. 06007
Author(s):  
Barry Kirwan ◽  
Matthias Wies ◽  
Rebecca Charles ◽  
Charles-Alban Dormoy ◽  
Theodore Letouze ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Heart Rate ◽  
Eye Tracking ◽  
Real Time ◽  
Situation Awareness ◽  
Human Performance ◽  
Human Machine Interface ◽  
Pilot Performance ◽  
Horizon 2020 ◽  
Safety Programme ◽  
Machine Interface

In the Horizon 2020 funded Future Sky Safety programme, the Human Performance Envelope project pushed airline pilots to the edges of their performance in real-time cockpit simulations, by increasing stress and workload, and decreasing situation awareness. The aim was to find out how such factors interact, and to detect the edges of human performance where some form of automation support should be employed to ensure safe continued flight. A battery of measures was used, from behavioural to physiological (e.g. heart rate, eye tracking and pupil dilation), to monitoring pilot performance in real time. Several measures – e.g. heart rate, heart rate variability, eye tracking, cognitive walkthrough, and Human Machine Interface (HMI) usability analysis – proved to be useful and relatively robust in detecting performance degradation, and determining where changes in information presentation are required to better support pilot performance in challenging situations. These results led to proposed changes in a prototype future cockpit human-machine interface, which were subsequently validated in a final simulation. The results also informed the development of a ‘Smart-Vest’ that can be worn by pilots to monitor a range of signals linked to performance.

Proactive Human Error Reduction Using the Systems Engineering Process

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jonathan Corrado
Keyword(s):  
Systems Engineering ◽  
Interaction Design ◽  
Human Error ◽  
Human Performance ◽  
New Technologies ◽  
Advanced Technology ◽  
Engineering Process ◽  
Nuclear Facilities ◽  
Novel Technologies ◽  
Wide Range

Abstract Many existing simple systems are incapable of meeting current demand and are quickly becoming obsolete, indicating that more challenging systems and designs will exist in the future. If new technologies are not implemented correctly, human error in operation can quickly manifest. The pattern of human performance degradation when novel technologies are introduced has been found in a wide range of endeavors. For example, the Three Mile Island nuclear accident was a consequence of unanticipated interaction of multiple failures in a system of immense complexity in addition to inadequate training and human factors, such as human-computer interaction design oversight relating to ambiguous control room indicators. To combat the negative effects advancing technologies may have on plant operations, this study discusses several concepts: operator involvement in the systems engineering process; human performance integration with system operational requirements and system testing, evaluation, and validation; and procedures and training development in the systems engineering process. The isolation and bolstering of human performance improvement within the systems engineering process pose a novel approach to moderating human error associated with incorporating advanced technology in nuclear facilities.

scholarly journals Improving Human Ground Control Performance in Unmanned Aerial Systems

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (8) ◽  
pp. 188
Author(s):  
Marianna Di Gregorio ◽  
Marco Romano ◽  
Monica Sebillo ◽  
Giuliana Vitiello ◽  
Angela Vozella
Keyword(s):  
Situation Awareness ◽  
Interface Design ◽  
Human Machine Interface ◽  
Ground Control ◽  
Entire Group ◽  
Unmanned Aerial Systems ◽  
Ground Control Station ◽  
Machine Interface ◽  
Team Situation Awareness ◽  
Aerial Systems

The use of Unmanned Aerial Systems, commonly called drones, is growing enormously today. Applications that can benefit from the use of fleets of drones and a related human–machine interface are emerging to ensure better performance and reliability. In particular, a fleet of drones can become a valuable tool for monitoring a wide area and transmitting relevant information to the ground control station. We present a human–machine interface for a Ground Control Station used to remotely operate a fleet of drones, in a collaborative setting, by a team of multiple operators. In such a collaborative setting, a major interface design challenge has been to maximize the Team Situation Awareness, shifting the focus from the individual operator to the entire group decision-makers. We were especially interested in testing the hypothesis that shared displays may improve the team situation awareness and hence the overall performance. The experimental study we present shows that there is no difference in performance between shared and non-shared displays. However, in trials when unexpected events occurred, teams using shared displays-maintained good performance whereas in teams using non-shared displays performance reduced. In particular, in case of unexpected situations, operators are able to safely bring more drones home, maintaining a higher level of team situational awareness.

scholarly journals Effects of Visual Complexity Levels and Information Decluttering Methods for Cockpit Displays on Human Search Performance

2019 ◽  
Vol 63 (1) ◽  
pp. 96-100
Author(s):  
Sung Ho Kim ◽  
Ji Hwan Lee ◽  
Donggun Park ◽  
Yushin Lee ◽  
Myung Hwan Yun
Keyword(s):  
Situation Awareness ◽  
Human Error ◽  
Visual Complexity ◽  
Search Time ◽  
Human Perception ◽  
Search Performance ◽  
Design Variables ◽  
Cockpit Displays ◽  
Main Effect ◽  
Speed And Accuracy

Clutter problem of modern cockpit displays can occur frequently due to a large amount of information. So, decluttering less important information is required to minimize search time to find target information and prevent human error in interpreting display information. This study is to compare human search performance by visual complexity levels and decluttering methods of cockpit displays. Visual complexity of cockpit displays was designed to be three levels (High, medium, and low) by combining four design variables (number of stimuli, number of colors, number of icons, and variance of divisions) affecting visual complexity. A threat scoring equation was developed to determine what information to be decluttered and four decluttering methods (removal, dimming, dotting, and small sizing) were used to figure out how to declutter the information effectively. Human search performance was measured through search time of visual search task in terms of speed and number of hits of signal detection task in terms of accuracy. The main effect of visual complexity levels and the interaction effect were not significant in both search time and number of hits. Meanwhile, the main effect of decluttering methods was significant in search time. Especially, dotting was the most effective decluttering method in terms of speed and accuracy of human perception performance. The results of this study can be applied to information processing of cockpit displays and then contribute to improve pilot situation awareness.

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