Organizational Unit:

Daniel Guggenheim School of Aerospace Engineering

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https://hdl.handle.net/1853/70742

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Organizational Unit

College of Engineering

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Organizational Unit

Aerospace Design Group

Organizational Unit

Aerospace Systems Design Laboratory (ASDL)

Organizational Unit

Air Transportation Laboratory

Organizational Unit

Cognitive Engineering Center

Organizational Unit

Space Systems Design Laboratory (SSDL)

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https://finding-aids.library.gatech.edu/agents/corporate_entities/106

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Publication Search Results

Now showing 1 - 10 of 21

Computational simulation of adaptation of work strategies in human-robot teams

(Georgia Institute of Technology, 2019-07-22) IJtsma, Martijn

Human-robot teams operating in complex work domains, such as space operations, need to adapt to maintain performance under a wide variety of work conditions. This thesis argues that from the start team design needs to establish team structures that allow flexibility in strategies for conducting the team’s collective work. In addition, team design needs to facilitate fluent coordination of work, fostering the interweaving of team members’ dependent actions in ways that accounts for the dynamic characteristics of the work and the work environment. This thesis establishes a methodology to analyze a team’s strategies based on computational modeling of a team’s collective work, including the teamwork required to coordinate dependent work between multiple team members. This approach consists of the systematic identification of feasible work strategies and the simulation of work models to address the dynamic and emergent nature of a team’s work. It provides a formative analysis tool to help designers predict and understand the effects of their design choices on a team’s feasible work strategies. Two case studies on space operations demonstrate how this approach can predict how work allocation and human-robot interaction modes can foster and/or limit the availability of appropriate work strategies.
Context dependent total energy alerting system for the detection of low energy unstabilized approaches

(Georgia Institute of Technology, 2019-07-05) Portman, Michael Aaron

This thesis examines context dependent total energy alerting to protect against low energy unstable approaches in commercial aviation operations. Currently, many individual states are monitored independently to identify unstable approaches, rather than an integrated single assessment of total energy. An alert would also have to be context dependent, integrating the individual states with awareness of phase of flight, approach profile modeling, and expected pilot response to individualize the alert’s activation threshold for each approach. This thesis details a design of such a context dependent total energy alerting system. First, a preliminary analysis examines when such an alert would have been given in a case study of Asiana Airlines Flight 214. This flight’s crash on approach into San Francisco International Airport was attributed to lack of pilot situational awareness and understanding of the aircraft’s autoflight systems, leading to the aircraft having sufficiently low total energy that it stalled into the seawall just before the runway threshold. Analysis shows the total energy alert would have sounded roughly 14-41 seconds before impact, earlier than any currently installed system and potentially early enough for corrective action. Next, the context dependent total energy alert is analyzed to assess its performance in real flight as captured by Flight Operations Quality Assurance (FOQA) data. The analysis examines how alerting parameters impact when and how often the alert is triggered, and the thesis concludes with recommendations for the design and application of a context dependent total energy alert, along with recommendations for future work.
Enhanced flight vision systems: Portrayal of runway markings and sensor range effects on pilot performance

(Georgia Institute of Technology, 2018-04-26) Greenhill, Andrew

This thesis investigates the effects of two specific sensor limitations in enhanced flight vision systems (EFVS) on general aviation pilot performance during approach and landing: sensor range and EFVS portrayal of runway markings. The background section of this thesis describes current sensor technologies with EFVS: millimeter wave radar, forward-looking infrared, and light detection and ranging (LiDAR). In addition, the connections between pilot tasks, information requirements, visual cues and information processing level are identified. These connections show how limitations of sensor technologies could affect pilot performance. These effects were then assessed in a fixed base flight simulator of a general aviation aircraft with an EFVS system. The sensor range and portrayal of runway markings was varied while measuring pilot performance. Pilot performance during approach was measured according to FAA instrument certification standards. Landing performance was measured using standards taught during private pilot training. The results show that pilot performance in tracking an instrument approach is negatively affected by reductions in EFVS sensor range, while the vertical speed and distance from centerline had exceedances beyond acceptable standards when the EFVS did not portray runway markings. These results identify the key minimum specifications of EFVS sensor range and ability to portray runway markings for their implementation in general aviation.
Analysis and synthesis of allocations of authority and responsibility in novel air traffic concepts of operation

(Georgia Institute of Technology, 2016-08-01) Bhattacharyya, Raunak Pushpak

The Next Generation Air Transportation System (NextGen) in the US and the Single European Sky Air Traffic Management (ATM) Research (SESAR) program in Europe are redefining ATM, allowing for transformative new concepts of operation that may radically re-allocate authority and responsibility between air and ground. There is a need for methods that can systematically incorporate innovative allocations of authority and responsibility in the design of novel concepts of operations to enable them to meet their specified performance and safety goals. This need translates to two objectives: 1) Create the methodology and tools for analysis of allocation of authority and responsibility in novel air traffic concepts of operation, and 2) Create the methodology and tools for synthesis of allocation of authority and responsibility in novel air traffic concepts of operation. This thesis first establishes concrete definitions of capability, authority and responsibility in the context of function allocations in the design of concepts of operations. Then, it addresses the first objective by proposing a computational modeling and simulation methodology to assess allocations of authority and responsibility with respect to the performance and safety goals of the concept of operations. Subsequently, it addresses the second objective by proposing a methodology based on network modeling and optimization to systematically synthesize allocations of authority under specified allocations of responsibility to meet performance and safety goals. The proposed methodologies are demonstrated on a case study designing of allocations of authority and responsibility in aircraft merging and spacing operations during arrival. The methodologies described and demonstrated in this thesis can be used by designers of concept of operations to both analyze and synthesize allocations of authority and responsibility. Further, the results of the case study can inform the design of similar concepts of operations.
Design knowledge coordination: Enhancing novice aerospace engineers' design skills through coordinated decision-making

(Georgia Institute of Technology, 2016-06-17) Fleming Lindsley, Elizabeth

This research contributes to both the aerospace engineering design community and the aerospace engineering education community by defining key indicators of design knowledge coordination as well as outlining indicators to identify and enhance designers’ coordinated decision-making within the aerospace engineering conceptual design process. A framework of structuring design knowledge and design knowledge coordination was characterized from a systematic analysis of literature review, which investigated processes that encompass coordination. This framework was then applied to an authoritative example of coordination within the aerospace engineering design process. Then, a multiple case study was used to analyze observations of student teams in a capstone design course and capture indicators of coordination. Finally, learning goals and design activities were identified to better support students’ design knowledge coordination. Suggested evaluation criteria connect the findings from all three research questions to the design knowledge coordination framework. Results of this research will address the noted gap between aerospace engineering education and the needs of industry for engineering graduates to use effective approaches to engineering design, integration, and synthesis.
Applying a model-based observer to quantitatively assess spatial disorientation and loss of energy state awareness

(Georgia Institute of Technology, 2015-04-27) Bozan, Anil Emilio

This thesis demonstrates how a model-based observer can be applied to estimate the reference pilot expectation that can be achieved with any instrument scanning behavior and established models of vestibular inputs. The MBO, developed by the Georgia Tech Cognitive Engineering Center, is applied here in both simple maneuvers examining spatial disorientation and full Air Traffic Control concepts of operations examining loss of energy state awareness. The computational experiments presented in this thesis examine how different effects (i.e., instrument scan pattern, accuracy of pilot perception of flight display information, and awareness of control surface deflections) can prevent or mitigate the susceptibility to spatial disorientation and loss of energy state awareness, thus setting requirements for intervention and countermeasure designs in terms of the scanning behavior they must foster.
Conflict resolution in a decentralized air traffic concept of operation

(Georgia Institute of Technology, 2015-01-09) Genton, Antoine

The current air traffic concept of operations relies on a centralized process in which ground controllers are responsible for determining conflict-free trajectories. However, with new technologies such as ADS-B and GPS, aircraft could directly interact together to resolve their own conflicts in a decentralized manner. The challenge is to guarantee aircraft separation while converging to reasonably fair resolutions for all aircraft. The difficulty is that aircraft have only limited information about how the other aircraft evaluate the cost of conflict resolutions. Thus, this thesis proposes to frame decentralized conflict resolution using game theory. A collaborative decentralized conflict resolution is developed as a sequential bargaining process between the different aircraft. The goal of each aircraft is to minimize the cost associated with the conflict resolution. However, each aircraft doesn’t know the cost function and performance constraints of the other involved aircraft. In the sequential bargaining process developed, aircraft propose at each step personal trajectories to the other aircraft, corresponding to trajectories they would be ready to fly. Then they compute response trajectories, corresponding to trajectories they would have to fly to avoid the conflict if the personal trajectories were flown. If some response trajectories are cheaper than the offered personal trajectories, an agreement is reached; otherwise compromises have to be made by the aircraft by offering more expensive personal trajectories at the next step. Several pairwise conflict experiments, corresponding to different conflict geometries, were conducted to explore different ways of handling performance constraints and different ways of searching trajectories in the resolution space. Ultimately, the algorithm was demonstrated in a large scale simulation with more than a thousand aircraft flying over the Indianapolis Center, incurring more than five hundred conflicts. The traffic sets were taken from real ETMS data over five hours, to represent ‘real’ conditions. 93% of the conflicts were successfully solved by the bargaining process.
Testing the effects of violating component axioms in validation of complex aircraft systems

(Georgia Institute of Technology, 2014-12-08) Kansal, Aparna

This thesis focuses on estimating faults in complex large-scale integrated aircraft systems, especially where they interact with, and control, the aircraft dynamics. A general assumption considered in the reliability of such systems is that any component level fault will be monitored, detected and corrected by some fault management capability. However, a reliance on fault management assumes not only that it can detect and manage all faults, but also that it can do so in sufficient time to recover from any deviation in the aircraft dynamics and flight path. Testing for system-level effects is important to ensure better reliability of aircraft systems. However, with existing methods for validation of complex aircraft systems, it is difficult and impractical to set up a finite test suite to enable testing and integration of all the components of a complex system. The difficulty lies in the cost of modelling every aspect of every component given the large number of test cases required for sufficient coverage. Just having a good simulator, or increasing the number of test cases is not sufficient; it is also important to know which simulation runs to conduct. For this purpose, the thesis proposes simulating faults in the system through the violation of “axiomatic conditions” of the system components, which are conditions on the functioning of these components introduced during their development. The thesis studies the effect, on the aircraft dynamics, of simulating such faults when reference models of the components representing their key functions are integrated.
Developing a computational model of the pilot's best possible expectation of aircraft state given vestibular and visual cues

(Georgia Institute of Technology, 2014-12-05) Onur, Can

Loss of Control (LOC) accidents are a major threat for aviation, and contribute the highest risk for fatalities in all aviation accidents. The major contributor to LOC accidents is pilot spatial disorientation (SD), which accounts for roughly 32% of all LOC accidents. A pilot experiences SD during flight when the pilot's expectation of the aircraft's state deviates from reality. This deviation results from a number of underlying mechanisms, such as distraction, failure to monitor flight instruments, and vestibular illusions. Previous researchers have developed computational models to understand those mechanisms. However, these models are limited in scope as they do not model the pilot's knowledge of the aircraft dynamics. This research proposes a novel model to predict the best-possible-pilot-expectation of the aircraft state given vestibular and visual cues. The proposed model uses a Model-Based Observer (MBO) as the infrastructure needed to establish an “expert pilot”. Expert pilots are known to form an internal model of the operated system through training and experience, which allows the expert to generate better internal expectations of the system states. Pilots' internal expectations are enhanced by the presence of information fed through the pilots̕ sensory systems. Thus, the proposed model integrates pilot's knowledge of the system dynamics (i.e. an aircraft model) with a continuous vestibular sensory model and a discrete visual-sampling sensory model. The computational model serves to investigate the underlying mechanisms of SD during flight and provide a quantitative analysis tool to support flight deck and countermeasure designs.
Preparing students to incorporate stakeholder requirements in aerospace vehicle design

(Georgia Institute of Technology, 2014-04-04) Coso, Alexandra Emelina

The design of an aerospace vehicle system is a complex integration process driven by technological developments, stakeholder and mission needs, cost, and schedule. The vehicle then operates in an equally complex context, dependent on many aspects of the environment, the performance of stakeholders and the quality of the design itself. Satisfying the needs of all stakeholders is a complicated challenge for designers and engineers, and stakeholder requirements are, at times, neglected in design decisions. Thus, it is critical to examine how to better incorporate stakeholder requirements earlier and throughout the design process. The intent of this research is to (1) examine how stakeholder considerations are currently integrated into aerospace vehicle design practice and curricula, (2) design empirically-informed and theoretically-grounded educational interventions for an aerospace design capstone course, and (3) isolate the characteristics of the interventions and learning environment which support students’ integration of stakeholder considerations. The first research phase identified how stakeholder considerations are taken into account within an aerospace vehicle design firm and in current aerospace engineering design curricula. Interviews with aerospace designers revealed six conditions at the group, interaction and individual levels affecting the integration of stakeholder considerations. Examining current curricula, aerospace design education relies on quantitative measures. Thus, many students are not introduced to stakeholder considerations that are challenging to quantify. In addition, at the start of an aerospace engineering senior design capstone course, students were found to have some understanding of the customer and a few contextual considerations, but in general students did not see the impact of the broader context or of stakeholders outside of the customer. The second research phase comprised the design and evaluation of a Requirements Lab and Stakeholders in Design Labs, two in-class interventions implemented in a senior aircraft design capstone course. Further, a Stakeholders in Design rubric was developed to evaluate students’ design understanding and integration of stakeholder considerations and, as such, can be used as a summative assessment tool. The two interventions were evaluated using a multi-level framework to examine student capstone design projects, a written evaluation, and observations of students’ design team meetings. The findings demonstrated an increase in students’ awareness of a diverse group of stakeholders, but also perceptions that students appeared to only integrate stakeholder considerations in cases where interactions with stakeholders were possible and the design requirements had an explicit stakeholder focus. Particular aspects of the aircraft design learning environment such as the lack of explicit stakeholder requirements, the differences between the learning environment in the two semesters of the course, and the availability of tools impacted students’ integration of stakeholder considerations and overall effectiveness of the interventions. This research serves as a starting point for future research in pedagogical techniques and assessment methods for integrating stakeholder requirements into technology-focused design capstone courses. The results can also inform the vehicle design education of students and engineers from other disciplines.