Cockpit Automation and Mode Confusion

Cockpit Automation and Mode Confusion PDF Author: Charles F. Spencer
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Airplanes
Languages : en
Pages : 64

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Book Description

Cockpit Automation and Mode Confusion

Cockpit Automation and Mode Confusion PDF Author: Charles F. Spencer
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Airplanes
Languages : en
Pages : 64

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Book Description


Cockpit Automation and Mode Confusion: The Use of Auditory Inputs for Error Mitigation

Cockpit Automation and Mode Confusion: The Use of Auditory Inputs for Error Mitigation PDF Author:
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 41

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Book Description
The application of computer technology in modern cockpits has resulted in sophisticated automation that has created situations of mode confusion where the pilot is uncertain about the status or behavior of cockpit automation. Based on current levels of cockpit automation, classifications of mode confusion, and clinical knowledge concerning human cognitive and attentive processes, could an audible attention step help mitigate unrecognized mode error? The Software-Hardware-Environment-Liveware model forms a framework for the analysis of government and academic research concerning pilot automation experiences and use, cognitive models, information and decision processing, and the auditory attention channel. Pilot experiences and several aircraft accidents suggest that mode error is both common and potentially dangerous enough to warrant attempts at mitigation. Studies indicate that the monitoring requirement levied by automation lowers pilot system situational awareness without providing sufficient or proper feedback. Operators can also suffer from cognitive lockup and task channeling, which makes attention diversion difficult. An auditory input might provide an effective attention step if it demands appropriate attention, provides situation reporting, and offers problem guidance. These requirements might be fulfilled if the content is predictive, informational, localized, properly timed, and the theories of effective auditory characteristics proposed by Human Factors research are considered.

Identifying and Mitigating the Risks of Cockpit Automation

Identifying and Mitigating the Risks of Cockpit Automation PDF Author: Major Usaf Olson, Wesley
Publisher: Createspace Independent Pub
ISBN: 9781479324392
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 48

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Book Description
Cockpit automation has delivered many promised benefits, such as improved system safety and efficiency; however, at the same time it has imposed system costs that are often manifest in the forms of mode confusion, errors of omission, and automation surprises. An understanding of the nature of these costs as well as associated influencing factors is necessary to design adequately the future automated systems that will be required for Air Mobility Command aircraft to operate in the future air traffic environment. This paper reviews and synthesizes human factors research on the costs of cockpit automation. These results are interpreted by modeling the automated cockpit as a supervisory control system in which the pilot works with, but is not replaced by, automated systems. From this viewpoint, pilot roles in the automated cockpit provide new opportunities for error in instructing, monitoring, and intervening in automated systems behavior. These opportunities for error are exacerbated by the limited machine coordination capabilities, limits on human coordination capabilities, and properties of machine systems that place new attention and knowledge demands on the human operator. In order to mitigate the risks posed by these known opportunities for error and associated influencing factors a system of defenses in depth is required involving integrated innovations in design, procedures, and training. The issues raised in this paper are not specific to transport aircraft or the broader aviation domain but apply to all current and future highly automated military systems.

Cockpit Automation, Flight Systems Complexity, and Aircraft Certification

Cockpit Automation, Flight Systems Complexity, and Aircraft Certification PDF Author: Bart Elias
Publisher:
ISBN: 9781701317819
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 38

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Book Description
The increasing complexity and automation of flight control systems pose a challenge to federal policy regarding aircraft certification and pilot training. Despite significant commercial aviation safety improvements over the past two decades, flight control automation and aircraft complexity have been cited as contributing factors in a number of major airline accidents, including two high-profile crashes overseas involving the recently introduced Boeing 737 Max variant in 2018 and 2019. These crashes have directed attention to Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) oversight of aircraft type certification and pilot training practices for transport category aircraft, particularly as they pertain to complex automated flight control systems. As aircraft systems have evolved over the past three decades to incorporate new technologies, Congress has mandated FAA to streamline certification processes, with the primary motivation being to facilitate the development of new safety-enhancing technologies. Modern commercial aircraft rely on "fly-by-wire" flight control technologies, under which pilots' flight control inputs are sent to computers rather than through direct mechanical linkages to flight control systems. The fly-by-wire software contains flight control laws and logic that, in addition to optimizing performance efficiency, protect the aircraft from commanded actions that could put the airplane in an unsafe state. Automated flight control systems have largely been viewed as having a positive effect on safety, and accident rates have improved considerably over the past two decades. However, the increasing complexity of automated flight systems has sometimes caused confusion and uncertainty, contributing to improper pilot actions during critical phases of flight and in some cases leading pilots to unintentionally place an aircraft in an unsafe condition. Besides designing these systems in a manner that minimizes pilot errors and the consequences of those errors, aircraft designers and operators face challenges regarding maintaining piloting skills for flight crews to be able to take over and manually fly the aircraft safely if critical systems fail. They also face challenges regarding documentation and pilot training effectiveness in building accurate mental models of how these complex systems operate. The primary goals of ongoing efforts to address these challenges are to enhance pilot situation awareness when using automation and reduce the likelihood of mode errors and confusion, while at the same time not overburdening pilots with intricate systems knowledge beyond what is necessary. In the ongoing investigations of two Boeing 737 Max crashes, Lion Air flight 610 and Ethiopian Airlines flight 302, concerns have been raised about the design of an automated feature called the Maneuvering Characteristics Augmentation System (MCAS) and its reliance on a single angle-of-attack sensor even though the aircraft is equipped with two such sensors. These concerns led to the worldwide grounding of all Boeing 737 Max aircraft until the MCAS safety concerns can be resolved, significantly impacting both U.S. and foreign airlines that operate the aircraft. These recent aviation accidents have prompted reviews of the manner in which modern transport category aircraft are certified by FAA and its foreign counterparts, and in particular, the roles of regulators and manufacturers in the certification process. The challenges of certifying increasingly complex aircraft are largely being met by delegating more of FAA's certification functions to aircraft designers and manufacturers. This raises potential conflicts between safety and quality assurance on the one hand and competitive pressures to market and deliver aircraft on the other. Under Organization Designation Authorization (ODA), FAA can designate companies to carry out delegated certification functions on its behalf.

Detecting Mode Confusion Through Formal Modeling and Analysis

Detecting Mode Confusion Through Formal Modeling and Analysis PDF Author: National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA)
Publisher: Createspace Independent Publishing Platform
ISBN: 9781720461906
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 70

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Book Description
Aircraft safety has improved steadily over the last few decades. While much of this improvement can be attributed to the introduction of advanced automation in the cockpit, the growing complexity of these systems also increases the potential for the pilots to become confused about what the automation is doing. This phenomenon, often referred to as mode confusion, has been involved in several accidents involving modern aircraft. This report describes an effort by Rockwell Collins and NASA Langley to identify potential sources of mode confusion through two complementary strategies. The first is to create a clear, executable model of the automation, connect it to a simulation of the flight deck, and use this combination to review of the behavior of the automation and the man-machine interface with the designers, pilots, and experts in human factors. The second strategy is to conduct mathematical analyses of the model by translating it into a formal specification suitable for analysis with automated tools. The approach is illustrated by applying it to a hypothetical, but still realistic, example of the mode logic of a Flight Guidance System.Miller, Steven P. and Potts, James N.Langley Research CenterHUMAN FACTORS ENGINEERING; DETECTION; MAN MACHINE SYSTEMS; FLIGHT CONTROL; METHODOLOGY; COMPUTER PROGRAMS; SIMULATION; COCKPITS

Identifying and Mitigating the Risks of Cockpit Automation

Identifying and Mitigating the Risks of Cockpit Automation PDF Author:
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Aeronautics
Languages : en
Pages :

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Identifying and Mitigating the Risks of Cockpit Automation

Identifying and Mitigating the Risks of Cockpit Automation PDF Author:
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 0

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Book Description
Cockpit automation has delivered many promised benefits such as improved system safety and efficiency, however, at the same time it has imposed system costs that are often manifest in the forms of mode confusion, errors of omission, and automation surprises. An understanding of the nature of these costs as well as associated influencing factors is necessary to adequately design the future automated systems that will be required for Air Mobility Command aircraft to operate in the future air traffic environment. This paper reviews and synthesizes Human Factors research on the costs of cockpit automation. These results are interpreted by modeling the automated cockpit as a supervisory control system in which the pilot works with, but is not replaced by, automated systems. From this viewpoint, pilot roles in the automated cockpit provide new opportunities for error in instructing, monitoring, and intervening in automated systems behavior. These opportunities for error are exacerbated by the limited machine coordination capabilities, limits on human coordination capabilities and properties of machine systems that place new attention and knowledge demands on the human operator. In order to mitigate the risks posed by these known opportunities for error and associated influencing factors, a system of defenses in depth is required involving integrated innovations in design, procedures, and training. The issues raised in this paper are not specific to transport aircraft or the broader aviation domain, but apply to all current and future highly automated military systems.

Analyzing Mode Confusion Via Model Checking

Analyzing Mode Confusion Via Model Checking PDF Author: Gerald Lüttgen
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Aeronautics
Languages : en
Pages : 62

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Book Description
Mode confusion is one of the most serious problems in aviation safety. Today's complex digital flight decks make it difficult for pilots to maintain awareness of the actual states, or modes, of the flight deck automation. NASA Langley leads an initiative to explore how formal techniques can be used to discover possible sources of mode confusion. As part of this initiative, a flight guidance system was previously specified as a finite Mealy automaton, and the theorem prover PVS was used to reason about it. The objective of the present paper is to investigate whether state-exploration techniques, especially model checking, are better able to achieve this task than theorem proving and also to compare several verification tools for the specific application. The flight guidance system is modeled and analyzed in Murphi, SMV, and Spin. The tools are compared regarding their system description language, their practicality for analyzing mode confusion, and their capabilities for error tracing and for animating diagnostic information. It turns out that their strengths are complementary.

Aspects of Automation Mode Confusion

Aspects of Automation Mode Confusion PDF Author: Paul Harrison Wheeler
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 108

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Book Description
Complex systems such as commercial aircraft are difficult for operators to manage. Designers, intending to simplify the interface between the operator and the system, have introduced automation to assist the operator. In most cases, the automation has helped the operator, but at times operator confusion as to what the automation is doing has created dangerous situations that lead to property damage or loss of life. This problem, known as mode confusion, has been difficult to analyze and thus solutions tend to be reactive instead of proactive. This thesis examines mode confusion as an emergent property of the operator and the automation. It develops models of the automation and the operator and then studies their emergent behavior. It then applies the model in a case study.

Detecting Mode Confusion Through Formal Modeling and Analysis

Detecting Mode Confusion Through Formal Modeling and Analysis PDF Author: Steven P. Miller
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 72

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Book Description