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Pilot Workload Rating Predictions Using Image Data and Recurrent Neural Networks

In this work, we augmented existing methods for estimating pilot workload ratings with deep neural networks trained using data from simulated flight tests in the Vertical Motion Simulator (VMS). We used an existing method, Spare Capacity Operations Estimator (SCOPE), along with a recurrent neural network and conducted comparison studies between the two methods individually, and when used together. We found that using both methods together can improve the result over using either approach alone. In our first test case, we achieved an improved linear correlation coefficient of 0.409 over that of SCOPE alone at 0.352 on the training dataset. Through cross validation, we also found that the results may be dependent on the split of training vs. validation data, and that further investigation should be conducted to understand what additional inputs to the neural network model should be made.

Image Data↗

NASA NTRS2018

Objective Motion Cueing Criteria for Commercial Transport Simulators

This paper adds data to establish fidelity criteria for the simulator motion system diagnostic test now required during commercial aircraft simulator approval in the United States. Nineteen airline transport pilots flew three tasks under six different motion conditions in an experiment on the NASA Vertical Motion Simulator. The motion conditions allowed refinement of the initial fidelity criteria developed in previous experiments. In line with these previous experiments, the motion condition significantly affected (1) false motion cue pilot ratings, and sink rate and longitudinal deviation at touchdown in the approach and landing task, (2) false motion cue pilot ratings, roll deviations, and maximum pitch rate in the stall task, and (3) false motion cue pilot ratings, heading deviation, and pedal reaction time after an engine failure in the take-off task. Combining data from three experiments, significant differences in pilot-vehicle performance were used to define objective motion cueing criteria boundaries. These fidelity boundaries suggest that some hexapod simulators can possibly produce motion cues with improved fidelity in several degrees of freedom.

simulator motion↗

NASA NTRS2018

Objective Motion Cueing Criteria for Commercial Transport Simulators

pilot performance↗

NASA NTRS1982

The effects of pilot stress factors on handling quality assessments during US/German helicopter agility flight tests

Flight tests were conducted with two helicopters to study and evaluate the effects of helicopter characteristics and pilot and task demands on performance in nap-of-the-Earth flight. Different, low-level slalom courses were set up and were flown by three pilots with different levels of flight experience. A pilot rating questionnaire was used to obtain redundant information and to gain more insight into factors that influence pilot ratings. The flight test setups and procedures are described, and the pilot ratings are summarized and interpreted in close connection with the analyzed test data. Pilot stress is discussed. The influence of demands on the pilot, of the helicopter characteristics, and of other stress factors are outlined with particular emphasis on how these factors affect handling-qualities assessment.

Pausder, H. J.↗

NASA NTRS1982

The effects of pilot stress factors on handling quality assessments during US/German helicopter agility flight tests

Flight tests were conducted with two helicopters to study and evaluate the effects of helicopter characteristics and pilot and task demands on performance in nap-of-the-earth flight. Different, low-level slalom courses were set up and were flown by three pilots with different levels of flight experience. A pilot rating questionnaire was used to obtain redundant information and to gain more insight into factors that influence pilot ratings. The flight test setups and procedures are described, and the pilot ratings are summarized and interpreted in close connection with the analyzed test data. Pilot stress is discussed. The influence of demands on the pilot, of the helicopter characteristics, and of other stress factors are outlined with particular emphasis on how these factors affect handling-qualities assessment. Previously announced in STAR as N83-13114

Pausder, H.-J.↗

NASA NTRS1987

Simulation investigation of the effects of helicopter hovering dynamics on pilot performance

A fixed base simulation has been performed to investigate the handling qualities requirements for the mid-term pitch response of a helicopter at hover and in low-speed flight. Pilot rating results from this simulation were compared with those from previous experiments to develop handling qualities limits on the frequency and damping of the oscillatory mode in the hovering cubic. Pilot performance data obtained during the experiment were used to confirm the pilot rating results. These data show the pilot performance to closely match that predicted by the theory of piloted control. A means of predicting pilot ratings from the open-loop aircraft dynamics is presented.

Aponso, Bimal L.↗

NASA NTRS2014

General Aviation Flight Test of Advanced Operations Enabled by Synthetic Vision

A flight test was performed to compare the use of three advanced primary flight and navigation display concepts to a baseline, round-dial concept to assess the potential for advanced operations. The displays were evaluated during visual and instrument approach procedures including an advanced instrument approach resembling a visual airport traffic pattern. Nineteen pilots from three pilot groups, reflecting the diverse piloting skills of the General Aviation pilot population, served as evaluation subjects. The experiment had two thrusts: 1) an examination of the capabilities of low-time (i.e., <400 hours), non-instrument-rated pilots to perform nominal instrument approaches, and 2) an exploration of potential advanced Visual Meteorological Conditions (VMC)-like approaches in Instrument Meteorological Conditions (IMC). Within this context, advanced display concepts are considered to include integrated navigation and primary flight displays with either aircraft attitude flight directors or Highway In The Sky (HITS) guidance with and without a synthetic depiction of the external visuals (i.e., synthetic vision). Relative to the first thrust, the results indicate that using an advanced display concept, as tested herein, low-time, non-instrument-rated pilots can exhibit flight-technical performance, subjective workload and situation awareness ratings as good as or better than high-time Instrument Flight Rules (IFR)-rated pilots using Baseline Round Dials for a nominal IMC approach. For the second thrust, the results indicate advanced VMC-like approaches are feasible in IMC, for all pilot groups tested for only the Synthetic Vision System (SVS) advanced display concept.

Glaab, Louis J.↗

NASA NTRS1991

A simulation evaluation of a four-engine jet transport using engine thrust modulation for flightpath control

The use of throttle control laws to provide adequate flying qualities for flight path control in the event of a total loss of conventional flight control surface use was evaluated. The results are based on a simulation evaluation by transport research pilots of a B-720 transport with visual display. Throttle augmentation control laws can provide flight path control capable of landing a transport-type aircraft with up to moderate levels of turbulence. The throttle augmentation mode dramatically improves the pilots' ability to control flight path for the approach and landing flight condition using only throttle modulation. For light turbulence, the average Cooper-Harper pilot rating improved from unacceptable to acceptable (a pilot rating improvement of 4.5) in going from manual to augmented control. The low frequency response characteristics of the engines require a considerably different piloting technique. The various techniques used by the pilot resulted in considerable scatter in data. Many pilots readily adapted to a good piloting technique while some had difficulty. A new viable approach is shown to provide independent means of redundancy of transport aircraft flight path control.

Gilyard, Glenn B.↗

NASA NTRS1991

A simulation evaluation of a four-engine jet transport using engine thrust modulation for flightpath control

The use of throttle control laws to provide adequate flying qualities for flightpath control in the event of a total loss of conventional flight control surface use was evaluated. The results are based on a simulation evaluation by transport research pilots of a B-720 transport with visual display. Throttle augmentation control laws can provide flightpath control capable of landing a transport-type aircraft with up to moderate levels of turbulence. The throttle augmentation mode dramatically improves the pilots' ability to control flightpath for the approach and landing flight condition using only throttle modulation. For light turbulence, the average Cooper-Harper pilot rating improved from unacceptable to acceptable (a pilot rating improvement of 4.5) in going from manual to augmented control. The low frequency response characteristics of the engines require a considerably different piloting technique. The various techniques used by the pilots resulted in considerable scatter in the data. Many pilots readily adapted to a good piloting technique while some has difficulty. The research demonstrates a new and viable approach to providing an independent means of redundancy or increasing the redundancy capability of transport aircraft flightpath control.

Gilyard, Glenn B.↗

NASA NTRS1990

Effects of stick dynamics on helicopter flying qualities

An experiment that investigated the influence of typical helicopter force-feel system dynamics on roll-axis handling qualities was conducted in concurrent ground and inflight simulations. Variations in lateral control natural frequency and damping ratio, effected by changes in inertia and damping, were evaluated in a disturbance-rejection task. Pilot ratings indicated a preference for low-inertia feel systems, although measured performance was relatively constant over the range of stick characteristics. Force-sensing was compared with position sensing as the input to the control system. Force-sensing improved performance but did not improve pilot ratings. Overall, the results indicated that control-stick dynamics, at least within a reasonable range, did not have a significant effect on pilot-vehicle performance. However, the physical effort required to maintain a desired pilot/manipulator bandwidth became objectionable as the stick inertia increased beyond 5-7 lbm, which was reflected in the pilot ratings and comments.

Watson, Douglas C.↗

NASA NTRS1981

AD-1 oblique wing aircraft program

A NASA program for evaluation of the handling and flying characteristics of the AD-1 oblique wing aircraft is discussed. The vehicle was flown to compare wind tunnel predictions with aerodynamic data, explore the control system requirements, and obtain a preliminary assessment of the aeroelastic effects. The fiberglass sandwich skin aircraft is designed for 8 g positive and 4 g negative loading at 175 knots, while the wing pivot can withstand 25 g loading. Flight monitoring was accomplished with a 41 channel pulse code modulation system for telemetry and by averaging of pilot ratings. Maneuvering tests are outlined, noting that pilot ratings indicated acceptable handling at up to 50 deg sweep. It is concluded that acceptable flying qualities can be achieved with a 60 deg sweep, and that aeroelastic tailoring can be used to satisfy cruise design technology.

Mcmurtry, T. C.↗

NASA NTRS1972

An analysis of aircraft lateral-directional handling qualities using pilot models.

An analytical study of the combined pilot-aircraft system to develop a procedure for computing pilot ratings for the lateral-directional response. In the analytical procedure the pilot is represented by a linear, second-order pilot model, and the aircraft by linear equations of motion. Two levels of pilot response were described by the pilot model. The first level contains a static gain and a second-order lag function with a time constant of 0.2 second. The second level added a 1-sec lead time constant. The second level is assumed to represent a greater effort on the part of the pilot. If the system response characteristics can be achieved with the first-level pilot model, it is concluded that the aircraft will be given a pilot rating of satisfactory. If the aircraft characteristics are such that the second-level pilot model is required to achieve the prescribed system response, it is concluded that the aircraft will be rated tolerable.

Adams, J. J.↗

NASA NTRS1986

A flightpath overshoot flying qualities metric for the landing task

An analysis was conducted of the attitude and flightpath angle response of configurations used in the Total In-Flight Simulator (TIFS) pitch-rate command systems program. The results show poor correlation between pilot ratings and attitude response and indicate that attitude was not a major influence in the results. A strong correlation was found to exist, however, between the amount of flightpath angle peak overshoot and the pilot ratings. This correlation is similar to the best correlations that have been obtained in recent closed-loop and time-domain analyses but has the advantage of greatly simplified implementation and interpretation.

Berry, D. T.↗

NASA NTRS1986

A flightpath overshoot flying qualities metric for the landing task

An analysis was conducted of the attitude and flightpath angle response of configurations used in the Total In-Flight Simulator (TIFS) pitch-rate command systems program. The resutls show poor correlation between pilot ratings and attitude response and indicate that attitude was not a major influence in the results. A strong correlation was found to exist, however, between the amount of fightpath angle peak overshoot and the pilot ratings. This correlation is similar to the best correlations that have been obtained in recent closed-loop and time-domain analyses but has the advantage of greatly simplified implementation and interpretation.

Berry, D. T.↗

NASA NTRS1982

Effects of higher order control systems on aircraft approach and landing longitudinal handling qualities

An investigation of approach and landing longitudinal flying qualities, based on data generated using a variable stability NT-33 aircraft combined with significant control system dynamics is described. An optimum pilot lead time for pitch tracking, flight path angle tracking, and combined pitch and flight path angle tracking tasks is determined from a closed loop simulation using integral squared error (ISE) as a performance measure. Pilot gain and lead time were varied in the closed loop simulation of the pilot and aircraft to obtain the best performance for different control system configurations. The results lead to the selection of an optimum lead time using ISE as a performance criterion. Using this value of optimum lead time, a correlation is then found between pilot rating and performance with changes in the control system and in the aircraft dynamics. It is also shown that pilot rating is closely related to pilot workload which, in turn, is related to the amount of lead which the pilot must generate to obtain satisfactory response. The results also indicate that the pilot may use pitch angle tracking for the approach task and then add flight path angle tracking for the flare and touchdown.

Pasha, M. A.↗

NASA NTRS1986

The impact of physical and mental tasks on pilot mental workoad

Seven instrument-rated pilots with a wide range of backgrounds and experience levels flew four different scenarios on a fixed-base simulator. The Baseline scenario was the simplest of the four and had few mental and physical tasks. An activity scenario had many physical but few mental tasks. The Planning scenario had few physical and many mental taks. A Combined scenario had high mental and physical task loads. The magnitude of each pilot's altitude and airspeed deviations was measured, subjective workload ratings were recorded, and the degree of pilot compliance with assigned memory/planning tasks was noted. Mental and physical performance was a strong function of the manual activity level, but not influenced by the mental task load. High manual task loads resulted in a large percentage of mental errors even under low mental task loads. Although all the pilots gave similar subjective ratings when the manual task load was high, subjective ratings showed greater individual differences with high mental task loads. Altitude or airspeed deviations and subjective ratings were most correlated when the total task load was very high. Although airspeed deviations, altitude deviations, and subjective workload ratings were similar for both low experience and high experience pilots, at very high total task loads, mental performance was much lower for the low experience pilots.

Berg, S. L.↗

NASA NTRS1973

A linear stochastic model of the human operator

A linear stochastic model of the human operator is developed and applied to the problem of piloted control of an aircraft. The pilot and aircraft are modeled as linear time-invariant systems containing both process and measurement noise. The loop closure by the pilot is determined by formulating the problem as an optimal stochastic control problem. The solution to the optimal control problem yields not only the pilot's optimal control output which he uses to control the vehicle, but also the optimal combination of his observations of the vehicle states upon which the pilot bases his control. A method is presented so that, using experimental pilot vehicle data, the cost functional which is minimized in the optimal control problem will be numerically equal to the pilot rating that the pilot would associate with the given vehicle and task.

Durrett, J. C.↗

NASA NTRS1985

Application of frequency domain handling qualities criteria to the longitudinal landing task

Three frequency-domain handling qualities criteria have been applied to the observed data to correlate the actual pilot ratings assigned to generic transport configurations with stability augmentation during the longitudinal landing task. The criteria are based on closed-loop techniques using pitch attitude, altitude rate at the pilot station, and altitude at the pilot station as dominating control parameters during this task. It is found that most promising results are obtained with altitude control performed by closing an inner loop on pitch attitude and closing an outer loop on altitude.

Sarrafian, S. K.↗