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Search indexed NASA NTRS and DOE OSTI research on propulsion, heat transfer, battery materials and energy systems. Follow report and document links to the original sources.

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At least 577 records · Page 32
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NASA NTRS1988

Helicopter human factors research

Helicopter flight is among the most demanding of all human-machine integrations. The inherent manual control complexities of rotorcraft are made even more challenging by the small margin for error created in certain operations, such as nap-of-the-Earth (NOE) flight, by the proximity of the terrain. Accident data recount numerous examples of unintended conflict between helicopters and terrain and attest to the perceptual and control difficulties associated with low altitude flight tasks. Ames Research Center, in cooperation with the U.S. Army Aeroflightdynamics Directorate, has initiated an ambitious research program aimed at increasing safety margins for both civilian and military rotorcraft operations. The program is broad, fundamental, and focused on the development of scientific understandings and technological countermeasures. Research being conducted in several areas is reviewed: workload assessment, prediction, and measure validation; development of advanced displays and effective pilot/automation interfaces; identification of visual cues necessary for low-level, low-visibility flight and modeling of visual flight-path control; and pilot training.

Nagel, David C.↗
NASA NTRS1990

BUBBLES: an Automated Decision Support System for Final Approach Controllers

With the assumptions that an explicit schedule exists for landings (and takeoffs) at each runway, that each aircraft has declared an IAS for final approach and will be obligated to fly it as accurately as possible, and that there is a continuous estimate of average windspeed on approach, the objective was to provide automated cues to assist controllers in the spacing of landing aircraft. The cues have two characteristics. First, they are adaptive to estimation errors in position and speed by the radar tracking process and piloting errors in the execution of turns and commanded speed reductions. Second, the cues are responsive to the desires of the human controller. Several diagrams are used to help explain the system.

Chi, Zhizang↗
NASA NTRS1991

Explosive Transient Camera (ETC) Program

Since the inception of the ETC program, a wide range of new technologies was developed to support this astronomical instrument. The prototype unit was installed at ETC Site 1. The first partially automated observations were made and some major renovations were later added to the ETC hardware. The ETC was outfitted with new thermoelectrically-cooled CCD cameras and a sophisticated vacuum manifold, which, together, made the ETC a much more reliable unit than the prototype. The ETC instrumentation and building were placed under full computer control, allowing the ETC to operate as an automated, autonomous instrument with virtually no human intervention necessary. The first fully-automated operation of the ETC was performed, during which the ETC monitored the error region of the repeating soft gamma-ray burster SGR 1806-21.

Ricker, George↗
NASA NTRS2021

The Role of Fire in Global Forest Loss Dynamics

Fires, among other forms of natural and anthropogenic disturbance, play a central role in regulating the location, composition and biomass of forests. Understanding the role of fire in global forest loss is crucial in constraining land-use change emissions and the global carbon cycle. We analysed the relationship between forest loss and fire at 500 m resolution based on satellite-derived data for the 2003–2018 period. Satellite fire data included burned area and active fire detections, to best account for large and small fires, respectively. We found that, on average, 38 ± 9% (± range) of global forest loss was associated with fire, and this fraction remained relatively stable throughout the study period. However, the fraction of fire-related forest loss varied substantially on a regional basis, and showed statistically significant trends in key tropical forest areas. Decreases in the fraction of fire-related forest loss were found where deforestation peaked early in our study period, including the Amazon and Indonesia while increases were found for tropical forests in Africa. The inclusion of active fire detections accounted for 41%, on average, of the total fire-related forest loss, with larger contributions in small clearings in interior tropical forests and human-dominated landscapes. Comparison to higher-resolution fire data with resolutions of 375 and 20 m indicated that commission errors due to coarse resolution fire data largely balanced out omission errors due to missed small fire detections for regional to continental-scale estimates of fire-related forest loss. Besides an improved understanding of forest dynamics, these findings may help to refine and separate fire-related and non-fire-related land-use change emissions in forested ecosystems.

Dan van Wees↗
NASA NTRS2020

Optical Navigation for Autonomous Approach of Small Unknown Bodies

State of the practice in navigation around small celestial bodies heavily relies on ground sup- port and human skill, in particular, for perception-based operations such as optical navigation and mapping. This leads to longer duration and more complex mission operations and sub- sequently higher cost. Furthermore, it imposes limitations for certain missions such as fast fly-bys or multi-agent operations. In this work, we present an autonomous navigation strat- egy suitable for approaching small unexplored bodies. During the approach, we estimate the body’s physical properties as well as the spacecraft’s relative trajectory and associated un- certainties. The autonomous navigation strategy, which is solely based on optical measure- ments, begins as soon as the body becomes resolved in the navigation camera and terminates at the start of proximity operations, when the spacecraft makes its first trajectory correction to stay in the vicinity of the body. Our strategy uses multiple image-processing algorithms: light-curve analysis for estimating the target body’s rotation rate, Shape-from-Silhouette for reconstructing the 3D shape and estimating its rotation pole, and feature tracking tailored to Small-Body images for estimating relative navigation parameters. We used the Mission Analysis, Operations, and Navigation Toolkit Environment (MONTE) developed by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory to evaluate the feasibility of this multi-phase navigation strategy using simulated images of an approach trajectory. We used the Rosetta mission data to generate photorealistic images to characterise the performance of this approach. This work is based on the assumptions that the spacecraft attitude is known, the body is a principal-axis rotator, a-priori estimates of ephemerides and scale are available, and the body is observed from a zero sun phase only during initial approach. Preliminary results show orbit determination performance that is on par with the human navigation from the Rosetta mission; albeit with a 1% bias in spacecraft-target radial distance estimate. The bias error is likely due to the robustness and accuracy of the visual tracking under dynamic lighting conditions and per- spective changes, which decrease accuracy.

Villa, Jacopo↗
NASA NTRS2016

Cyber-Threat Assessment for the Air Traffic Management System: A Network Controls Approach

Air transportation networks are being disrupted with increasing frequency by failures in their cyber- (computing, communication, control) systems. Whether these cyber- failures arise due to deliberate attacks or incidental errors, they can have far-reaching impact on the performance of the air traffic control and management systems. For instance, a computer failure in the Washington DC Air Route Traffic Control Center (ZDC) on August 15, 2015, caused nearly complete closure of the Centers airspace for several hours. This closure had a propagative impact across the United States National Airspace System, causing changed congestion patterns and requiring placement of a suite of traffic management initiatives to address the capacity reduction and congestion. A snapshot of traffic on that day clearly shows the closure of the ZDC airspace and the resulting congestion at its boundary, which required augmented traffic management at multiple locations. Cyber- events also have important ramifications for private stakeholders, particularly the airlines. During the last few months, computer-system issues have caused several airlines fleets to be grounded for significant periods of time: these include United Airlines (twice), LOT Polish Airlines, and American Airlines. Delays and regional stoppages due to cyber- events are even more common, and may have myriad causes (e.g., failure of the Department of Homeland Security systems needed for security check of passengers, see [3]). The growing frequency of cyber- disruptions in the air transportation system reflects a much broader trend in the modern society: cyber- failures and threats are becoming increasingly pervasive, varied, and impactful. In consequence, an intense effort is underway to develop secure and resilient cyber- systems that can protect against, detect, and remove threats, see e.g. and its many citations. The outcomes of this wide effort on cyber- security are applicable to the air transportation infrastructure, and indeed security solutions are being implemented in the current system. While these security solutions are important, they only provide a piecemeal solution. Particular computers or communication channels are protected from particular attacks, without a holistic view of the air transportation infrastructure. On the other hand, the above-listed incidents highlight that a holistic approach is needed, for several reasons. First, the air transportation infrastructure is a large scale cyber-physical system with multiple stakeholders and diverse legacy assets. It is impractical to protect every cyber- asset from known and unknown disruptions, and instead a strategic view of security is needed. Second, disruptions to the cyber- system can incur complex propagative impacts across the air transportation network, including its physical and human assets. Also, these implications of cyber- events are exacerbated or modulated by other disruptions and operational specifics, e.g. severe weather, operator fatigue or error, etc. These characteristics motivate a holistic and strategic perspective on protecting the air transportation infrastructure from cyber- events. The analysis of cyber- threats to the air traffic system is also inextricably tied to the integration of new autonomy into the airspace. The replacement of human operators with cyber functions leaves the network open to new cyber threats, which must be modeled and managed. Paradoxically, the mitigation of cyber events in the airspace will also likely require additional autonomy, given the fast time scale and myriad pathways of cyber-attacks which must be managed. The assessment of new vulnerabilities upon integration of new autonomy is also a key motivation for a holistic perspective on cyber threats.

Complex Networks↗
NASA NTRS1994

Directions of Moving Plaids is Biased by Asymmetric Viewing Windows

Directionally selective V1 neurons are tuned to particular spatio-temporal frequencies and respond to local 1-D edge motion. At least some MT neurons however appear to respond to the actual velocity of moving 2D patterns. To better understand how the 1D local motion information available from VI is integrated to derive a 2D velocity signal we investigated human perception of moving plaids, 2-D patterns composed of the sum of two 1-D sinusoidal gratings of different orientations. We measured the effect of the shape of the viewing window on the perceived direction of plaid motion. The plaids were spatially windowed by 2-D Gaussians with unequal standard deviations (sigma 1, sigma 2). Four observers indicated perceived direction by adjusting a pointer. Direction errors were measured as a function of the difference between window orientation and true plaid direction (DELTA THETA) for several grating spatial frequencies (SF = 0.3, 0.6, 1.2 c/d) and window aspect ratios (AR = sigma 1/sigma 2 = 1, 1.4, 2, 4). Observers showed systematic errors in perceived direction (approx. 15 for AR = 4 and SF = 0.6 c/d) that peaked at DELTA THETA approx. 40. The errors increased for increasing aspect ratio and decreased for increasing spatial frequencies (or number of cycles). These results show that despite the unambiguous motion of the plaids, under these conditions human misperceive the motion. These data constrain models of motion integration from V1 to MT and, in particular, are inconsistent with algorithms that use either the Intersection of Constraints rule or cross correlation to compute the perceived direction of motion.

Beutter, B. R.↗
NASA NTRS1994

Direction of Moving Plaids is Biased by Asymmetric Viewing Windows

Directionally selective V1 neurons are tuned to particular spatiotemporal frequencies and respond to local 1-D edge motion. At least some MT neurons however appear to respond to the actual velocity of moving 2D patterns (Movshon et al., EBR, 11:117, 1986). To better understand how the 1D local motion information available from V1 is integrated to derive a 2D velocity signal we investigated human perception of moving plaids, 2-D patterns composed of the sum of two 1-D sinusoidal gratings of different orientations. We measured the effect of the shape of the viewing window on the perceived direction of plaid motion. The plaids were spatially windowed by 2-D Gaussians with unequal standard deviations (sigma l, sigma 2). Four observers indicated perceived direction by adjusting a pointer. Direction errors were measured as a function of the difference between window orientation and true plaid direction (delta theta) for several grating spatial frequencies (SF = 0.3, 0.6, 1.2 c/d) and window aspect ratios (AR = sigma 1/sigma 2 = 1, 1.4, 2,4). Observers showed systematic errors in perceived direction (approx. 15 degrees for R = 4 and SF = 0.6 c/d) that peaked at delta theta approximately 40 degrees. The errors increased for increasing aspect ratio and decreased for increasing spatial frequencies (or number of cycles). These results show that despite the unambiguous motion of the plaids, within asymmetric windows, human can systematically misperceive plaid direction. These data constrain models of motion integration within extrastriate cortex and, in particular, are inconsistent with algorithms that use either the Intersection of Constraints rule or cross correlation to compute velocity.

Beutter, Brent Robert↗
NASA NTRS1995

Identifying Human Factors Issues in Aircraft Maintenance Operations

Maintenance operations incidents submitted to the Aviation Safety Reporting System (ASRS) between 1986-1992 were systematically analyzed in order to identify issues relevant to human factors and crew coordination. This exploratory analysis involved 95 ASRS reports which represented a wide range of maintenance incidents. The reports were coded and analyzed according to the type of error (e.g, wrong part, procedural error, non-procedural error), contributing factors (e.g., individual, within-team, cross-team, procedure, tools), result of the error (e.g., aircraft damage or not) as well as the operational impact (e.g., aircraft flown to destination, air return, delay at gate). The main findings indicate that procedural errors were most common (48.4%) and that individual and team actions contributed to the errors in more than 50% of the cases. As for operational results, most errors were either corrected after landing at the destination (51.6%) or required the flight crew to stop enroute (29.5%). Interactions among these variables are also discussed. This analysis is a first step toward developing a taxonomy of crew coordination problems in maintenance. By understanding what variables are important and how they are interrelated, we may develop intervention strategies that are better tailored to the human factor issues involved.

Veinott, Elizabeth S.↗
NASA NTRS1978

Effectiveness of basic display augmentation in vehicular control by visual field cues

The paper investigates the effectiveness of different basic display augmentation concepts - fixed reticle, velocity vector, and predicted future vehicle path - for RPVs controlled by a vehicle-mounted TV camera. The task is lateral manual control of a low flying RPV along a straight reference line in the presence of random side gusts. The man-machine system and the visual interface are modeled as a linear time-invariant system. Minimization of a quadratic performance criterion is assumed to underlie the control strategy of a well-trained human operator. The solution for the optimal feedback matrix enables the explicit computation of the variances of lateral deviation and directional error of the vehicle and of the control force that are used as performance measures.

Grunwald, A. J.↗
NASA NTRS1982

Validation of Nimbus-7 temperature-humidity infrared radiometer estimates of cloud type and amount

Estimates of clear and low, middle and high cloud amount in fixed geographical regions approximately (160 km) squared are being made routinely from 11.5 micron radiance measurements of the Nimbus-7 Temperature-Humidity Infrared Radiometer (THIR). The purpose of validation is to determine the accuracy of the THIR cloud estimates. Validation requires that a comparison be made between the THIR estimates of cloudiness and the 'true' cloudiness. The validation results reported in this paper use human analysis of concurrent but independent satellite images with surface meteorological and radiosonde observations to approximate the 'true' cloudiness. Regression and error analyses are used to estimate the systematic and random errors of THIR derived clear amount.

Stowe, L. L.↗
NASA NTRS1989

Air-ground information transfer in the National Airspace System

This paper reviews NASA's Aviation Safety Reporting System incident data for a two-year period in order to identify the frequency of air-ground information transfer errors and the factors associated with their occurrence. Of the more than 14,000 primary reports received during the 1985 and 1986 reporting period, one out of four reports concerned problems of information transfer between aircraft and ATC. Approximately half of these errors were associated directly or indirectly with aircraft deviations from assigned heading or altitude. The majority of incidents cited some human-system problem such as workload, cockpit distractions, etc., as the primary contributing factor. Improvements in air-ground information transfer using existing and future (e.g., data link) technology are proposed centering on the development and application of user-centered information management principles.

Lee, Alfred T.↗
NASA NTRS2005

Cognitive Functioning in Space Exploration Missions: A Human Requirement

Solving cognitive issues in the exploration missions will require implementing results from both Human Behavior and Performance, and Space Human Factors Engineering. Operational and research cognitive requirements need to reflect a coordinated management approach with appropriate oversight and guidance from NASA headquarters. First, this paper will discuss one proposed management method that would combine the resources of Space Medicine and Space Human Factors Engineering at JSC, other NASA agencies, the National Space Biomedical Research Institute, Wyle Labs, and other academic or industrial partners. The proposed management is based on a Human Centered Design that advocates full acceptance of the human as a system equal to other systems. Like other systems, the human is a system with many subsystems, each of which has strengths and limitations. Second, this paper will suggest ways to inform exploration policy about what is needed for optimal cognitive functioning of the astronaut crew, as well as requirements to ensure necessary assessment and intervention strategies for the human system if human limitations are reached. Assessment strategies will include clinical evaluation and fitness-to-perform evaluations. Clinical intervention tools and procedures will be available to the astronaut and space flight physician. Cognitive performance will be supported through systematic function allocation, task design, training, and scheduling. Human factors requirements and guidelines will lead to well-designed information displays and retrieval systems that reduce crew time and errors. Means of capturing process, design, and operational requirements to ensure crew performance will be discussed. Third, this paper will describe the current plan of action, and future challenges to be resolved before a lunar or Mars expedition. The presentation will include a proposed management plan for research, involvement of various organizations, and a timetable of deliverables.

Fiedler, Edan↗
NASA NTRS2012

Comparison of Procedures for Dual and Triple Closely Spaced Parallel Runways

A human-in-the-loop high fidelity flight simulation experiment was conducted, which investigated and compared breakout procedures for Very Closely Spaced Parallel Approaches (VCSPA) with two and three runways. To understand the feasibility, usability and human factors of two and three runway VCSPA, data were collected and analyzed on the dependent variables of breakout cross track error and pilot workload. Independent variables included number of runways, cause of breakout and location of breakout. Results indicated larger cross track error and higher workload using three runways as compared to 2-runway operations. Significant interaction effects involving breakout cause and breakout location were also observed. Across all conditions, cross track error values showed high levels of breakout trajectory accuracy and pilot workload remained manageable. Results suggest possible avenues of future adaptation for adopting these procedures (e.g., pilot training), while also showing potential promise of the concept.

triple approaches↗
NASA NTRS2024

Expansion of Check-Cases for 6DOF Simulation

This effort expands upon a previous NASA activity that developed flight simulation benchmark check-cases to include new check-cases for the Cislunar domain, comparing multiple NASA simulation tools. The results of this effort describe the benefits of standardizing inputs, simulation comparisons and describe an interactive website that enables comparison of externally provided simulation data. Participating simulations improved their software and identified implementation errors. This activity elevated simulation credibility and provided a measure of validation for the simulations actively in use for NASA’s Human Landing Systems (HLS).

Modeling↗
NASA NTRS2024

Expansion of Check-Cases for 6DOF Simulation: Appendix A

This is the Appendix containing figures of simulation output data plots for comparison from the assessment, “Expansion of Check-Cases for 6DOF Simulation”. This effort expands upon a previous NASA activity that developed flight simulation benchmark check-cases to include new check-cases for the Cislunar domain, comparing multiple NASA simulation tools. The results of this effort describe the benefits of standardizing inputs, simulation comparisons and describe an interactive website that enables comparison of externally provided simulation data. Participating simulations improved their software and identified implementation errors. This activity elevated simulation credibility and provided a measure of validation for the simulations actively in use for NASA’s Human Landing Systems (HLS).

Modeling↗
NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Evaluating Lunar Descent and Landing Performance From a Near Rectilinear Halo Orbit Using Linear Covariance Resetting Techniques

Upcoming lunar programs are striving the achieve precision landing in a safe and robust manner. Various elements impact this mission objective ranging from on-orbit operations with ground station tracking to incorporating relative sensors with hazard detection and avoidance (HDA) to support the final approach and landing phase. Modeling the impacts of ground tracking, trajectory replanning, relative navigation sensors, and particularly a potential HDA system on the integrated closed-loop GN\&C system performance poses a unique challenge due to the complexity and interaction with multiple facets of the vehicle including the trajectory design, sensing hardware, navigation system, guidance and targeting, and the overall mission concept of operations. This paper outlines techniques to systematically analyze and compare the performance impacts of ground tracking and replanning and an HDA system where the onboard navigation errors are reset or uploaded from an external source and the vehicle's reference trajectory is regenerated requiring the system dispersions to also be reset to reflect this in-flight profile adjustment. To illustrate the application of these general techniques for analyzing the performance impacts due to incorporating these resetting events, they are demonstrated with a human lunar descent and landing scenario starting from a near rectilinear halo orbit (NRHO) until the vehicle precisely reaches its predetermined landing site on the lunar surface. Performance metrics such as inertial and relative navigation errors, trajectory dispersions, footprint dispersions, and propellant usage are provided.

GN&C↗
NASA NTRS1987

An application of fuzzy sets in real time filtering problems

The human decision-making task is modeled with fuzzy sets and the Kalman filter updates to the state vector are weighted using fuzzy functions. Results of the study show that the use of fuzzy set models gives results comparable to those requiring human assistance, e.g. lock on to false targets, and better results when the problem is caused by noise and/or bias, or unexpected errors in the state vector at initial acquisition.

Lea, Robert N.↗