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NASA NTRS2018

NASA GNSS Activities: WG-B - Enhancement of GNSS Performance, New Services & Capabilities

NASA represents US civil space users at the United Nations International Committee on Global Navigation Satellite Systems (ICG). ICG Working Group B (WG-B) is responsible for Enhancement of Global Navigation Satellite Systems (GNSS) Performance, New Services and Capabilities. The development and characterization of the GNSS Space Service Volume (SSV) is a key area of activity for NASA within WG-B. This presentation contains NASA's contributions to the June 2018 meeting of the ICG WG-B. Topics covered include recent NASA lunar GPS analysis and results; proposed discussion topics for future SSV workshops and trade studies, an overview of the planned SSV Video, discussion of SSV Outreach, and NASA activities updates including GPS and Galileo Receiver for the International Space Station (GARISS), the International GNSS Service (IGS), Next-Generation Broadcast Services (NGBS), flight results from the Magnetospheric Multiscale (MMS) mission, flight results from the Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite (GOES) R series, the Automated Flight Termination System (AFTS), and other topics.

NASA↗

NASA NTRS2018

NASA Update: GNSS Space Service Volume Providers' Forum

NASA represents US civil space users at the United Nations International Committee on Global Navigation Satellite Systems (ICG). ICG Working Group B (WG-B) is responsible for Enhancement of GNSS Performance, New Services and Capabilities. The development and characterization of the GNSS Space Service Volume (SSV) is a key area of activity for NASA within WG-B. This presentation contains NASA's contributions to the June 2018 meeting of the ICG WG-B. Topics covered include recent NASA lunar GPS analysis and results; proposed discussion topics for future SSV workshops and trade studies, an overview of the planned SSV Video, discussion of SSV Outreach, and NASA activities updates including GPS and Galileo Receiver for the International Space Station (GARISS), the International GNSS Service (IGS), Next-Generation Broadcast Services (NGBS), flight results from the Magnetospheric Multiscale (MMS) mission, flight results from the Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite (GOES) R series, the Automated Flight Termination System (AFTS), and other topics.

Global↗

NASA NTRS2018

WG-B - Enhancement of GNSS Performance, New Services & Capabilities

NASA represents US civil space users at the United Nations International Committee on Global Navigation Satellite Systems (ICG). ICG Working Group B (WG-B) is responsible for Enhancement of GNSS Performance, New Services and Capabilities. The development and characterization of the GNSS Space Service Volume (SSV) is a key area of activity for NASA within WG-B. This presentation contains NASA's contributions to the June 2018 meeting of the ICG WG-B. Topics covered include recent NASA lunar GPS analysis and results; proposed discussion topics for future SSV workshops and trade studies, an overview of the planned SSV Video, discussion of SSV Outreach, and NASA activities updates including GPS and Galileo Receiver for the International Space Station (GARISS), the International GNSS Service (IGS), Next-Generation Broadcast Services (NGBS), flight results from the Magnetospheric Multiscale (MMS) mission, flight results from the Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite (GOES) R series, the Automated Flight Termination System (AFTS), and other topics.

Miller, J. J.↗

NASA NTRS1982

An evaluation of NASA's program in human factors research: Aircrew-vehicle system interaction

Research in human factors in the aircraft cockpit and a proposed program augmentation were reviewed. The dramatic growth of microprocessor technology makes it entirely feasible to automate increasingly more functions in the aircraft cockpit; the promise of improved vehicle performance, efficiency, and safety through automation makes highly automated flight inevitable. An organized data base and validated methodology for predicting the effects of automation on human performance and thus on safety are lacking and without such a data base and validated methodology for analyzing human performance, increased automation may introduce new risks. Efforts should be concentrated on developing methods and techniques for analyzing man machine interactions, including human workload and prediction of performance.

Source record↗

NASA NTRSDate not supplied

NAS Automation Enabled Pilot (AEP): AEP-1 Study

This presentation describes work perform under the Advanced Air Mobility project - Automated Flight and Contingency Management subproject on developing industry representative powered lift aircraft and aircraft automation capabilities for the purpose of developing evaluation methods and Means of Compliance.

powered-lift aircraft↗

NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Hazard Perception & Avoidance (HPA): Part Task 1 - Results Outbrief

n April 2022, the Human Autonomy Teaming Lab (NASA Ames Research Center) conducted a manned, human-in-the-loop (HITL) simulation. This part task HITL began the lab’s Hazard Perception and Avoidance (HPA) technical work under NASA’s Advanced Air Mobility (AAM), Automated Flight and Contingency Management (AFCM) Sub-Project. The goals were to assess levels of automation for manned, electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) aircraft. This simulation tested manual and automated Resolution Advisory (RA) responses and return-to-course (RTC) maneuvers for the first version of the Airborne Collision Avoidance System’s (ACAS) rotary-wing (Xr) variant. This was conducted on a fixed-based simulator designed to fly eVTOL aircraft while maneuvering for intruding traffic. Variables for this study included levels of autonomy (i.e., manual and automated) as well as the types of alerts at the onset of conflicts (i.e., Corrective and RA). The data collected included response times, losses of well clear, and maneuver sizes and durations as well as subjective ratings like acceptability, and perceived workload. Additional details and future anticipations are also discussed.

air taxis↗

NASA NTRSDate not supplied

ACAS Xr Part Task Sim, Preliminary Experiment Design

In early 2022, the Human Autonomy Teaming Lab (NASA Ames Research Center) will conduct a manned, human-in-the-loop (HITL) simulation. This part task HITL will begin the lab’s Hazard Perception and Avoidance (HPA) technical work under NASA’s Advanced Air Mobility (AAM), Automated Flight and Contingency Management (AFCM) Sub-Project. The goals will be to assess levels of automation for manned, electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) aircraft. This simulation will test manual and automated Resolution Advisory (RA) responses and return-to-course (RTC) maneuvers for the first version of the Airborne Collision Avoidance System’s (ACAS) rotary-wing (Xr) variant. This will be conducted on a fixed-based simulator designed to fly eVTOL aircraft while maneuvering for intruding traffic. Variables for this study include levels of autonomy (i.e., manual and automated) as well as the types of alerts at the onset of conflicts (i.e., Corrective and RA). The data collected will include response times, losses of well clear, and maneuver sizes and durations as well as subjective ratings like acceptability, perceived workload, and meaningful human control. Additional details and future anticipations are also discussed.

air taxis↗

NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Testing a Run-Time Assurance Framework Coupled with Integrated Risk Mitigation Capabilities for Autonomous Urban UAS Flights

The In-Time Aviation Safety Management System (IASMS) Concept of Operations (ConOps) envisions new capabilities to monitor, assess, and mitigate flight safety risks. Systems will be tailored to mission type, vehicle/equipage type, operational environment, and safety risk tolerance. Within an IASMS framework, several capabilities may be implemented spanning three operational phases (pre-flight, in-flight, and post-flight/off-line); and consisting of lower level functions and information services which may reside onboard the aircraft, on third-party server(s), and/or on ground/operator station(s). Each capability will be designed to produce and disseminate safety-relevant information; perform detection, diagnosis, and prediction of unsafe situations; and/or execute mitigation actions when hazardous events warrant such changes. This paper focuses on recent testing of airborne capabilities that demonstrate inflight aspects of the overarching concept for autonomous unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) operations in urban environments. A flight test architecture is described that applies run-time assurance principles (e.g., executes independent of the unassured autopilot), real-time risk assessment, and a technique to execute contingencies if necessary either automatically or via pilot intervention. Several tests using small UAS were conducted to verify the assured in-flight risk mitigation capability. The paper draws significantly from a larger NASA technical report and recent prior conference papers, providing additional details. Data is analyzed for two representative flights to illustrate the performance for various sequential and simultaneous hazards used during testing. During each automated flight, several hazards are encountered at various points along the flight path. At each point, the hazard is mitigated by the system, with the vehicle then continuing to subsequent points. The paper concludes with lessons-learned regarding relevant aspects of the overarching IASMS concept and how it may be updated and further advanced in the future.

population activity↗

NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Integration of Automated Systems (IAS) Flight Test - Hazard Perception & Avoidance (HPA) Results

The Integration of Automated Systems (IAS) flight test series concluded in October 2023 in support of NASA's Advanced Air Mobility (AAM) project. These flights include crewed, test (i.e., ownship) and traffic (i.e., intruder) aircraft that flew with unique technologies onboard. The presentation includes overviews of the flight tet itself and the specific results that pertain to the Hazard Perception and Avoidance (HPA) technical areas. HPA tested the FAA's Airborne Collision Avoidance System X (ACAS X), a next-generation collision avoidance tool developed to support different aircraft types and operations. The rotorcraft variant, ACAS Xr, is designed to accommodate existing helicopter platforms and in-development, vertical takeoff and landing (VTOL) concepts, which are critical to the emerging AAM concept of operations. Two configurations of ACAS Xr were examined: Collision Avoidance System (CAS, similar to the Traffic Collision Avoidance System [TCAS] II) and Detect and Avoid (DAA, previously developed to provide added situational awareness for remote pilots). Additionally, this system was flown in cruise and low-speed flight regimes as well as within en-route and (emulated), structured (i.e., dense/urban), and terminal airspaces. Results include the types of alerts generated by ACAS Xr across the different configurations, the distances at which the alerts were generated, response times, manuever sizes, miss distances, and general comments from pilots. Key takeaways and next steps are also provided.

detect and avoid↗

NASA NTRS2019

Overview of the PLEXIL Plan Execution Technology and its Applications in Autonomous Piloting Projects at NASA

Automated planning is a key Artificial Intelligence technology enabling Unmanned Aerial Systems (UAS) and the eminent reality of Urban Air Mobility (UAM). It produces plans, which formalize procedures often performed by humans. Plans differ from other kinds of computer programs in their ability to react and interact with a dynamically changing environment. Aviation plans must encode the procedural knowledge, reasoning capability, and capacity for multi-tasking held by competent human pilots. Correct execution of these plans (performed by software called an executive) in the dynamic airspace environment is vital to the success of each automated flight, and the safety of the vehicle and all things in its path. In the early 2000s NASA developed a plan representation language and executive called PLEXIL (Plan Execution Interchange Language) that has successfully been applied in several NASA aviation and UAS projects. Autonomy Operating System (AOS), Cockpit Hierarchical Automated Planning and Execution (CHAP-E), and ICAROUS are all projects that have used PLEXIL to help encode and automatically execute flight procedures, some normally performed by human pilots. AOS also automates a subset of pilot/Air Traffic Control communication towards enabling UAS entry into the National Airspace. PLEXIL has been open-source software since 2008 and has seen usage in a wide range of prototypical autonomy applications in academia, government, and industry. In this presentation, we describe PLEXIL and highlight its significant accomplishments in the aviation domain.

Dalal, Michael↗

NASA NTRS2011

Checking Flight Rules with TraceContract: Application of a Scala DSL for Trace Analysis

Typically during the design and development of a NASA space mission, rules and constraints are identified to help reduce reasons for failure during operations. These flight rules are usually captured in a set of indexed tables, containing rule descriptions, rationales for the rules, and other information. Flight rules can be part of manual operations procedures carried out by humans. However, they can also be automated, and either implemented as on-board monitors, or as ground based monitors that are part of a ground data system. In the case of automated flight rules, one considerable expense to be addressed for any mission is the extensive process by which system engineers express flight rules in prose, software developers translate these requirements into code, and then both experts verify that the resulting application is correct. This paper explores the potential benefits of using an internal Scala DSL for general trace analysis, named TRACECONTRACT, to write executable specifications of flight rules. TRACECONTRACT can generally be applied to analysis of for example log files or for monitoring executing systems online.

temporal logic↗

NASA NTRS1995

A Laboratory Glass-Cockpit Flight Simulator for Automation and Communications Research

A laboratory glass-cockpit flight simulator supporting research on advanced commercial flight deck and Air Traffic Control (ATC) automation and communication interfaces has been developed at the Aviation Operations Branch at the NASA Ames Research Center. This system provides independent and integrated flight and ATC simulator stations, party line voice and datalink communications, along with video and audio monitoring and recording capabilities. Over the last several years, it has been used to support the investigation of flight human factors research issues involving: communication modality; message content and length; graphical versus textual presentation of information, and human accountability for automation. This paper updates the status of this simulator, describing new functionality in the areas of flight management system, EICAS display, and electronic checklist integration. It also provides an overview of several experiments performed using this simulator, including their application areas and results. Finally future enhancements to its ATC (integration of CTAS software) and flight deck (full crew operations) functionality are described.

Pisanich, Gregory M.↗

NASA NTRS1989

NASA rotorcraft technology for the 21st century

Current and planned rotorcraft technology-related research at NASA's Ames, Lewis, and Langley research centers is discussed with a view to the fruits of these efforts beyond the year 2000. Examples of promising technologies are higher-harmonic and dynamic rotor controls, advanced structural composites, aerodynamics and acoustics simulation models for design predictions, automated flight controls, and high-reliability rotor drivetrains. The overall payoff from an integration of these technologies will allow safe automated flying in all weather conditions, as well as precision-hover and exceptionally low noise and vibration levels.

Albers, James A.↗

NASA NTRS1988

Advanced protein crystal growth flight hardware for the Space Station

The operational environment of the Space Station will differ considerably from the previous short term missions such as the Spacelabs. Limited crew availability combined with the near continuous operation of Space Station facilities will require a high degree of facility automation. This paper will discuss current efforts to develop automated flight hardware for advanced protein crystal growth on the Space Station. Particular areas discussed will be the automated monitoring of key growth parameters for vapor diffusion growth and proposed mechanisms for control of these parameters. A history of protein crystal growth efforts will be presented in addition to the rationale and need for improved protein crystals for X-ray diffraction. The facility will be capable of simultaneously processing several hundred protein samples at various temperatures, pH's, concentrations etc., and provide allowances for real time variance of growth parameters.

Herrmann, Frederick T.↗

NASA NTRS1989

National remote computational flight research facility

The extension of the NASA Ames-Dryden remotely augmented vehicle (RAV) facility to accommodate flight testing of a hypersonic aircraft utilizing the continental United States as a test range is investigated. The development and demonstration of an automated flight test management system (ATMS) that uses expert system technology for flight test planning, scheduling, and execution is documented.

Rediess, Herman A.↗

NASA NTRS1993

Data link air traffic control and flight deck environments: Experiment in flight crew performance

This report describes an experiment undertaken in a full mission simulation environment to investigate the performance impact of, and human/system response to, data-linked Air Traffic Control (ATC) and automated flight deck operations. Subjects were twenty pilots (ten crews) from a major United States air carrier. Crews flew the Advanced Concepts Flight Simulator (ACFS), a generic 'glass cockpit' simulator at NASA Ames. The method of data link used was similar to the data link implementation plans for a next-generation aircraft, and included the capability to review ATC messages and directly enter ATC clearance information into the aircraft systems. Each crew flew experimental scenarios, in which data reflecting communication timing, errors and clarifications, and procedures were collected. Results for errors and clarifications revealed an interaction between communication modality (voice v. data link) and communication type (air/ground v. intracrew). Results also revealed that voice crews initiated ATC contact significantly more than data link crews. It was also found that data link crews performed significantly more extraneous activities during the communication task than voice crews. Descriptive data from the use of the review menu indicate the pilot-not-flying accessing the review menu most often, and also suggest diffulty in accessing the target message within the review menu structure. The overall impact of communication modality upon air/ground communication and crew procedures is discussed.

Lozito, Sandy↗

NASA NTRS1991

Issues associated with establishing control zones for international space operations

Cooperative missions in Earth orbit can be facilitated by developing a strategy to regulate the manner in which vehicles interact in orbit. One means of implementing such a strategy is to utilize a control zones technique that assigns different types of orbital operations to specific regions of space surrounding a vehicle. Considered here are issues associated with developing a control zones technique to regulate the interactions of spacecraft in proximity to a manned vehicle. Technical and planning issues, flight hardware and software issues, mission management parameter, and other constraints are discussed. Also covered are manned and unmanned vehicle operations, and manual versus automated flight control. A review of the strategies utilized by the Apollo Soyuz Test Project and the Space Station Freedom Program is also presented.

Nader, Blair A.↗

NASA NTRS1992

Issues in developing control zones for international space operations

Cooperative missions in earth orbit can be facilitated by developing a strategy to regulate the manner in which vehicles interact in orbit. One means of implementing such a strategy is to utilize a control zones technique that assigns different types of orbital operations to specific regions of space surrounding a vehicle. Considered here are issues associated with developing a control zones technique to regulate the interactions of spacecraft in proximity to a manned vehicle. Technical and planning issues, flight hardware and software issues, mission management parameter, and other constraints are discussed. Also covered are manned and unmanned vehicle operations, and manual versus automated flight control. A review of the strategies utilized by the Apollo Soyuz Test Project and the Space Station Freedom Program is also presented.

Nader, Blair A.↗