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At least 73 records · Page 4

An Analysis of Risk and Function Information in Early Stage Design

The concept of function offers a high potential for thinking and reasoning about designs as well as providing a common thread for relating together other design information. This paper focuses specifically on the relation between function and risk by examining how this information is addressed for a design team conducting early stage design for space missions. Risk information is decomposed into a set of key attributes which are then used to scrutinize the risk information using three approaches from the pragmatics sub-field of linguistics: i) Gricean, ii) Relevance Theory, and Functional Analysis. Results of this linguistics-based approach descriptively account for the context of designer communication with respect to function and risk, and offer prescriptive guidelines for improving designer communication.

Barrientos, Francesca

Functional Allocation Approach for Separation Assurance for Remotely Piloted Aircraft

A functional analysis framework is employed with the objective of exploring the separation assurance function for the remotely piloted aircraft system. The architecture of the remotely piloted aircraft system—highlighting several of the component systems and the functions resident onboard the remotely piloted aircraft and in the ground control station—is described to provide the context for understanding the complexity of the said system for a detailed functional analysis. The interactions between the agents of the separation assurance function belonging to the air traffic service provider, remotely piloted aircraft system operator and remotely piloted aircraft are described. Separation assurance by air traffic control, remain well clear by the remotely piloted aircraft system and collision avoidance onboard the remotely piloted aircraft are briefly discussed. The functional analysis framework is illustrated by relating the agents to the actions of (a) acquiring the surveillance information, (b) checking for conflicts, (c) creating the solutions for resolving conflicts and (d) implementing the conflict resolution solutions. This example is offered as a template by which a more detailed functional analysis of this and other functions could be developed. The architecture of the remotely piloted aircraft system is described to aid this process.

functional analysis

Functional Allocation Approach for Separation Assurance for Remotely Piloted Aircraft

A functional analysis framework is employed with the objective of exploring the separation assurance function for the remotely piloted aircraft system. The architecture of the remotely piloted aircraft system—highlighting several of the component systems and the functions resident onboard the remotely piloted aircraft and in the ground control station—is described to provide the context for understanding the complexity of the said system for a detailed functional analysis. The interactions between the agents of the separation assurance function belonging to the air traffic service provider, remotely piloted aircraft system operator and remotely piloted aircraft are described. Separation assurance by air traffic control, remain well clear by the remotely piloted aircraft system and collision avoidance onboard the remotely piloted aircraft are briefly discussed. The functional analysis framework is illustrated by relating the agents to the actions of (a) acquiring the surveillance information, (b) checking for conflicts, (c) creating the solutions for resolving conflicts and (d) implementing the conflict resolution solutions. This example is offered as a template by which a more detailed functional analysis of this and other functions could be developed. The architecture of the remotely piloted aircraft system is described to aid this process.

Functional analysis

Subsonic Kernel-Function Flutter Analysis of a Highly Tapered Tail Surface and Comparison with Experimental Results

A flutter analysis employing the kernel function for three-dimensional, subsonic, compressible flow is applied to a flutter-tested tail surface which has an aspect ratio of 3.5, a taper ratio of 0.15, and a leading-edge sweep of 30 deg. Theoretical and experimental results are compared at Mach numbers from 0.75 to 0.98. Good agreement between theoretical and experimental flutter dynamic pressures and frequencies is achieved at Mach numbers to 0.92. At Mach numbers from 0.92 to 0.98, however, a second solution to the flutter determinant results in a spurious theoretical flutter boundary which is at a much lower dynamic pressure and at a much higher frequency than the experimental boundary.

Walberg, Gerald D.

Functional Data Analysis of Spaceflight-Induced Changes in Coordination and Phase in Head Pitch Acceleration During Treadmill Walking

Astronauts returning from spaceflight experience neurovestibular disturbances during head movements and attempt to mitigate them by limiting head motion. Analyses to date of the head movements made during walking have concentrated on amplitude and variability measures extracted from ensemble averages of individual gait cycles. Phase shifts within each gait cycle can be determined by functional data analysis through the computation of time-warping functions. Large, localized variations in the timing of peaks in head kinematics may indicate changes in coordination. The purpose of this study was to determine timing changes in head pitch acceleration of astronauts during treadmill walking before and after flight. Six astronauts (5M/1F; age = 43.5+/-6.4yr) participated in the study. Subjects walked at 1.8 m/sec (4 mph) on a motorized treadmill while reading optotypes displayed on a computer screen 4 m in front of their eyes. Three-dimensional motion of the subject s head was recorded with an Inertial Measurement Unit (IMU) device. Data were recorded twice before flight and four times after landing. The head pitch acceleration was calculated by taking the time derivative of the pitch velocity data from the IMU. Data for each session with each subject were time-normalized into gait cycles, then registered to align significant features and create a mean curve. The mean curves of each postflight session for each subject were re-registered based on their preflight mean curve to create time-warping functions. The root mean squares (RMS) of these warping functions were calculated to assess the deviation of head pitch acceleration mean curves in each postflight session from the preflight mean curve. After landing, most crewmembers exhibited localized shifts within their head pitch acceleration regimes, with the greatest deviations in RMS occurring on landing day or 1 day after landing. These results show that the alteration of head pitch coordination due to spaceflight may be assessed using an analysis of time-warping functions.

Miller, Christopher

Improvements to GCAS Visualization Functionality

Analysis of communication systems is crucial to NASA objectives, whether located here on Earth or on a cosmic scale. The Glenn Research Center Communication Analysis Suite (GCAS) is software designed for analysis of communication systems throughout the solar system. This suite includes web-based visualization software that is used to simulate the data generated from the GCAS MATLAB® (The MathWorks, Inc.) capability. This report focuses on recent additions to the visualization portion of GCAS, including the motivation and methodology behind them. Notable additions include improved camera controls, such as novel first- and third-person settings, methods for displaying pertinent analysis information, finer control over timing mechanisms, and automated features designed to improve efficiency and memory usage.

Visualization

Orbital maneuvering subsystem functional path analysis for performance monitoring fault detection and annunciation

The functional paths of the Orbital Maneuver Subsystem (OMS) is defined. The operational flight instrumentation required for performance monitoring, fault detection, and annunciation is described. The OMS is a pressure fed rocket engine propulsion subsystem. One complete OMS shares each of the two auxiliary propulsion subsystem pods with a reaction control subsystem. Each OMS is composed of a pressurization system, a propellant tanking system, and a gimbaled rocket engine. The design, development, and operation of the system are explained. Diagrams of the system are provided.

Keesler, E. L.

Certification of tactics and strategies in aviation

The paper suggests that the 'tactics and strategies' notion is a highly suitable paradigm to describe the cognitive involvement of human operators in advanced aviation systems (far more suitable than classical functional analysis), and that the workload and situational awareness of operators are intimately associated with the planning and execution of their tactics and strategies. If system designers have muddled views about the collective tactics and strategies to be used during operation, they will produce sub-optimum designs. If operators use unproven and/or inappropriate tactics and strategies, the system may fail. The author wants to make a point that, beyond certification of people or system designs, there may be a need to go into more detail and examine (certify?) the set of tactics and strategies (i.e., the Operational Concept) which makes the people and systems perform as expected. The collective tactics and strategies determine the information flows and situational awareness which exists in organizations and composite human-machine systems. The available infrastructure and equipment (automation) enable these information flows and situational awareness, but are at the same time the constraining factor. Frequently, the tactics and strategies are driven by technology, whereas we would rather like to see a system designed to support an optimized Operational Concept, i.e., to support a sufficiently coherent, cooperative and modular set of anticipation and planning mechanisms. Again, in line with the view of MacLeod and Taylor (1993), this technology driven situation may be caused by the system designer's and operator job designer's over-emphasis on functional analysis (a mechanistic engineering concept), at the expense of a subject which does not seem to be well understood today: the role of the (human cognitive and/or automated) tactics and strategies which are embedded in composite human-machine systems. Research would be needed to arrive at a generally accepted 'planning theory' which can elevate the analysis, description and design of tactics and strategies from today's cottage industry methods to an engineering discipline. The available infrastructure and equipment (automation) enable these information flows and situational awareness, but are at the same time the constraining factor. Frequently, the tactics and strategies are driven by technology, whereas we would rather like to see a system designed to support an optimized Operational Concept, i.e., to support a sufficiently coherent, cooperative and modular set of anticipation and planning mechanisms. Again, in line with the view of MacLeod and Taylor (1993), this technology driven situation may be caused by the system designer's and operator job designer's over-emphasis on functional analysis (a mechanistic engineering concept), at the expense of a subject which does not seem to be well understood today: the role of the (human cognitive and/or automated) tactics and strategies which are embedded in composite human-machine systems. Research would be needed to arrive at a generally accepted 'planning theory' which can evaluate the analysis, description and design of tactics and strategies from today's cottage industry methods to an engineering discipline.

Koelman, Hartmut

Application of modified profile analysis to function testing of simulated CTOL transport touchdown-performance data

The modification to the methodology of profile analysis to accommodate the testing of differences between two functions with a single test, rather than multiple tests at various values of the abscissa, is described and demonstrated for two sets of simulation-performance data. The first application was to a flight-simulation comparison of pilot-vehicle performance with a three-element refractive display to performance with a more widely used beam-splitter-reflective-mirror display system. The results demonstrate that the refractive system for out-the-window scene display provides equivalent performance to the reflective system. The second application demonstrates the detection of significant differences by modified profile-analysis procedures. This application compares the effects of two sets of pitch-axis force-feel characteristics on the sink rate at touchdown performance utilizing the refractive system. This experiment demonstrates the dependence of simulator sink-rate performance on force-feel characteristics.

Parrish, R. V.

Spatial and temporal variability of VAS radiance measurements by structure and correlation analysis

The statistical structure function analysis presently applied to VISSR Atmospheric Sounder (VAS) measurements has been extended to include time, and yields structure plots in either two spatial dimensions or one spatial dimension and time that indicate three-dimensional measurement variability. The analyses that include time as a coordinate also yield an indication of the mean speed and direction of the analyzed data. Results for three-hourly VAS data indicate that sampling at a high, approximately 1-hour, frequency is required in order to correctly monitor VAS measurements' temporal variability in a way equivalent to high spatial resolution.

Hillger, Donald W.

An evaluation of a coupled microstructural approach for the analysis of functionally graded composites via the finite-element method

A comparison is presented between the predictions of the finite-element analysis and a recently developed higher-order theory for functionally graded materials subjected to a thorough-thickness temperature gradient. In contrast to existing micromechanical theories that utilize classical (i.e., uncoupled) homogenization schemes to calculate micro-level and macro-level stress and displacement fields in materials with uniform or nonuniform fiber spacing (i.e., functionally graded materials), the new theory explicitly couples the microstructural details with the macrostructure of the composite. Previous thermo-elastic analysis has demonstrated that such coupling is necessary when: the temperature gradient is large with respect to the dimension of the reinforcement; the characteristic dimension of the reinforcement is large relative to the global dimensions of the composite and the number of reinforcing fibers or inclusions is small. In these circumstances, the standard micromechanical analyses based on the concept of the representative volume element used to determine average composite properties produce questionable results. The comparison between the predictions of the finite-element method and the higher-order theory presented herein establish the theory's accuracy in predicting thermal and stress fields within composites with a finite number of fibers in the thickness direction subjected to a thorough-thickness thermal gradient.

Pindera, Marek-Jerzy

Spatial and Temporal Coherence of SeaWiFS Chlorophyll Concentration Anomalies in the North Atlantic Bloom (1998-2005) Examined with Giovanni

The availability of climatological chlorophyll-a concentration data products from the SeaWiFS mission spanning the eight-year mission period allowed the creation of a climatological anomaly analysis function in Giovanni, the GES DISC Interactive Online Visualization and ANalysis Infrastructure. This study utilizes the Giovanni anomaly analysis function to examine mesoscale anomalies in the North Atlantic Ocean during the springtime North Atlantic Bloom. This examination indicates that areas exhibiting positive anomalies and areas exhibiting negative anomalies are coherent over significant spatial scales, with relatively abrupt boundaries between areas with positive and negative anomalies. Year-to-year variability in anomaly "intensity" can be caused by either variability in the temporal occurrence of the bloom peak or by variability in the peak chlorophyll concentration in a particular area. The study will also discuss the feasibility of combining chlorophyll anomaly analysis with other data types.

Acker, James G.

Application of modified profile analysis to function testing of the motion/no-motion issue in an aircraft ground-handling simulation

A recent modification of the methodology of profile analysis, which allows the testing for differences between two functions as a whole with a single test, rather than point by point with multiple tests is discussed. The modification is applied to the examination of the issue of motion/no motion conditions as shown by the lateral deviation curve as a function of engine cut speed of a piloted 737-100 simulator. The results of this application are presented along with those of more conventional statistical test procedures on the same simulator data.

Parrish, R. V.