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NASA NTRS2004

NASA Processes and Requirements for Conducting Human-in-the-Loop Closed Chamber Tests

NASA has specific processes and requirements that must be followed for tests involving human subjects to be conducted in a safe and effective manner. There are five distinct phases of test operations. Phase one, the test request phase, consists of those activities related to initiating, processing, reviewing, and evaluating the test request. Phase two, the test preparation phase consists of those activities related to planning, coordinating, documenting, and building up the test. Phase three, the test readiness phase consists of those activities related to verifying and reviewing the planned test operations. Phase four, the test activity phase, consists of all pretest operations, functional checkouts, emergency drills, and test operations. Phase five, the post test activity phase, consists of those activities performed once the test is completed, including briefings, documentation of anomalies, data reduction and archiving, and reporting. Project management processes must be followed for facility modifications and major test buildup, which include six phases: initiation and assessment, requirements evaluation, preliminary design, detailed design, use readiness review (URR) and acceptance. Compliance with requirements for safety and quality assurance are documented throughout the test buildup and test operation processes. Tests involving human subjects must be reviewed by the applicable Institutional Review Board (IRB).

Barta, Daniel J.↗

NASA NTRS2008

Population Analysis: Communicating in Context

Providing accommodation to a widely varying user population presents a challenge to engineers and designers. It is often even difficult to quantify who is accommodated and who is not accommodated by designs, especially for equipment with multiple critical anthropometric dimensions. An approach to communicating levels of accommodation referred to as population analysis applies existing human factors techniques in novel ways. This paper discusses the definition of population analysis as well as major applications and case studies. The major applications of population analysis consist of providing accommodation information for multivariate problems and enhancing the value of feedback from human-in-the-loop testing. The results of these analyses range from the provision of specific accommodation percentages of the user population to recommendations of design specifications based on quantitative data. Such feedback is invaluable to designers and results in the design of products that accommodate the intended user population.

Rajulu, Sudhakar↗

NASA NTRS2008

Design and Verification

As future space missions become longer, an important aspect to consider is the habitability of the spacecraft. The amount of habitable volume affects not only astronaut comfort, but safety and mission success as well. However, as the volume is increased to aid in task performance, the weight of the vehicle and cost of the mission escalates in proportion. Pressure to reduce mission cost is constant, but the risk to mission success and crew survival must remain the priorities. The Constellation Program's Altair Lunar Lander is designed for short duration surface operation missions of seven to ten days. For short duration missions, humans will tolerate fairly primitive environmental situations provided the basic physiological arrangements are acceptable. However, for long-duration lunar surface operations, the living and operational spaces within which the crew work must provide both the essentials of life, as well as the support necessary for the crew to be productive in accomplishing their mission. The Altair is still in the preliminary design phase, which is the optimal time for Human Factors data to be provided to designers and engineers. A Human Centered Design (HCD) approach is being taken with our Human Factors evaluations. Human-in-the-loop testing is conducted using low-medium fidelity mock-ups of proposed lunar architecture. Based on current ConOps (Concept of Operations) procedures, a task analysis is performed in which individual tasks are combined into larger operational scenarios. Subjective and objective performance measures are gathered at both the task and scenario level. These scores are used to determine the functionality of the vehicle in terms of task performance. Results from these evaluations will highlight areas for design or operational improvement.

Thompson, Shelby G.↗

NASA NTRS2004

Formal Verification of a Conflict Resolution and Recovery Algorithm

New air traffic management concepts distribute the duty of traffic separation among system participants. As a consequence, these concepts have a greater dependency and rely heavily on on-board software and hardware systems. One example of a new on-board capability in a distributed air traffic management system is air traffic conflict detection and resolution (CD&R). Traditional methods for safety assessment such as human-in-the-loop simulations, testing, and flight experiments may not be sufficient for this highly distributed system as the set of possible scenarios is too large to have a reasonable coverage. This paper proposes a new method for the safety assessment of avionics systems that makes use of formal methods to drive the development of critical systems. As a case study of this approach, the mechanical veri.cation of an algorithm for air traffic conflict resolution and recovery called RR3D is presented. The RR3D algorithm uses a geometric optimization technique to provide a choice of resolution and recovery maneuvers. If the aircraft adheres to these maneuvers, they will bring the aircraft out of conflict and the aircraft will follow a conflict-free path to its original destination. Veri.cation of RR3D is carried out using the Prototype Verification System (PVS).

Maddalon, Jeffrey↗

NASA NTRS2009

Usability: Human Research Program - Space Human Factors and Habitability

The Usability project addresses the need for research in the area of metrics and methodologies used in hardware and software usability testing in order to define quantifiable and verifiable usability requirements. A usability test is a human-in-the-loop evaluation where a participant works through a realistic set of representative tasks using the hardware/software under investigation. The purpose of this research is to define metrics and methodologies for measuring and verifying usability in the aerospace domain in accordance with FY09 focus on errors, consistency, and mobility/maneuverability. Usability metrics must be predictive of success with the interfaces, must be easy to obtain and/or calculate, and must meet the intent of current Human Systems Integration Requirements (HSIR). Methodologies must work within the constraints of the aerospace domain, be cost and time efficient, and be able to be applied without extensive specialized training.

Sandor, Aniko↗

NASA NTRS2026

Overview of Past and Future EVA Suit Testing and Training in Chamber B at NASA JSC

The Crew and Thermal System Division’s Chamber B has received an increase in demand for next generation suit testing. Chamber B is the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Johnson Space Center’s only human-rated thermal vacuum (TVAC) chamber. Historically it was used in Gemini, Apollo, Skylab, Shuttle, and the International Space Station (ISS) suit tests. Recently, the chamber has been returned to service with new capabilities for suit testing. In 2023, The Exploration Extravehicular Mobility Unit (xEMU) underwent a 5-day, extensive thermal vacuum test that included both a full-bodied Exploration Pressure Garment Suit (xPGS) as well as a high fidelity Short xEMU. SpaceX has also used the chamber for human-in-the-loop (HITL) qualification and acceptance testing on their flight Polaris Dawn suits for the first-ever commercial extravehicular activity (EVA). Current chamber Manlock B2 upgrades include the support of two test subjects at the same time with updated chamber interface and support systems for the next generation of suits. This paper will discuss the history of spacesuit testing in the chamber, the recent testing for commercial and NASA suits, and upgrades to accommodate new test requirements.

Human-in-the-loop↗

NASA NTRS2026

Overview of Past and Future EVA Suit Testing and Training in Chamber B at NASA JSC

Polaris Dawn↗

NASA NTRS2004

Design of a Multi-mode Flight Deck Decision Support System for Airborne Conflict Management

NASA Langley has developed a multi-mode decision support system for pilots operating in a Distributed Air-Ground Traffic Management (DAG-TM) environment. An Autonomous Operations Planner (AOP) assists pilots in performing separation assurance functions, including conflict detection, prevention, and resolution. Ongoing AOP design has been based on a comprehensive human factors analysis and evaluation results from previous human-in-the-loop experiments with airline pilot test subjects. AOP considers complex flight mode interactions and provides flight guidance to pilots consistent with the current aircraft control state. Pilots communicate goals to AOP by setting system preferences and actively probing potential trajectories for conflicts. To minimize training requirements and improve operational use, AOP design leverages existing alerting philosophies, displays, and crew interfaces common on commercial aircraft. Future work will consider trajectory prediction uncertainties, integration with the TCAS collision avoidance system, and will incorporate enhancements based on an upcoming air-ground coordination experiment.

Barhydt, Richard↗

NASA NTRS2009

Human Factors Assessment of Vibration Effects on Visual Performance During Launch

The Human Factors Assessment of Vibration Effects on Visual Performance During Launch (Visual Performance) investigation will determine visual performance limits during operational vibration and g-loads on the Space Shuttle, specifically through the determination of minimum readable font size during ascent using planned Orion display formats. Research Summary: The aim of the Human Factors Assessment of Vibration Effects on Visual Performance during Launch (Visual Performance) investigation is to provide supplementary data to that collected by the Thrust Oscillation Seat Detailed Technical Objective (DTO) 695 (Crew Seat DTO) which will measure seat acceleration and vibration from one flight deck and two middeck seats during ascent. While the Crew Seat DTO data alone are important in terms of providing a measure of vibration and g-loading, human performance data are required to fully interpret the operational consequences of the vibration values collected during Space Shuttle ascent. During launch, crewmembers will be requested to view placards with varying font sizes and indicate the minimum readable size. In combination with the Crew Seat DTO, the Visual Performance investigation will: Provide flight-validated evidence that will be used to establish vibration limits for visual performance during combined vibration and linear g-loading. o Provide flight data as inputs to ongoing ground-based simulations, which will further validate crew visual performance under vibration loading in a controlled environment. o Provide vibration and performance metrics to help validate procedures for ground tests and analyses of seats, suits, displays and controls, and human-in-the-loop performance.

Kritina Holden↗

NASA NTRS2005

Conflict Resolution Performance in an Experimental Study of En Route Free Maneuvering Operations

NASA has developed a far-term air traffic management concept, termed Distributed Air/Ground Traffic Management (DAG-TM). One component of DAG-TM, En Route Free Maneuvering, allows properly trained flight crews of equipped autonomous aircraft to assume responsibility for separation from other autonomous aircraft and from Instrument Flight Rules (IFR) aircraft. Ground-based air traffic controllers continue to separate IFR traffic and issue flow management constraints to all aircraft. To examine En Route Free Maneuvering operations, a joint human-in-the-loop experiment was conducted in summer 2004 at the NASA Ames and Langley Research Centers. Test subject pilots used desktop flight simulators to resolve traffic conflicts and adhere to air traffic flow constraints issued by subject controllers. The experimental airspace integrated both autonomous and IFR aircraft at varying traffic densities. This paper presents a subset of the En Route Free Maneuvering experimental results, focusing on airborne and ground-based conflict resolution, and the effects of increased traffic levels on the ability of pilots and air traffic controllers to perform this task. The results show that, in general, increases in autonomous traffic do not significantly impact conflict resolution performance. In addition, pilot acceptability of autonomous operations remains high throughout the range of traffic densities studied. Together with previously reported findings, these results continue to support the feasibility of the En Route Free Maneuvering component of DAG-TM.

Doble, Nathan A.↗

NASA NTRS2005

Airborne Management of Traffic Conflicts in Descent With Arrival Constraints

NASA is studying far-term air traffic management concepts that may increase operational efficiency through a redistribution of decisionmaking authority among airborne and ground-based elements of the air transportation system. One component of this research, En Route Free Maneuvering, allows trained pilots of equipped autonomous aircraft to assume responsibility for traffic separation. Ground-based air traffic controllers would continue to separate traffic unequipped for autonomous operations and would issue flow management constraints to all aircraft. To evaluate En Route Free Maneuvering operations, a human-in-the-loop experiment was jointly conducted by the NASA Ames and Langley Research Centers. In this experiment, test subject pilots used desktop flight simulators to resolve conflicts in cruise and descent, and to adhere to air traffic flow constraints issued by test subject controllers. Simulators at NASA Langley were equipped with a prototype Autonomous Operations Planner (AOP) flight deck toolset to assist pilots with conflict management and constraint compliance tasks. Results from the experiment are presented, focusing specifically on operations during the initial descent into the terminal area. Airborne conflict resolution performance in descent, conformance to traffic flow management constraints, and the effects of conflicting traffic on constraint conformance are all presented. Subjective data from subject pilots are also presented, showing perceived levels of workload, safety, and acceptability of autonomous arrival operations. Finally, potential AOP functionality enhancements are discussed along with suggestions to improve arrival procedures.

Doble, Nathan A.↗

NASA NTRS2007

Usability Study of Two Collocated Prototype System Displays

Currently, most of the displays in control rooms can be categorized as status screens, alerts/procedures screens (or paper), or control screens (where the state of a component is changed by the operator). The primary focus of this line of research is to determine which pieces of information (status, alerts/procedures, and control) should be collocated. Two collocated displays were tested for ease of understanding in an automated desktop survey. This usability study was conducted as a prelude to a larger human-in-the-loop experiment in order to verify that the 2 new collocated displays were easy to learn and usable. The results indicate that while the DC display was preferred and yielded better performance than the MDO display, both collocated displays can be easily learned and used.

Trujillo, Anna C.↗

NASA NTRS1999

Development of a Free-Flight Simulation Infrastructure

In anticipation of a projected rise in demand for air transportation, NASA and the FAA are researching new air-traffic-management (ATM) concepts that fall under the paradigm known broadly as ":free flight". This paper documents the software development and engineering efforts in progress by Seagull Technology, to develop a free-flight simulation (FFSIM) that is intended to help NASA researchers test mature-state concepts for free flight, otherwise referred to in this paper as distributed air / ground traffic management (DAG TM). Under development is a distributed, human-in-the-loop simulation tool that is comprehensive in its consideration of current and envisioned communication, navigation and surveillance (CNS) components, and will allow evaluation of critical air and ground traffic management technologies from an overall systems perspective. The FFSIM infrastructure is designed to incorporate all three major components of the ATM triad: aircraft flight decks, air traffic control (ATC), and (eventually) airline operational control (AOC) centers.

Miles, Eric S.↗

NASA NTRS2004

Data Management for Mars Exploration Rovers

Data Management for the Mars Exploration Rovers (MER) project is a comprehensive system addressing the needs of development, test, and operations phases of the mission. During development of flight software, including the science software, the data management system can be simulated using any POSIX file system. During testing, the on-board file system can be bit compared with files on the ground to verify proper behavior and end-to-end data flows. During mission operations, end-to-end accountability of data products is supported, from science observation concept to data products within the permanent ground repository. Automated and human-in-the-loop ground tools allow decisions regarding retransmitting, re-prioritizing, and deleting data products to be made using higher level information than is available to a protocol-stack approach such as the CCSDS File Delivery Protocol (CFDP).

Mars missions↗

NASA NTRS2005

Pilot Preference, Compliance, and Performance With an Airborne Conflict Management Toolset

A human-in-the-loop experiment was conducted at the NASA Ames and Langley Research Centers, investigating the En Route Free Maneuvering component of a future air traffic management concept termed Distributed Air/Ground Traffic Management (DAG-TM). NASA Langley test subject pilots used the Autonomous Operations Planner (AOP) airborne toolset to detect and resolve traffic conflicts, interacting with subject pilots and air traffic controllers at NASA Ames. Experimental results are presented, focusing on conflict resolution maneuver choices, AOP resolution guidance acceptability, and performance metrics. Based on these results, suggestions are made to further improve the AOP interface and functionality.

Doble, Nathan A.↗

NASA NTRS2008

Pilot In-Trail Procedure Validation Simulation Study

A Human-In-The-Loop experiment was conducted at the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Langley Research Center (LaRC) to investigate the viability of the In-Trail Procedure (ITP) concept from a flight crew perspective, by placing participating airline pilots in a simulated oceanic flight environment. The test subject pilots used new onboard avionics equipment that provided improved information about nearby traffic and enabled them, when specific criteria were met, to request an ITP flight level change referencing one or two nearby aircraft that might otherwise block the flight level change. The subject pilots subjective assessments of ITP validity and acceptability were measured via questionnaires and discussions, and their objective performance in appropriately selecting, requesting, and performing ITP flight level changes was evaluated for each simulated flight scenario. Objective performance and subjective workload assessment data from the experiment s test conditions were analyzed for statistical and operational significance and are reported in the paper. Based on these results, suggestions are made to further improve the ITP.

Bussink, Frank J. L.↗

NASA NTRS2005

Evaluation of Airborne Precision Spacing in a Human-in-the-Loop Experiment

A significant bottleneck in the current air traffic system occurs at the runway. Expanding airports and adding new runways will help solve this problem; however, this comes with significant costs: financially, politically and environmentally. A complementary solution is to safely increase the capacity of current runways. This can be achieved by precisely spacing aircraft at the runway threshold, with a resulting reduction in the spacing bu er required under today s operations. At NASA's Langley Research Center, the Airspace Systems program has been investigating airborne technologies and procedures that will assist the flight crew in achieving precise spacing behind another aircraft. A new spacing clearance allows the pilot to follow speed cues from a new on-board guidance system called Airborne Merging and Spacing for Terminal Arrivals (AMSTAR). AMSTAR receives Automatic Dependent Surveillance-Broadcast (ADS-B) reports from an assigned, leading aircraft and calculates the appropriate speed for the ownship to fly to achieve the desired spacing interval, time- or distance-based, at the runway threshold. Since the goal is overall system capacity, the speed guidance algorithm is designed to provide system-wide benefits and stability to a string of arriving aircraft. An experiment was recently performed at the NASA Langley Air Traffic Operations Laboratory (ATOL) to test the flexibility of Airborne Precision Spacing operations under a variety of operational conditions. These included several types of merge and approach geometries along with the complementary merging and in-trail operations. Twelve airline pilots and four controllers participated in this simulation. Performance and questionnaire data were collected from a total of eighty-four individual arrivals. The pilots were able to achieve precise spacing with a mean error of 0.5 seconds and a standard deviation of 4.7 seconds. No statistically significant di erences in spacing performance were found between in-trail and merging operations or among the three modeled airspaces. Questionnaire data showed general acceptance for both pilots and controllers. These results reinforce previous findings from full-mission simulation and flight evaluation of the in-trail operations. This paper reviews the results of this simulation in detail.

Barmore, Bryan E.↗

NASA NTRS1988

A knowledge-based approach to identification and adaptation in dynamical systems control

Artificial intelligence techniques are applied to the problems of model form and parameter identification of large-scale dynamic systems. The object-oriented knowledge representation is discussed in the context of causal modeling and qualitative reasoning. Structured sets of rules are used for implementing qualitative component simulations, for catching qualitative discrepancies and quantitative bound violations, and for making reconfiguration and control decisions that affect the physical system. These decisions are executed by backward-chaining through a knowledge base of control action tasks. This approach was implemented for two examples: a triple quadrupole mass spectrometer and a two-phase thermal testbed. Results of tests with both of these systems demonstrate that the software replicates some or most of the functionality of a human operator, thereby reducing the need for a human-in-the-loop in the lower levels of control of these complex systems.

Glass, B. J.↗