Browsing by Author "Braithwaite, Graham"
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Item Open Access The analysis of occurrences associated with air traffic volume and air traffic controllers’ alertness for fatigue risk management(Wiley, 2020-09-13) Li, Wen‐Chin; Kearney, Peter; Zhang, Jingyi; Hsu, Yueh-Ling; Braithwaite, GrahamFatigue is an inevitable hazard in the provision of air traffic services and it has the potential to degrade human performance leading to occurrences. The International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) requires air navigation services which providers establish fatigue risk management systems (FRMS) based on scientific principles for the purpose of managing fatigue. To develop effective FRMSs, it is important to investigate the relationship between traffic volume, air traffic management occurrences, and fatigue. Fifty‐seven qualified ATCOs from a European Air Navigation Services provider participated in this research by providing data indicating their alertness levels over the course of a 24‐hour period. ATCOs’ fatigue data were compared against the total of 153 occurrences and 962,328 air traffic volumes from the Eurocontrol TOKAI incident database in 2019. The result demonstrated that ATCO fatigue levels are not the main contributory factor associated with air traffic management occurrences, although fatigue did impact ATCOs’ performance. High traffic volume increases ATCO cognitive task load that can surpass available attention resources leading to occurrences. Furthermore, human resilience drives ATCOs to maintain operational safety though they suffer from circadian fatigue. Consequently, FRMS appropriately implemented can be used to mitigate the effects of fatigue. First‐line countermeasure strategies should focus on enough rest breaks and roster schedule optimization; secondary strategies should focus on monitoring ATCOs’ task loads that may induce fatigue. It is vital to consider traffic volume and ATCOs’ alertness levels when implementing effective fatigue risk management protocols.Item Open Access Aspects and challenges of unmanned aircraft systems safety assurance and certification for advanced operations(AIAA, 2021-07-28) Karyotakis, Michail K.; Panagiotakopoulos, Dimitrios; Braithwaite, Graham; Tsourdos, AntoniosLike manned aviation, a Safety Management System (SMS) needs to be developed for Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS) taking into account their unique characteristics, and the huge variety of different operations they can perform. Towards developing a SMS for unmanned aviation this paper focuses on Safety Assurance and Certification for advanced UAS operations. Based on the manned aviation practices and the Concepts of Operations (ConOps) that have been developed for UAS, this paper examines two indicative operational scenarios (OS) in unmanned aviation identifying the gaps in the view of the safety assurance and certification processes. The findings form the basis for the proposal and development of a new safety management framework for certain UAS operations. The examination of OS shows that operation-centric operational approvals as well as faster integration of UAS to the current airspace may be possible under certain conditions.Item Open Access Augmented visualization cues on primary flight display facilitating pilot's monitoring performance(Elsevier, 2019-11-14) Li, Wen-Chin; Horn, Andreas; Sun, Zhen; Zhang, Jingyi; Braithwaite, GrahamThere have been many aviation accidents and incidents related to mode confusion on the flight deck. The aim of this research is to evaluate human-computer interactions on a newly designed augmented visualization Primary Flight Display (PFD) compared with the traditional design of PFD. Based on statistical analysis of 20 participants interaction with the system, there are significant differences on pilots’ pupil dilation, fixation duration, fixation counts and mental demand between the traditional PFD design and augmented PFD. The results demonstrated that augmented visualisation PFD, which uses a green border around the “raw data” of airspeed, altitude or heading indications to highlight activated mode changes, can significantly enhance pilots’ situation awareness and decrease perceived workload. Pilots can identify the status of flight modes more easily, rapidly and accurately compared to the traditional PFD, thus shortening the response time on cognitive information processing. This could also be the reason why fixation durations on augmented PFDs were significantly shorter than traditional PFDs. The augmented visualization in the flight deck improves pilots’ situation awareness as indicated by increased fixation counts related to attention distribution. Simply highlighting the parameters on the PFD with a green border in association with relevant flight mode changes will greatly reduce pilots’ perceived workload and increase situation awareness. Flight deck design must focus on methods to provide pilots with enhanced situation awareness, thus decreasing cognitive processing requirements by providing intuitive understanding in time limited situations.Item Open Access Data supporting: 'Quick coherence technique facilitating commercial pilots' psychophysiological resilience to the impact of COVID-19'(Cranfield University, 2022-11-23 16:29) Li, Wenliang; Zhang, Jingyi; Braithwaite, Graham; Kearney, PeterEighteen commercial pilots voluntarily participated in a two-day training on quick coherence technique (QCT) following a two-month self-regulated practicing QCT during the controlled rest breaks in the flight deck and day-to day life. There are subjective and objective assessments to evaluate the effects on QCT biofeedback.Item Open Access Data supporting: 'The influence of augmented reality interaction design on Pilot's perceived workload and situation awareness'(Cranfield University, 2022-11-23 15:59) Li, Wen-Chin; Zhang, Jingyi; Court, Samuel; Braithwaite, Graham; Kearney, PeterThis work explored the potential for Augmented Reality (AR) rendering information superimposed over the flight deck to increase a pilot€™s situation awareness (SA). This emerging technology introduced novel human-computer interaction paradigms that would have impact on pilot€™s cognitive demands.Item Open Access The development and deployment of a maintenance operations safety survey(Sage, 2016-07-13) Langer, Marie; Braithwaite, GrahamObjective: Based on the line operations safety audit (LOSA), two studies were conducted to develop and deploy an equivalent tool for aircraft maintenance: the maintenance operations safety survey (MOSS). Background: Safety in aircraft maintenance is currently measured reactively, based on the number of audit findings, reportable events, incidents, or accidents. Proactive safety tools designed for monitoring routine operations, such as flight data monitoring and LOSA, have been developed predominantly for flight operations. Method: In Study 1, development of MOSS, 12 test peer-to-peer observations were collected to investigate the practicalities of this approach. In Study 2, deployment of MOSS, seven expert observers collected 56 peer-to-peer observations of line maintenance checks at four stations. Narrative data were coded and analyzed according to the threat and error management (TEM) framework. Results: In Study 1, a line check was identified as a suitable unit of observation. Communication and third-party data management were the key factors in gaining maintainer trust. Study 2 identified that on average, maintainers experienced 7.8 threats (operational complexities) and committed 2.5 errors per observation. The majority of threats and errors were inconsequential. Links between specific threats and errors leading to 36 undesired states were established. Conclusion: This research demonstrates that observations of routine maintenance operations are feasible. TEM-based results highlight successful management strategies that maintainers employ on a day-to-day basis. Application: MOSS is a novel approach for safety data collection and analysis. It helps practitioners understand the nature of maintenance errors, promote an informed culture, and support safety management systems in the maintenance domain.Item Open Access The development of eye tracking in aviation (ETA) technique to investigate pilot's cognitive processes of attention and decision-making(European Association for Aviation Psychology, 2016-09-30) Li, Wen-Chin; Lin, John J. H.; Braithwaite, Graham; Greaves, MattEye tracking device had provided researchers a promising way to investigate what pilot‘s cognitive processes when they see information present on the flight deck. There are 35 participants consisted by pilots and avionics engineers participated in current research. The research apparatus include an eye tracker and a flight simulator divided by five AOIs for data collection. The research aims are to develop cost-efficiency of eye tracking technique in order to facilitate scientific research of cognition and decision-making in aviation. The results indicated that participants’ eye movement patterns did have significant differences on the following variables including fixation count, F(4, 136) = 601.01, p < .001; average fixation duration, F(4, 136) = 100.87, p < .001; percentage of total fixations, F(4, 136) = 779.92, p < .001, and average pupil area, F(4, 136)=2.51, p < .05. The findings demonstrated that eye tracker is a suitable tool to investigate pilots’ cognitive process of attention and decision-making on flight deck. Furthermore, it can be applied to improve pilots’ SA and decision-making during flight operations.Item Open Access The development of the maintenance operations safety survey: challenges in transferring a predictive safety tool from flight operations to aircraft maintenance(International Society of Air Safety Investigators, 2012-08) Langer, Marie; Braithwaite, GrahamPredicting human behaviour and managing human error is arguably the greatest challenge facing the aviation industry today (Shappell and Wiegmann, 2009). In order to gain a better understanding of human behaviour and overall organizational safety performance, the industry is moving towards monitoring of normal operations (Helmreich et al., 2003). One of the key advantages is the learning opportunity without the negative consequences and associated costs of an incident or accident. Predictive tools such as the Line Operations Safety Audit (LOSA) provide objective information of routine operational performance, complement existing safety data collection programs and are endorsed by the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO).Item Open Access Establishing best practices in the use of an upgraded airborne teaching laboratory(Cambridge University Press, 2023-07-25) Daniels, Steven; Braithwaite, Graham; Gratton, GuySince the 1980s National Flying Laboratory Centre has used the Jetstream family of aircraft as a flying classroom, providing university students and developing professionals with real-world exposure to theoretical concepts in the form of practical flight test instruction. Recently the Jetstream was replaced with a newer Saab-340B. The work in this paper presents an experimental analysis of instruction using the Jetstream, compared with known best practices, to inform its replacement process. Flight activities were observed, and participating students (n = 60) were surveyed at four set intervals to establish their mood and interest towards the module. A pen and paper test, comparing what participants learned compared to a controlled group was also administered. While the module was still able to excite, motivate and re-contextualise previously taught information to students, upgrades to the aging technology suite, specifically to support data analysis and briefing was one of the greatest needs from the newer aircraft.Item Open Access Establishing best practices in the use of an upgraded airborne teaching laboratory [data](Cranfield University, 2024-02-19 11:32) Daniels, Steven; Gratton, Guy; Braithwaite, GrahamQualitative and Quantitative date used to inform the paper "Establishing best practices in the use of an upgraded airborne teaching laboratory"Item Open Access Future flight deck design: developing an innovative touchscreen inceptor combined with the primary flight display(Elsevier, 2024-04-27) Wang, Yifan; Li, Wen-Chin; Korek, Wojciech Tomasz; Braithwaite, GrahamThe touchscreen has the potential to optimize the space usage and efficiency of the flight deck. Currently, touchscreens can combine the input and output functions of different systems. However, it does not yet serve as an inceptor to replace the sidestick or control column for aircraft manoeuvres. This study aims to examine the potential of a touchscreen as a flight inceptor compared with a traditional sidestick and gamepad. This research recruited 72 participants who interacted with three inceptors for both an instrument landing with disturbance and without disturbance using the Future System Simulator. The findings demonstrated that pilot performance, system usability and pilots’ situation awareness of touchscreen inceptors were significantly inferior to those of traditional sidesticks and gamepads. Compared to the sidestick and gamepad, the touchscreen provided a poorer situation awareness with the highest supply and demand. In addition, the performance of all inceptors was significantly influenced by disturbance. There is still a long way to go for certification of a touchscreen as an inceptor on the future flight deck. This research showed that even though the touchscreen inceptor scored the lowest on both SUS and SART, the majority of pilots agreed that the touchscreen inceptor provided a better attentional supply in challenging disturbance circumstances, providing proof of concept for its possible inclusion in flight deck design. There is a potential that the emerging touchscreen as an inceptor may develop further along with human-system integration flight deck design.Item Open Access How much is too much on monitoring tasks? Visual scan patterns of single air traffic controller performing multiple remote tower operations(Elsevier, 2018-05-26) Li, Wen-Chin; Kearney, Peter; Braithwaite, Graham; Lin, John J. H.The innovative concept of multiple remote tower operation (MRTO) is where a single air traffic controller (ATCO) provides air traffic services to two or more different airports from a geographically separated virtual Tower. Effective visual scanning by the air traffic controller is the main safety concern for human-computer interaction, as the aim of MRTO is a single controller performing air traffic management tasks originally carried out by up to four ATCOs, comprehensively supported by innovative technology. Thirty-two scenarios were recorded and analyzed using an eye tracking device to investigate the above safety concern and the effectiveness of multiple remote tower operations. The results demonstrated that ATCOs' visual scan patterns showed significant task related variation while performing different tasks and interacting with various interfaces on the controller's working position (CWP). ATCOs were supported by new display systems equipped with pan tilt zoom (PTZ) cameras allowing enhanced visual checking of airport surfaces and aircraft positions. Therefore, one ATCO could monitor and provide services for two airports simultaneously. The factors influencing visual attention include how the information is presented, the complexity of that information, and the characteristics of the operating environment. ATCO's attention distribution among display systems is the key human-computer interaction issue in single ATCO performing multiple monitoring tasks.Item Open Access Human performance assessment of a single air traffic controller conducting multiple remote tower operations(Wiley, 2019-11-13) Kearney, Peter; Li, Wen-Chin; Zhang, Jingyi; Braithwaite, Graham; Wang, LeiThe innovative concept of multiple remote tower operations (MRTO) can maximize cost savings by applying video panorama‐based remote tower working positions, which can facilitate fewer air traffic controllers (ATCO) to provide the air traffic services (ATS) function for more airports. Five subject‐matter experts, qualified remote tower ATCOs, participated in this research work by applying the human error template (HET) and comparing workload between physical tower operations and MRTO using NASA‐TLX (Task Load Index). The results demonstrate that augmented visualization provided sufficient technical support for a single ATCO to perform tasks originally designed to be performed by four ATCOs, however, the demands of the associated multiple tasks induced significant workload. There were significant differences in ATCOs’ mental demand, temporal demand, effort, and frustration between MRTO and physical tower operations. This innovative technology may induce human–computer interaction (HCI) issues that impact ATCO's perceived workload. This creates a need for further research on how to manage ATCO's workload in a multiple remote tower environment. This research work provided scientific evidence that MRTO can achieve the objectives of Single European Sky Air Traffic Management Research program. The findings can be applied to both ATCO training design and remote tower system design.Item Open Access The impact of alerting designs on air traffic controller's eye movement patterns and situation awareness(Taylor & Francis, 2018-06-26) Kearney, Peter; Li, Wen-Chin; Yu, Chung-San; Braithwaite, GrahamThis research investigated controller’ situation awareness by comparing COOPANS’s acoustic alerts with newly designed semantic alerts. The results demonstrate that ATCOs’ visual scan patterns had significant differences between acoustic and semantic designs. ATCOs established different eye movement patterns on fixations number, fixation duration and saccade velocity. Effective decision support systems require human-centred design with effective stimuli to direct ATCO’s attention to critical events. It is necessary to provide ATCOs with specific alerting information to reflect the nature of of the critical situation in order to minimize the side-effects of startle and inattentional deafness. Consequently, the design of a semantic alert can significantly reduce ATCOs’ response time, therefore providing valuable extra time in a time-limited situation to formulate and execute resolution strategies in critical air safety events. The findings of this research indicate that the context-specified design of semantic alerts could improve ATCO’s situational awareness and significantly reduce response time in the event of Short Term Conflict Alert activation which alerts to two aircraft having less than the required lateral or vertical separation.Item Open Access The influence of augmented reality interaction design on Pilot's perceived workload and situation awareness(Elsevier, 2022-11-04) Li, Wen-Chin; Zhang, Jingyi; Court, Samuel; Kearney, Peter; Braithwaite, GrahamThis work explored the potential for Augmented Reality (AR) rendering information superimposed over the flight deck to increase a pilot's situation awareness (SA). This emerging technology introduced novel human-computer interaction paradigms that would have impact on pilot's cognitive demands. The objective of this research was to evaluate both the pilot's perceived workload and SA while interacting with an AR device using different interactive modes. Participants performed traditional landing checklists as a baseline to compare with the AR gesture-command and voice-command checklists. The research results showed that gesture-commands created additional cognitive and physical demands. Conversely, voice-command checklists could constitute a significant improvement in terms of reducing participants' perceived workload and maximising SA performance. The findings provided evidence that the interactive modes of AR user interface design could influence participant's cognitive information processing and perceived workload in flight operations. However, there were some limitations with AR applications that included latency on response time, narrow field of view, accuracy of voice recognition, calibration within dynamic environment and inexplicable movements of the head position that required further investigation. An AR device can be a great tool for training at the initial stage to increase cost-efficiency in flight operations. Furthermore, the implementation of an AR design may provide part of the potential solution for single pilot operations in the future.Item Open Access Investigating the impacts of COVID-19 on aviation safety based on occurrences captured through flight data monitoring(Taylor & Francis, 2022-12-19) Li, Wen-Chin; Nichanian, Arthur; Lin, John; Braithwaite, GrahamThe COVID-19 pandemic led to growing concerns about pilots’ proficiency due to the significant decrease in flight operations. The objective of this research is to provide a proactive approach to mitigate potential risks in flight operations associated with the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic using flight data monitoring (FDM). The results demonstrated significant associations between the pandemic impacts and FDM exceedance categories, flight phases and fleets. Manual flying skill decay, lack of practice effects on use of standard operating procedures and knowledge of flight deck automation should be considered by airlines when preparing for the return to normal operations. An FDM Programme allows prediction of the probability and severity of occurrences for developing an effective SMS within an airline. To mitigate the impacts of the pandemic, tailored training sessions must be implemented, and airlines should strive to avoid additional optional procedures where practicable.Item Open Access The legal framework of UTM for UAS(IEEE, 2020-11-18) Ryan, Richard; Al-Rubaye, Saba; Braithwaite, Graham; Panagiotakopoulos, DimitriosIt is very apparent that the legal framework for Unmanned aircraft system Traffic Management (UTM) needs to be developed as regulators grapple with issues that relate to legal responsibility and accountability for each UTM stakeholder as the proliferation of drones increases. There is a considerable ‘legal lacuna’ that exists creating much uncertainty within the industry with respect to investment and the direction of innovation. Drones are being utilised today under controlled conditions as technology and ability develops, but with this accelerated pace of technological development, existing regulations soon become limited to address new capabilities and thus become out of date. Policy has become law in many jurisdictions, but policy needs to be developed further to keep pace with demand because safety is paramount. This paper investigates and highlights legal aspects that a regulator and UTM stakeholders have to consider in developing good drone law. It is essential that a properly considered legal framework is developed for many reasons including, but not limited to, increased positive public perception, proliferation of innovation of use cases for Unmanned Aerial Systems, improved environmental impact and improved safety. This paper describes the fundamentals that a well designed and considered legal framework for a UTM system should address, in order to provide much needed certainty that can guide all stakeholders to a regulatory path that leads to safe maximized utility of drones in shared airspaceItem Open Access Pilots’ visual scan pattern and attention distribution during the pursuit of a dynamic target(Aerospace Medical Association, 2016-10-17) Yu, Chung-San; Wang, Eric Min-yang; Li, Wen-Chin; Braithwaite, GrahamIntroduction: The current research is investigating pilots’ visual scan patterns in order to assess attention distribution during air-to-air manoeuvers. Method: A total of thirty qualified mission-ready fighter pilots participated in this research. Eye movement data were collected by a portable head-mounted eye-tracking device, combined with a jet fighter simulator. To complete the task, pilots have to search for, pursue, and lock-on a moving target whilst performing air-to-air tasks. Results: There were significant differences in pilots’ saccade duration (msec) in three operating phases including searching (M=241, SD=332), pursuing (M=311, SD=392), and lock-on (M=191, SD=226). Also, there were significant differences in pilots’ pupil sizes (pixel2) of which lock-on phase was the largest (M=27237, SD=6457), followed by pursuing (M=26232, SD=6070), then searching (M=25858, SD=6137). Furthermore, there were significant differences between expert and novice pilots on the percentage of fixation on the HUD, time spent looking outside the cockpit, and the performance of situational awareness (SA). Discussion: Experienced pilots have better SA performance and paid more attention to the HUD but focused less outside the cockpit when compared with novice pilots. Furthermore, pilots with better SA performance exhibited a smaller pupil size during the operational phase of lock-on whilst pursuing a dynamic target. Understanding pilots’ visual scan patterns and attention distribution are beneficial to the design of interface displays in the cockpit and in developing human factors training syllabi to improve safety of flight operations.Item Open Access Pilots’ visual scan pattern and situation awareness in flight operations(Aerospace Medical Association, 2014-04-18) Yu, Chung-San; Wang, Eric Min-yang; Li, Wen-Chin; Braithwaite, GrahamIntroduction: Situation awareness (SA) is considered an essential prerequisite for safe flying. If the impact of visual scanning patterns on a pilot’s situation awareness could be identified in flight operations, then eye-tracking tools could be integrated with flight simulators to improve training efficiency. Method: Participating in this research were 18 qualified, mission-ready fighter pilots. The equipment included high-fidelity and fixed-base type flight simulators and mobile head-mounted eye-tracking devices to record a subject’s eye movements and SA while performing air-to-surface tasks. Results: There were significant differences in pilots’ percentage of fixation in three operating phases: preparation (M = 46.09, SD = 14.79), aiming (M = 24.24, SD = 11.03), and release and break-away (M = 33.98, SD = 14.46). Also, there were significant differences in pilots’ pupil sizes, which were largest in the aiming phase (M = 27,621, SD = 6390.8), followed by release and break-away (M = 27,173, SD = 5830.46), then preparation (M = 25,710, SD = 6078.79), which was the smallest. Furthermore, pilots with better SA performance showed lower perceived workload (M = 30.60, SD = 17.86), and pilots with poor SA performance showed higher perceived workload (M = 60.77, SD = 12.72). Pilots’ percentage of fixation and average fixation duration among five different areas of interest showed significant differences as well. Discussion: Eye-tracking devices can aid in capturing pilots’ visual scan patterns and SA performance, unlike traditional flight simulators. Therefore, integrating eye-tracking devices into the simulator may be a useful method for promoting SA training in flight operations, and can provide in-depth understanding of the mechanism of visual scan patterns and information processing to improve training effectiveness in aviation.Item Open Access Pilot’s attention distributions between chasing a moving target and a stationary target(Aerospace Medical Association, 2016) Li, Wen-Chin; Yu, Chung-San; Braithwaite, Graham; Greaves, Matthew J.Introduction: Attention plays a central role in cognitive processing; ineffective attention may induce accidents in flight operations. The objective of current research was to examine military pilots’ attention distributions between chasing a moving target and a stationary target. Method: Thirty-seven mission-ready F-16 pilots participated in the current research. Subjects’ eye movements were collected by a portable head-mounted eye-tracker during tactical training in a flight simulator. The scenarios of chasing a moving target (air-to-air) and a stationary target (air-to-surface) consist of three operational phases; searching, aiming and lock-on to the targets. Results: The findings demonstrated significant differences in pilots’ percentage of fixation during searching phase between air-to-air (M=37.57, SD=5.72) and air-to-surface (M=33.54, SD=4.68). Fixation duration can indicate pilots’ sustained attention to the trajectory of a dynamic target during dog-fight manoeuvers. Aiming for the stationary target with larger pupil size (M=27105 pixel2, SD=6565 pixel2) reflects higher cognitive loading than aiming to the dynamic target (M=23864 pixel2, SD=8762 pixel2). Discussion: Pilots’ visual behavior is not only closely related to attention distribution, but also significantly associated with task characteristics. Military pilots demonstrated various visual scan patterns for searching and aiming to different types of targets based on the research settings of flight simulator. The findings would facilitate system designers’ understandings of military pilots’ cognitive processes during tactical operations. It will assist human-centered interface design to improve pilots’ situational awareness. The application of an eye-tracking device integrated with a flight simulator is a feasible and cost-effective intervention to improve efficiency and safety of tactical training.