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9.3.3 Make Me Autonomous when I Fly: A Systems Engineering Quest and Pilots' Paradise
Author(s) -
Pietras Sherry L.,
Dagli Cihan H.
Publication year - 2002
Publication title -
incose international symposium
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
ISSN - 2334-5837
DOI - 10.1002/j.2334-5837.2002.tb02500.x
Subject(s) - cockpit , situation awareness , workflow , engineering , adaptation (eye) , conceptual design , crew , cognition , personalization , human–computer interaction , systems engineering , computer science , aeronautics , physics , optics , database , neuroscience , world wide web , biology , aerospace engineering
How systems engineering practices may bring human cognition into the focus of advanced technology aviation system designs. This includes generating cognitive qualitative and quantitative requirements, as both functional and performance design requirements, early in the system conceptual design phase based on Technical Performance Measures (TPMs). Cognitive TPMs must be formulated and assigned high priorities to ensure they are not lost or compromised during conceptual phase trade‐offs. Otherwise, economic factors will drive automation that may consequently leave the pilot out of the loop. To prepare for the early design phases, systems engineers (SEs) must come to understand the pilot environment and pilot behavior in that environment. The customer's need, and SE purpose, is to optimize pilot situational awareness. Cockpit system designs must satisfy customer and user expectations. This is accomplished by ensuring pilot psychomotor and cognitive skills are kept intact and by monitoring for appropriate pilot workload during all phases of flight. Automated pilot assistants or intelligent agents may change how pilots fly but they do not change the pilot's underlying cognitive and physical make‐up. Therefore, such agents must be able to track and anticipate a pilot's behavior, assess the flight/mission situation, and provide advice in real time. The SE goal is to acquire good communications and teamwork, thus reducing pilot errors and ensuring a healthy crew. Language is a key problem‐solving tool for humans, lending itself readily for pilot adaptation to advanced cockpit technology incorporating voice recognition. All pilot tools are an extension of the pilot's consciousness; the pilot actually thinks with them. Therefore, automated advice must be designed such that the pilot feels the assistant is present in real time.