Aviation research, sourced & cited.

Identification and dual adaptive control of a turbojet engine

The objective of this paper is to utilize the design methods of modern control theory to realize a dual-adaptive feedback control unit for a highly nonlinear single spool airbreathing turbojet engine.

Turbine bypass engine: A new supersonic cruise propulsion concept

Engine performance and mission studies were carried out for a single-spool Turbine Bypass Engine concept. Comparisons were made between the TBE, a conventional single-spool turbojet, and the Pratt & Whitney Variable Stre…

Turbine bypass engine - A new supersonic cruise propulsion concept

Engine performance and mission studies were carried out for a single-spool turbine bypass engine (TBE) concept. Comparisons were made between the TBE, a conventional single-spool turbojet, and the Pratt and Whitney Varia…

Combined Contamination and Space Environmental Effects on Solar Cells and Thermal Control Surfaces

For spacecraft in low Earth orbit (LEO), contamination can occur from thruster fuel, sputter contamination products and from products of silicone degradation.

Acid electrolyte fuel cell technology program

The development of an acid electrolyte fuel cell was investigated to provide a cost effective electrical power system for the space shuttle orbiter.

The Emergency Landing Planner Experiment

In previous work, we described an Emergency Landing Planner (ELP) designed to assist pilots in choosing the best emergency landing site when damage or failures occur in an aircraft.

Wind modeling and lateral control for automatic landing

For the purposes of aircraft control system design and analysis, the wind can be characterized by a mean component which varies with height and by turbulent components which are described by the von Karman correlation mo…

Control logic to track the outputs of a command generator or randomly forced target

A procedure is presented for synthesizing time-invariant control logic to cause the outputs of a linear plant to track the outputs of an unforced (or randomly forced) linear dynamic system.

Wind Tunnel Testing of Powered Lift, All-Wing STOL Model

Short take-off and landing (STOL) systems can offer significant capabilities to warfighters and, for civil operators thriving on maximizing efficiencies they can improve airspace use while containing noise within airport…

Performance limits for optimal microburst encounter

An effort has been made to ascertain the envelope-edges for uneventful aircraft penetrations of microburst windshears on the basis of optimal aircraft control strategies.

Aircraft performance in a JAWS microburst

Attention is given to the detailed features of a servere microburst event, the flight behavior of a 727 airliner in such an event as predicted by a numerical simulation, and several low level wind shear detection and war…

Assessment of microburst models for downdraft estimation

The effectiveness of three microburst models in estimating the downdraft from horizontal velocity measurements is assessed. The development of the models and their characteristics are discussed.

Windshear detection and avoidance - Airborne systems survey

Functional requirements for airborne windshear detection and warning systems are discussed in terms of the threat posed to civil aircraft operations.

Airborne Doppler radar detection of low altitude windshear

As part of an integrated windshear program, the Federal Aviation Administration, jointly with NASA, is sponsoring a research effort to develop airborne sensor technology for the detection of low altitude windshear during…

Windshear avoidance - Requirements and proposed system for airborne lidar detection

A generalized windshear hazard index is derived from considerations of wind conditions and an aircraft's present and potential altitude.

Windshear detection radar signal processing studies

This final report briefly summarizes research work at Clemson in the Radar Systems Laboratory under the NASA Langley Research Grant NAG-1-928 in support of the Antenna and Microwave Branch, Guidance and Control Division,…

Windshear detection and avoidance - Airborne systems perspective

The generalized windshear hazard index presently defined is derived from aircraft-position wind data and remotely sensed data obtained along the extended flight path by such candidate sensor technologies as microwave Dop…

Thunderstorm hazards flight research: Storm hazards 1980 overview

A highly instrumented NASA F-106B aircraft, modified for the storm hazards mission and protected against direct lightning strikes, was used in conjunction with various ground based radar and lightning measurement systems…

Operational evaluation of thunderstorm penetration test flights during project Storm Hazards '80

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration is conducting a research project called Storm Hazards '80 in order to study the prediction, detectability and avoidance of the hazards of severe storms for aircraft opera…

Estimation of Reduction in Airspace Capacity Due to Convective Weather

Severe convective weather routinely disrupts normal flow of air traffic in the United States' National Airspace System (NAS). Over the last decade, severe weather has been the most significant cause, accounting for over …

Pilot Convective Weather Decision Making in En Route Airspace

The present research investigates characteristics exhibited in pilot convective weather decision making in en route airspace. In a part-task study, pilots performed weather avoidance under various encounter scenarios.

Time Relevance of Convective Weather Forecast for Air Traffic Automation

The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) is handling nearly 120,000 flights a day through its Air Traffic Management (ATM) system and air traffic congestion is expected to increse substantially over the next 20 years.

Some Measured Characteristics of Severe Storm Turbulence

Measurements of atmospheric turbulence obtained from airplane flights through severe storms in connection with the National Severe Storms Project will be discussed.

Severe Turbulence and Maneuvering from Airline Flight Records

Digital flight records from reported clear-air turbulence incidents are used to determine winds and turbulence, to determine maneuver g loads, and to analyze control problems.

Fatigue, pilot deviations and time of day

The relationships between pilot fatigue, pilot deviations, reported incidents, and time of day are examined. A sample of 200 Aviation Safety Reporting System (ASRS) reports were analyzed from 1985 and 200 reports from 19…

Pilot Fatigue and Circadian Desynchronosis

Pilot fatigue and circadian desynchronosis, its significance to air transport safety, and research approaches, were examined. There is a need for better data on sleep, activity, and other pertinent factors from pilots fl…

Validating and Verifying Biomathematical Models of Human Fatigue

Airline pilots experience acute and chronic sleep deprivation, sleep inertia, and circadian desynchrony due to the need to schedule flight operations around the clock.

Validation of Fatigue Modeling Predictions in Aviation Operations

Bio-mathematical fatigue models that predict levels of alertness and performance are one potential tool for use within integrated fatigue risk management approaches.

Linking the Pilot Structural Model and Pilot Workload

Behavioral models are developed that closely reproduced pulsive control response of two pilots using markedly different control techniques while conducting a tracking task.

An Approach to Quantify Workload in a System of Agents

The role of humans in aviation and other domains continues to shift from manual control to automation monitoring. Studies have found that humans are often poorly suited for monitoring roles, and workload can easily spike…

Pilot workload prediction

A predicting model of pilot workload is developed using a time-based algorithm, work-load values from previous research, and experimental data obtained by a group of experienced pilots on a Singer-Link Gat-1 instrument t…

Single-Pilot Workload Management

Integrated glass cockpit systems place a heavy cognitive load on pilots (Burian Dismukes, 2007). Researchers from the NASA Ames Flight Cognition Lab and the FAA Flight Deck Human Factors Lab examined task and workload ma…

Crew workload-management strategies - A critical factor in system performance

This paper reviews the philosophy and goals of the NASA/USAF Strategic Behavior/Workload Management Program. The philosophical foundation of the program is based on the assumption that an improved understanding of pilot …

Human Factors of Flight-deck Automation: NASA/Industry Workshop

The scope of automation, the benefits of automation, and automation-induced problems were discussed at a workshop held to determine whether those functions previously performed manually on the flight deck of commercial a…

Some Challenges in the Design of Human-Automation Interaction for Safety-Critical Systems

Increasing amounts of automation are being introduced to safety-critical domains. While the introduction of automation has led to an overall increase in reliability and improved safety, it has also introduced a class of …

Application of Human-Autonomy Teaming to an Advanced Ground Station for Reduced Crew Operations

Within human factors there is burgeoning interest in the "human-autonomy teaming" (HAT) concept as a way to address the challenges of interacting with complex, increasingly autonomous systems.

Crew Resource Management for Automated Teammates (CRM-A)

Crew Resource Management (CRM) is the application of human factors knowledge and skills to ensure that teams make effective use of all resources.

Space Flight Resource Management for ISS Operations

This slide presentation reviews the International Space Station (ISS) Operations space flight resource management, which was adapted to the ISS from the shuttle processes. It covers crew training and behavior elements.

Evaluating cockpit resource management training

The determinants of effective or ineffective cockpit resurce management and the difficulties these multiple factors pose for validation of the effectiveness of cockpit resource management (CRM) training are discussed.

Pilot interaction with automated airborne decision making systems

An investigation was made of interaction between a human pilot and automated on-board decision making systems. Research was initiated on the topic of pilot problem solving in automated and semi-automated flight managemen…

Fact Sheets of CTAS and NASA Decision-Support Tools and Concepts

Distributed Air/Ground (DAG) Traffic Management (TM) is an integrated operational concept in which flight deck crews, air traffic service providers and aeronautical operational control personnel use distributed decision-…

Situational Awareness Issues in the Implementation of Datalink: Shared Situational Awareness in the Joint Flight Deck-ATC Aviation System

MIT has investigated Situational Awareness issues relating to the implementation of Datalink in the Air Traffic Control environment for a number of years under this grant activity.

Marshall Space Flight Center Technology Capabilities for Use in Space Situational Awareness Activities

Marshall performs research, integrates information, matures technologies, and enhances science to bring together a diverse portfolio of products and services of interest for Space Situational Awareness (SSA) and Space As…

Situational awareness in the commercial aircraft cockpit - A cognitive perspective

A cognitive theory is presented that has relevance for the definition and assessment of situational awareness in the cockpit. The theory asserts that maintenance of situation awareness is a constructive process that dema…

Stay Alive--Simulation for Situational Safety Awareness

STAY ALIVE is an idea for a safety awareness simulation prototype, powered by gaming technology, that would make safety training enlightening, engaging and fun.

Threshold Assessment of Gear Diagnostic Tools on Flight and Test Rig Data

A method for defining thresholds for vibration-based algorithms that provides the minimum number of false alarms while maintaining sensitivity to gear damage was developed.

Prediction of Cognitive States During Flight Simulation Using Multimodal Psychophysiological Sensing

The Commercial Aviation Safety Team found the majority of recent international commercial aviation accidents attributable to loss of control inflight involved flight crew loss of airplane state awareness (ASA), and distr…

Simulation of space plasma phenomena

The importance of computer modeling in investigating physical phenomena is discussed, noting that modern computers can follow the time evolution of systems containing many millions of degrees of freedom, all of which are…

Applying Research-Based Training Principles: Towards Crew-Centered, Mission-Oriented Space Flight Training

This chapter describes a training approach that applies empirically derived principles of training to re-imagining the overall design of NASA’s space flight training program.

Best Practices for Training the Structures Flight Test Engineer

The Structures Flight from 412th Test Wing and the Aerostructures Branch at NASA Armstrong Flight Research Center at Edwards Air Force Base have developed a set of best practices for training a structures flight test eng…