A typical EEG data collection sortie in the Boeing 737-800 simulator
U of I base program awarded NASA grant
|
A typical EEG data collection sortie in the Boeing 737-800 simulator
|
The cockpit can be a stressful place for pilots when the workload is high, and this can, of course, affect their performance. But even in low-stress situations there is a growing risk that crews will lose alertness. Increased automation in the cockpit can have the unintended effect of producing boredom in pilots. Current automation in the cockpit is said to make easy things easier and hard things harder. Research at the University of Iowa aims at improving the ways that automation can support crews in the future.
Presently, there is no automated system to record the physiological status of the pilot. The University of Iowa’s Operator Performance Laboratory (OPL) is developing such a system, one that could be integrated with a system that reflects the state of the aircraft. The OPL was recently awarded the first installment of a five-year grant from NASA to help develop methods to assess cognitive limits and to characterize operator state. Based on this assessment, the system could trigger mitigations such as auditory, verbal or tactile alerts.
 |
| Flying a wingover |
The OPL, the U of I’s base program for the Iowa Space Grant Consortium, received a grant of $250,000 for the first year of the grant, which will total $887,000 over five years. “Past research efforts aimed at increasing flight safety have, for the most part, excluded the real-time state of the pilot and crew,” said Tom Schnell, principal investigator of the grant and associate professor of mechanical and industrial engineering at the U of I.
One of the major goals of the project, according to Schnell, who also directs the OPL, is to foster positive states in pilot behavior and to prevent negative ones. “We hope to build a model to characterize operator state and provide context-relevant feedback,” he said. “We are developing methods to collect physiological data in an ecologically valid context of flight—simulators and actual flight are not the same environment.”
MORE
Check back soon for another ISGC News Brief!
Browse the
News Brief Archives
 |
 |
| Setting up the dense array EEG net | All systems on the CARP can be started on ground power, which is then disconnected after the engine is started. |
The Raccoon Works is a student group hosted at the OPL. Its members include Nicole Becklinger, Nathan Kleffman, Michael Magnetta, Greg Neiswander, Scott Gregory, Joe Steffen, and Jeff Konz. Some of these students work on the NASA project. Besides hands-on research on the project, the students are responsible for a public outreach initiative. They will make presentations on careers in aviation to 600 Iowa high school students this spring.
Schnell and his researchers are using their Computerized Airborne Research Platform (CARP) aircraft, a Beech Bonanza, to collect a wide range of pilot physiological, aircraft state and environmental data in flight. They are using scenarios they have developed specifically to extract and isolate different operator states. The CARP is capable of collecting electroencephalograms, electrocardiograms, electromyograms, thermal imaging, as well as data on facial feature points, eye movements and respiration.
 |
| Left to right: Greg Neiswander, Michel Brulotte, wtih Transport Canada, and Tom Schnell getting ready for a flight sortie. |
In addition, the team has been collaborating with Canada’s National Research Council, which is leading a team of Canadian researchers interested in establishing new physiological monitoring capabilities in rotary wing aircraft. “We have been able to leverage each other’s research in non-monetary ways, such as exchanging equipment,” said Schnell. In December of 2006, the OPL team deployed the neural imaging technology on a Bell 412 helicopter in Ottawa. The Discovery Channel produced and aired a documentary on the joint research.
“Human state classification and feedback systems hold much promise in improving flight safety by making the crew aware of hazardous states or deterioration of performance,” Schnell explained. “We hope to develop a research prototype that can sense and classify operator state and generate appropriate feedback.”
Feedback would come through multisensory channels, including visual (flight displays), tactile (vibrotactors in seat), and auditory cues, Schnell said. The goal is to increase the relevance of the cues and performance and to reduce operator annoyance. Hazardous states of interest include true loss of spatial orientation, degenerated performance due to fatigue, inability to resolve conflicts and high levels of workload.
Schnell, with Rockwell Collins, an affiliate member of the ISGC, recently received an Innovator of the Year Award for synthetic vision in aircraft cockpits. The award is one of several created by the Technology Association of Iowa to celebrate the outstanding contributions made by innovative individuals and technology companies each year.