Aircraft self-separation is a concept in which the responsibility for aircraft separation is shifted from the ground to the air. To make self-separation possible the aircraft is equipped with an Airborne Separation Assurance System (ASAS). It is thought that with ASAS both capacity and safety will be improved. This article reviews an experiment in which the concept was tested using 24 pilots at the same time, flying together using PC-based simulators in a computer network. Results showed that separation can be maintained, even in extreme situations. Results also demonstrated that the pilot models used in computer simulation show behavior very similar to that of pilots in cockpit simulators. Finally, results also showed that in this simulation, pilot workload due to the extra task of maintaining separation is low. Competitive "gaming" among aircraft was not evident.
A key element in the development and innovation of future aviation concepts and systems is research flight simulation. Research flight simulation is applied when the performance and perception of human pilots is a key measure of the overall assessment. This paper will give an overview of the research simulation set-up of the National Aerospace Laboratory (NLR), Amsterdam, the Netherlands, which is used for the human-in-the-loop evaluation of future operational concepts. Special attention is given to the research topic of Airborne Separation Assurance; often referred to as Free Flight. The presented set-up has proven to be a flexible evaluation tool for assessing human-in-the-loop performance when operating in a simulated future autonomous aircraft environment.
Today's flight operations work on pressurised 24/7 timetables. As a result, sleep loss and fatigue are becoming commonplace among pilots and pose a serious threat to flight safety. This study examined the effects of 24 h' sleep deprivation on a variety of psychological measures, cognitive performance tasks and simulated flight. Seven commercial airline pilots completed the Samn-Perelli Crew Status Check (SPC), Profile of Mood States (POMS), Psychomotor Vigilance Task (PVT), Dual-N-Back, Rapid Visual Information Processing Task (RVP), NASA Task Load Index (NASA-TLX) and aviation-specific mathematical calculations as well as a computerised flight simulator task, during which participants were required to answer mid-flight fuel calculations and situational awareness questions (SA). Testing occurred at 3 hour intervals during the final 12 hours of a 24 hour period of continuous wakefulness. Significant impairments in performance were observed on nearly all tests following 20 hours continuous wakefulness. Flying performance was not significantly impaired. Changes in flight performance were found to be consistent with changes in situational awareness. Overall findings showed impairments in mood, cognition and flying performance following 20 hours continuous wakefulness. SA indicates promise as a potential indicator of changes in flying performance as a result of sleep deprivation and fatigue.
A key element in the development and innovation of future aviation concepts and systems is research flight simulation. Research flight simulation is applied when the performance and perception of human pilots is a key measure of the overall assessment. This paper gives an overview of the research simulation set-up of the National Aerospace Laboratory (NLR), Amsterdam, the Netherlands, which is used for the human-in-the-loop evaluation of future operational concepts. Special attention is given to the research topic of airborne separation assurance; often referred to as free flight. The presented set-up has proven to be a flexible evaluation tool for assessing human-in-the-loop performance when operating in a simulated future autonomous aircraft environment.
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