Aviation Safety and Security Commons^™

An Attribute Agreement Method For Hfacs Inter-Rater Reliability Assessment, Teddy Steven Cotter, Veysel Yesilbas

Engineering Management & Systems Engineering Faculty Publications

Inter-rater reliability can be regarded as the degree of agreement among raters on a given item or a circumstance. Multiple approaches have been taken to estimate and improve inter-rater reliability of the United States Department of Defense Human Factors Analysis and Classification System used by trained accident investigators. In this study, three trained instructor pilots used the DoD-HFACS to classify 347 U.S. Air Force Accident Investigation Board (AIB) Class-A reports between the years of 2000 and 2013. The overall method consisted of four steps: (1) train on HFACS definitions, (2) verify rating reliability, (3) rate HFACS reports, and (4) random …

Engagement Assessment Using Eeg Signals, Feng Li, Jiang Li, Frederic Mckenzie, Guangfan Zhang, Wei Wang, Aaron Pepe, Roger Xu, Tom Schnell, Nick Anderson, Dean Heitkamp

Electrical & Computer Engineering Faculty Publications

In this paper, we present methods to analyze and improve an EEG-based engagement assessment approach, consisting of data preprocessing, feature extraction and engagement state classification. During data preprocessing, spikes, baseline drift and saturation caused by recording devices in EEG signals are identified and eliminated, and a wavelet based method is utilized to remove ocular and muscular artifacts in the EEG recordings. In feature extraction, power spectrum densities with 1 Hz bin are calculated as features, and these features are analyzed using the Fisher score and the one way ANOVA method. In the classification step, a committee classifier is trained based …

A Systematic Approach For Real-Time Operator Functional State Assessment, Guangfan Zhang, Wei Wang, Aaron Pepe, Roger Xu, Tom Schnell, Nick Anderson, Dean Heitkamp, Jiang Li, Feng Li, Frederick Mckenzie

Electrical & Computer Engineering Faculty Publications

A task overload condition often leads to high stress for an operator, causing performance degradation and possibly disastrous consequences. Just as dangerous, with automated flight systems, an operator may experience a task underload condition (during the en-route flight phase, for example), becoming easily bored and finding it difficult to maintain sustained attention. When an unexpected event occurs, either internal or external to the automated system, the disengaged operator may neglect, misunderstand, or respond slowly/inappropriately to the situation. In this paper, we discuss an approach for Operator Functional State (OFS) monitoring in a typical aviation environment. A systematic ground truth finding …

Fast Stochastic Wiener Filter For Super-Resolution Image Restoration With Information Theoretic Visual Quality Assessment, Amr Hussein Yousef, Jiang Li, Mohammad Karim, Mark Allen Neifeld (Ed.), Amit Ashok (Ed.)

Electrical & Computer Engineering Faculty Publications

Super-resolution (SR) refers to reconstructing a single high resolution (HR) image from a set of subsampled, blurred and noisy low resolution (LR) images. The reconstructed image suffers from degradations such as blur, aliasing, photo-detector noise and registration and fusion error. Wiener filter can be used to remove artifacts and enhance the visual quality of the reconstructed images. In this paper, we introduce a new fast stochastic Wiener filter for SR reconstruction and restoration that can be implemented efficiently in the frequency domain. Our derivation depends on the continuous-discrete-continuous (CDC) model that represents most of the degradations encountered during the image-gathering …

Imbalanced Learning For Functional State Assessment, Feng Li, Frederick Mckenzie, Jiang Li, Guanfan Zhang, Roger Xu, Carl Richey, Tom Schnell, Thomas E. Pinelli (Ed.)

Electrical & Computer Engineering Faculty Publications

This paper presents results of several imbalanced learning techniques applied to operator functional state assessment where the data is highly imbalanced, i.e., some function states (majority classes) have much more training samples than other states (minority classes). Conventional machine learning techniques usually tend to classify all data samples into majority classis and perform poorly for minority classes. In this study, we implemented five imbalanced learning techniques, including random under-sampling, random over-sampling, synthetic minority over-sampling technique (SMOTE), borderline-SMOTE and adaptive synthetic sampling (ADASYN) to solve this problem. Experimental results on a benchmark driving test dataset show that accuracies for minority classes …

A Systematic Approach For Engagement Analysis Under Multitasking Environments, Guangfan Zhang, John Leddo, Roger Xu, Carl Richey, Tom Schnell, Frederick Mckenzie, Jiang Li, Thomas E. Pinelli (Ed.)

Electrical & Computer Engineering Faculty Publications

An overload condition can lead to high stress for an operator and further cause substantial drops in performance. On the other extreme, in automated systems, an operator may become underloaded; in which case, it is difficult for the operator to maintain sustained attention. When an unexpected event occurs, either internal or external to the automated system, a disengaged operation may neglect, misunderstand, or respond slowly/inappropriately to the situation. In this paper, we discuss a systematic approach monitor for extremes of cognitive workload and engagement in multitasking environments. Inferences of cognitive workload and engagement are based on subjective evaluations, objective performance …

Automatic Detection Of Aircraft Emergency Landing Sites, Yu-Fei Shen, Zia-Ur Rahman, Dean Krusienski, Jiang Li, Zia-Ur Rahman (Ed.), Stephen E. Reichenbach (Ed.), Mark Allen Neifeld (Ed.)

Electrical & Computer Engineering Faculty Publications

An automatic landing site detection algorithm is proposed for aircraft emergency landing. Emergency landing is an unplanned event in response to emergency situations. If, as is unfortunately usually the case, there is no airstrip or airfield that can be reached by the un-powered aircraft, a crash landing or ditching has to be carried out. Identifying a safe landing site is critical to the survival of passengers and crew. Conventionally, the pilot chooses the landing site visually by looking at the terrain through the cockpit. The success of this vital decision greatly depends on the external environmental factors that can impair …

Fault-Injection Experiment For The Statistical Characterization Of Faults In Avionics Communication System, Amy M. Yates

Electrical & Computer Engineering Theses & Dissertations

Since flight control systems perform safety-critical functions, it is important to understand the possible effects on the closed-loop dynamical system's performance caused by these faults. The purpose of this project is to design the software and hardware needed to add fault-injection and monitoring capabilities to ROBUS-2, a flight communication system. ROBUS-2 is the current version of the fault-tolerant computer communication system used by the Scalable Processor-Independent Design for Enhanced Reliability (SPIDER), a general-purpose fault-tolerant integrated modular architecture (IMA) developed at the NASA Langley Research Center. The major components of SPIDER include processing elements (PEs) to perform calculations, bus interface units …

Individualized Cognitive Modeling For Close-Loop Task Mitigation, Guangfan Zhang, Roger Xu, Wei Wang, Jiang Li, Tom Schnell, Mike Keller, Thomas E. Pinelli (Ed.)

Electrical & Computer Engineering Faculty Publications

An accurate real-time operator functional state assessment makes it possible to perform task management, minimize risks, and improve mission performance. In this paper, we discuss the development of an individualized operator functional state assessment model that identifies states likely leading to operational errors. To address large individual variations, we use two different approaches to build a model for each individual using its data as well as data from subjects with similar responses. If a subject's response is similar to that of the individual of interest in a specific functional state, all the training data from this subject will be used …

Image Pre-Processing Techniques For Hazard Detection In Poor Visibility Conditions, Girish Singh Rajput

Electrical & Computer Engineering Theses & Dissertations

Runway incursion is a persistent problem that has resulted in some of the most devastating accidents in aviation history. With ever increasing air traffic and more passengers, runway safety is of utmost priority to the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and other agencies concerned with aviation. As the issue of aviation safety becomes increasingly important, developing a consistent application that detects runway incursions in various visibility conditions is crucial for the aviation industry. This thesis presents a novel method for detecting runway hazards in poor visibility conditions using image processing techniques. The first step is to obtain images of a runway …

Robust Edge-Detection Algorithm For Runway Edge Detection, Swathi Tandra

Electrical & Computer Engineering Theses & Dissertations

Fog and other such weather conditions hamper the visibility of runway surfaces and any obstacles present on the runway, creating a situation where a pilot may not be able to safely land the aircraft. Assisting the pilot to land the aircraft safely in such conditions is an active area of research. A new method is being investigated that combines non-linear image enhancement with classification of runway edges to detect objects on the runway. The image is segmented into runway and non-runway regions, and objects that are found in the runway regions are deemed to constitute potential hazards. For runway edge …

Detecting Portable Electronic Devices Onboard Commercial Aircraft, Randy Woods

Electrical & Computer Engineering Theses & Dissertations

The need to detect unauthorized usage of intentionally transmitting portable electronic devices (PEDs) onboard commercial aircraft is growing while still allowing passengers to use selected unintentionally transmitting devices, such as laptop computers and CD players, during non-critical stages of flight. This thesis presents the development and testing of an installed system for detecting PEDs over multiple frequency bands. Additionally, the advantages of a fixed versus mobile system are discussed.

Data is presented to cover the frequency range of 20 MHz to 6.5 GHz with special attention given to the cellular and PCS telephone bands, Bluetooth, and the family radio service …

Image Processing Technique For Runway Segmentation Using Color Spaces, Naresh Reddy Reddy

Electrical & Computer Engineering Theses & Dissertations

Aircrafts of the future now face the challenge of growing demand for safety which will require a more significant level of pilot assistance than is available today. During an approach to the airport runway, an algorithm that continuously segments the runway from the rest of the background with very little human intervention is very useful for both enhancing the landing safety and reducing the pilot's work load. This thesis presents a novel method for segmenting airport runways on a clear day and in poor visibility conditions using the color space components. In this thesis, collages were formed for both runway …

Integer Ratio Logarithm Based Edge Detection For Runway Hazard Detection, Sri Satya Vardhan Gogineni

Electrical & Computer Engineering Theses & Dissertations

As air traffic is growing in leaps and bounds every day, flying safe has been a major concern in day to day life. Aviation safety is always dependent on the performance of the pilot and air traffic controllers. The very involvement of human discretion introduces judgment as a component of a safe takeoff and landing. A convenient and immediate alternative would be the use of technology to alleviate the problem. Several algorithms have been developed to solve this problem. However, most computer vision algorithms leave the task of interpreting the end data unaddressed. Juggling the myriad tasks during landing and …

Object Detection In Poor Visibility Conditions Using Image Segmentation, Triveni Vuppalapati

Electrical & Computer Engineering Theses & Dissertations

It can be dangerous for a pilot to attempt to land an aircraft safely in poor visibility conditions such as rain, fog, haze, snow and low light, but external imagery of a runway can be enhanced to provide increased situational awareness. Objects that are detected in a scene may or may not be a hazard, so interpretation is left to the pilot. In order to detect whether an object is a hazard to safe landing, it is necessary to determine whether the object is on the runway. For this purpose, two image segmentation algorithms: histogram based d-peak algorithm and local …

Energy Based Method For Generation Of Optimum Flight Paths, Michael Jon Acheson

Mechanical & Aerospace Engineering Theses & Dissertations

One key to increasing aviation safety and airport efficiency is the proper management of aircraft energy states. Aircraft accident statistics are replete with examples of aircraft that crossed the runway threshold with excessive energy or maintained insufficient energy to reach the runway. This trend has resulted in aircrews that are trained in conservative energy management that trades efficiency for simplicity. Additionally, traditional aircraft flight displays provide limited aircraft energy state cues that do not enable efficient management of aircraft energy states. In this thesis, a method for generating global optimum flight profiles is demonstrated that yields results that can be …