During pitch rotation of the aircraft, a pilot, seated in front of the aircraft center of gravity, is subjected to rotational pitch and vertical heave motion. The heave motion is a combination of the vertical motion of the aircraft center of gravity and the heave motion as a result of the pitch rotation. In a pitch tracking task, all of these cues could potentially have a positive effect on performance and control behavior, as they are all related to the aircraft pitch attitude. To improve the tuning of flight simulator motion filters, a better understanding of how these motion components are used by the pilot is required. First, the optimal use of the different motion components was evaluated using an optimal control analysis. Next, an aircraft pitch attitude control experiment was performed in the SIMONA Research Simulator, investigating the effects of pitch rotation, pitch heave, and center of gravity heave on pilot control behavior. Pilot performance significantly improved with pitch motion, with an increased crossover frequency for the disturbance open loop. The increase in performance was a result of an increased visual gain and a reduction in visual lead, allowed for by the addition of pitch motion. Pitch heave motion showed similar but smaller effects. The center of gravity heave motion, although taking up most of the simulator motion space, was found to have no significant effects on performance and control behavior

Abstract-The feedback upon which operators in teleoperation tasks base their control actions differs substantially from the feedback to the driver of a vehicle. On the one hand, there is often a lack of sensory information; on the other hand, there is additional status information presented via the visual channel. Haptic feedback could be used to unload the visual channel and to compensate for the lack of feedback in other modalities. For collision avoidance, haptic feedback could provide repulsive forces via the control inceptor. Haptic feedback allows operators to interpret the repulsive forces as impedance to their control deflections when a potential for collision exists. Haptic information can be generated from an artificial force field (AFF) that maps environment constraints to repulsive forces. This paper describes the design and theoretical evaluation of a novel AFF, i.e., the parametric risk field, for teleoperation of an uninhabited aerial vehicle (UAV). The field allows adjustments of the size, shape, and force gradient by means of parameter settings, which determine the sensitivity of the field. Computer simulations were conducted to evaluate the effectiveness of the field for collision avoidance for various parameter settings. Results indicate that the novel AFF more effectively performs the collision avoidance function than potential fields known from literature. Because of its smaller size, the field yields lower repulsive forces, results in less force cancellation effects, and allows for larger UAV velocities. This indicates less operator control demand and more effective UAV operations, both expected to lead to lower operator workload, while, at the same time, increasing safety.

This paper presents a new method for estimating the parameters of multi-channel pilot models that is based on maximum likelihood estimation. To cope with the inherent nonlinearity of this optimization problem, the gradient-based Gauss-Newton algorithm commonly used to optimize the likelihood function in terms of output error is complemented with a genetic algorithm. This significantly increases the probability of finding the global optimum of the optimization problem. The genetic maximum likelihood method is successfully applied to data from a recent human-inthe-loop experiment. Accurate estimates of the pilot model parameters and the remnant characteristics were obtained. Multiple simulations with increasing levels of pilot remnant were performed, using the set of parameters found from the experimental data, to investigate how the accuracy of the parameter estimate is affected by increasing remnant. It is shown that only for very high levels of pilot remnant the bias in the parameter estimates

Abstract-Manual control cybernetics aims to understand and describe how humans control vehicles and devices using mathematical models of human control dynamics. This 'cybernetic approach' enables objective and quantitative comparisons of human behavior, and allows a systematic optimization of human control interfaces and training associated with manual control. Current cybernetics theory is primarily based on technology and analysis methods formalized in the 1960s and has shown to be limited in its capability to capture the full breadth of human cognition and control. This paper reviews the current state-of-the-art in our knowledge of human manual control, points out the main fundamental limitations in cybernetics, and proposes a possible roadmap to advance the theory and its applications. Central in this roadmap will be a shift from the current linear time-invariant modeling approach that is only truly valid for human behavior under tightly controlled and stationary conditions, to methods that facilitate the analysis of adaptive, and possibly time-varying, human behavior in realistic control tasks. Examples of key current developments in the field of cybernetics -human use of preview, predictable discrete maneuvering, skill acquisition and training, time-varying human modeling, and neuromuscular system modeling -that contribute to this shift are presented in this paper. The new foundations for cybernetics that will emerge from these efforts will impact all domains that involve humans in manual and semi-automatic control.

In most moving-base flight simulators, the simulated aircraft motion needs to be filtered with motion washout filters to keep the simulator within its limited motion envelope. Translational motion in particular requires filtering, as the low-frequency components of the vehicle motion tend to quickly drive simulators toward their motion bounds. Commonly, linear washout filters are therefore used to attenuate the simulated motion in magnitude and in phase. It is found in many studies that the settings of these washout filters affect pilot performance and control behavior. In most of these studies, no comparison to a case with one-to-one motion cues is performed as a result of the limited motion envelope of the simulators used. In the current study, an experiment was performed in the SIMONA Research Simulator at the Delft University of Technology to investigate the effects of heave washout settings on pilot performance and control behavior in a pitch attitude control task. In addition to rotational pitch motion, heave accelerations at the pilot station that result directly from aircraft pitch were evaluated. This heave motion component could be supplied one-to-one in the simulator due to the modest size of the aircraft model, a Cessna Citation I business jet. The experiment revealed that pilot performance and control activity both increased significantly with increasing heave motion fidelity. An analysis of pilot control behavior using pilot models indicated that the enhanced performance was caused by an increase in the magnitude with which pilots responded to visual and physical motion stimuli and a decrease in the amount of visual lead that was generated by the pilots. Nomenclature A = sinusoid amplitude, deg a z cg = c.g. heave acceleration, m s 2 a z = pitch-heave acceleration, m s 2 e = tracking error signal, deg f d = disturbance forcing function, deg f t = target forcing function, deg H nm = neuromuscular system dynamics H ol = open-loop response H sc = semicircular canal dynamics H p e = pilot visual response H p az = pilot heave motion response H p = pilot pitch motion response Hj! = frequency response function Hs = transfer function H ; e = controlled system dynamics j = imaginary unit, -K = gain, -K m = motion perception gain, -K v = visual perception gain, -k = sinusoid index, -l = pitch-heave arm length, m N = number of points, -n = forcing function frequency integer factor, -S = power spectral density s = Laplace variable T I = visual lag time constant, s T L = visual lead time constant, s T sc 1 , T sc 2 , T sc 3 = semicircular canal model time constants, s t = time, s u = pilot control signal, deg z = vertical position, m Symbols e = elevator deflection, deg = damping factor, -nm = neuromuscular damping, -= pitch angle, deg 2 = variance m = motion perception time delay, s v = visual perception time delay, s = sinusoid phase shift, rad ' m = phase margin, deg ! = frequency, rad s 1 ! c = crossover frequency, rad s 1 ! nm = neuromuscular frequency, rad s 1 ! sp = short period frequency, rad s 1 Subscri...

In previous research, a driver support system that uses continuous haptic feedback on the gas pedal to inform drivers of the separation to the lead vehicle was developed. Although haptic feedback has been previously shown to be beneficial, the influence of the underlying biomechanical properties of the driver on the effectiveness of haptic feedback is largely unknown. The goal of this paper is to experimentally determine the biomechanical properties of the ankle-foot complex (i.e., the admittance) while performing a car-following task, thereby separating driver responses to visual feedback from those to designed haptic feedback. An experiment was conducted in a simplified fixed-base driving simulator, where ten participants were instructed to follow a lead vehicle, with and without the support of haptic feedback. During the experiment, the lead vehicle velocity was perturbed, and small stochastic torque perturbations were applied to the pedal. Both perturbations were separated in the frequency domain to allow the simultaneous estimation of frequency response functions of both the car-following control behavior and the biomechanical admittance. For comparison to previous experiments, the admittance was also estimated during three classical motion control tasks (resist forces, relax, and give way to forces). The main experimental hypotheses were that, first, the haptic feedback would encourage drivers to adopt a "give way to force task," resulting in larger admittance compared with other tasks and, second, drivers needed less control effort to realize the same car-following performance. Time- and frequency-domain analyses provided evidence for both hypotheses. The developed methodology allows quantification of the range of admittances that a limb can adopt during vehicle control or while performing a variety of motion control tasks. It thereby allows detailed computational driver modeling and provides valuable information on how to design and evaluate continuous haptic feedback systems.

One of the most difficult aspects of manually controlled flight is the coupling between the control over the aircraft speed and altitude. These states cannot be changed independent of each other through the aircraft control devices, the elevator and the throttle. Rather, to effectively change an aircraft's speed and altitude, the controls have to be coordinated. The mediating mechanism that underlies the coordination of the controls is the management of the aircraft's energy state. This article shows that the abstraction hierarchy (AH; Rasmussen, 1986) framework can be effectively used to gain more insight into the underlying structure of the aircraft energy management problem. The derived AH representation is based on the analysis of the energy constraints on the control task. It reveals the levels of abstraction necessary to link the aircraft's physical controls to the speed and altitude goals and also how the aircraft energy is a critical mediating state of the control problem. Energy awareness can be increased by presenting explicit energy management information. The powerful and novel con-

Objective:A conceptual model is proposed in order to explain pilot performance in surprising and startling situations.Background:Today’s debate around loss of control following in-flight events and the implementation of upset prevention and recovery training has highlighted the importance of pilots’ ability to deal with unexpected events. Unexpected events, such as technical malfunctions or automation surprises, potentially induce a “startle factor” that may significantly impair performance.Method:Literature on surprise, startle, resilience, and decision making is reviewed, and findings are combined into a conceptual model. A number of recent flight incident and accident cases are then used to illustrate elements of the model.Results:Pilot perception and actions are conceptualized as being guided by “frames,” or mental knowledge structures that were previously learned. Performance issues in unexpected situations can often be traced back to insufficient adaptation of one’s frame to the situation. It is argued that such sensemaking or reframing processes are especially vulnerable to issues caused by startle or acute stress.Conclusion:Interventions should focus on (a) increasing the supply and quality of pilot frames (e.g., though practicing a variety of situations), (b) increasing pilot reframing skills (e.g., through the use of unpredictability in training scenarios), and (c) improving pilot metacognitive skills, so that inappropriate automatic responses to startle and surprise can be avoided.Application:The model can be used to explain pilot behavior in accident cases, to design experiments and training simulations, to teach pilots metacognitive skills, and to identify intervention methods.