Countermeasures for loss of situation awareness: Spatial orientation modeling to reduce mishaps

Rupert, Angus H.; Woo, Gregory Stephen; Christopher, J; Lawson, Ben D.

doi:10.1109/aero.2016.7500725

Cited by 5 publications

(4 citation statements)

References 21 publications

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“…The cognitive workload is essential because it increases the risk of SD (Webb et al, 2012). It was also indicated by Rupert et al (2016) that SD is more common under conditions of reduced visibility such as night flight and the increased workload associated with the approach to landing.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

An Attentive Blank Stare Under Simulator-induced Spatial Disorientation Events

et al. 2022

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Objective This study investigated the effect of the spatial disorientation (SD) events on an attentive blank stare in the cockpit scene and demonstrated how much the flight task and visual delayed discrimination task were competing for the pilots’ attention. Background SD in flight is the leading cause of human error-related aircraft accidents in the military, general and commercial aviation, and has been an unsolved problem since the inception of flight. In-flight safety research, visually scanning cockpit instruments, and detecting changes are critical countermeasures against SD. Method Thirty male military pilots were performing a dual task involving piloting a flight simulator and visual change detection, while eye movements were obtained using an eye tracker. Results Pilots made more flight errors and spent less time gazing at the area of change in SD-conflict than in non-conflict flights. The vestibular origin SD-conflict led not only to deteriorated piloting and visual scanning but also to problems coordinating overt and covert attention, resulting in lower noticeability of visual changes despite gazing at them. Conclusion Our study shows that looking at a given area in space is not a sufficient condition for effective covert attention allocation and the correct response to a visual stimulus. It seems to be important to make pilots aware of this during SD training. Application To reduce change blindness, some strategies, such as reducing the number of secondary tasks is extremely valuable. Particular efforts should also be focused on improving the design of the aircraft cockpit by increasing the conspicuousness of critical information.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

An Attentive Blank Stare Under Simulator-induced Spatial Disorientation Events

et al. 2022

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“…For a pilot, these orientation cues are conveyed primarily through vision, vestibular, and somatosensory stimuli. Previous reports have suggested that the majority of in-flight "raw orientation information" in an aviation environment is provided through visual stimulus (D. G. Newman, 2007), which may be the underlying reason why most aircraft accidents occur in degraded visual conditions (A. H. Rupert, Woo, Christopher, & Lawson, 2016). However, it is important to note that the integration process of these cues is quite complex, and not fully understood.…”

Section: Proceedings Of the Human Factors And Ergonomics Society 2019 Annual Meetingmentioning

confidence: 99%

A Mathematical Model-based Metric of Spatial Disorientation for Use in Triggering Active Countermeasures

Dixon

Endsley

Clark

2019

Proceedings of the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society Annual

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Spatial disorientation (SD) is a leading cause of Class A mishaps in aviation. Ground-based SD training has been widely adopted, and resulted in measurable reductions of mishaps attributed to SD. However, most benefits of SD training have been realized for some time, and it remains insufficient as a standalone countermeasure approach. Several active countermeasures have been proposed, however, many can be distracting in nature even during nominal conditions. Thus, there is a need to be able to detect SD, such that countermeasures could be triggered only when SD is likely to be present or posing a risk. Because there is no validated method of objectively measuring SD, particularly for real-time operational environments, previous research has focused on developing SD metrics using mathematical models of human orientation perception. We first review preliminary works proposing an ‘SD-detection-and-aiding-system’. Then we introduce a novel method to combine multiple aspects and dimensions of spatial orientation perception to create a continuous, unidimensional statistic. This metric of SD can be used to trigger active countermeasures for the purpose of reducing the risk of a mishap resulting from SD.

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“…This is a report of recent Coalition Warfare Program (CWP)-funded activities to further develop the Tactile Situation Awareness System (TSAS) to improve human factors for aircraft control. The concept of employing tactile displays to maintain spatial orientation and situation awareness was introduced at a 1989 Advisory Group for Aerospace Research & Development meeting in Copenhagen (Rupert, Mateczun, and Guedry, 1990) as a way to reduce spatial disorientation mishaps in aviation. Subsequent flight testing in both fixed-wing aircraft (Rupert, Guedry, and Reschke, 1994) and rotary-wing aircraft (Raj, Suri, Braithwaite, and Rupert, 1998) demonstrated the ability to provide continuous orientation information intuitively via tactile cueing.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Tactile Situation Awareness System

Rupert

Lawson

Basso

2016

Proceedings of the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society Annual

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Recent system development efforts have been made concerning a Tactile Situation Awareness System (TSAS). TSAS is a garment containing vibrotactile stimulators that provide aircraft flight control feedback to the torso. TSAS is intended to improve human factors during flight by reducing workload, increasing situation awareness, and reducing the likelihood of brownout mishaps. During simulation and flight tests, pilots using TSAS have demonstrated the ability to non-visually hover helicopters, while consistently reporting reduced workload and increased situation awareness. The current effort enlarged the surface area of the garment to extend the capability beyond hovering to include complete forward flight control (pitch and roll) so that the technology could be transitioned to the helicopter pilot community and effect a reduction of brownout mishaps. The following describes the delivery of this new suite of capabilities, including the cueing garments, avionics interfaces, and software compatible with military helicopter platforms.

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Countermeasures for loss of situation awareness: Spatial orientation modeling to reduce mishaps

Cited by 5 publications

References 21 publications

An Attentive Blank Stare Under Simulator-induced Spatial Disorientation Events

An Attentive Blank Stare Under Simulator-induced Spatial Disorientation Events

A Mathematical Model-based Metric of Spatial Disorientation for Use in Triggering Active Countermeasures

Tactile Situation Awareness System

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