Max Mulder

Delft University of Technology | TU · Department of Control and Operations (C&O)

Air traffic controller workload is considered to be a limiting factor to air traffic growth. Previous research introduced the static solution space approach to assess the difficulty of aircraft merging tasks. In this paper the dynamic, tangent-based solution space will be introduced that includes the future trajectory intent of all aircraft. Metric...

In moving-base driving simulators, the sensation of the inertial car motion provided by the motion system is controlled by the motion cueing algorithm (MCA). Due to the difficulty of reproducing the inertial motion in urban simulations, accurate prediction tools for subjective evaluation of the simulator's inertial motion are required. In this arti...

The collective goal of the driving simulation community should be to share ideas to improve the motion cueing across driving simulators worldwide. Due to the active research and intensive usage of driving simulators over the last decades, knowledge in the field of motion cueing has been gained from experience gathered by the community, or practical...

Automated vehicles could increase the risk of motion sickness because occupants are not involved in driving and do not watch the road. this paper aimed to investigate the influence of motion predictability on motion sickness in automated vehicles, as better motion anticipation is believed to mitigate motion sickness. in a simulator-based study, twe...

Understanding human perception of haptic feedback is critical when designing and regulating these interfaces. In recent years, experiments have been conducted to determine the just-noticeable difference (JND) in mass–spring–damper dynamics, using a hydraulic admittance display in the form of a side-stick. These experiments have resulted in a model...

Automated vehicles could increase the risk of motion sickness because occupants are not involved in driving and do not watch the road. This paper aimed to investigate the influence of motion predictability on motion sickness in automated vehicles, as better motion anticipation is believed to mitigate motion sickness. In a simulator-based study, twe...

Automation errors may result in human performance issues that are often difficult to grasp. Skraaning and Jamieson (2023) proposed a taxonomy for classifying automation errors into categories based on the visible symptoms of design problems, so as to benefit the design of training scenarios. In this paper, we propose a complementary classification...

Previous research indicated a need to improve pilot training with regard to understanding of autopilot logic and behavior, especially in non-routine situations. Therefore, we tested the effect of problem-based exploratory training on pilots’ understanding of autopilot functions. Using a moving-base flight simulator, general aviation pilots (n = 45)...

This paper describes how the kinematic configuration of a driving simulator's motion system affects the rendered inertial motion. The specific force and rotational rate equations between the point where the motion is applied (Motion Reference Point (MRP)), and the point in which the driver perceives the motion (Cueing Reference Point (CRP)), are de...

Background: Even though accompanied driving and simulator training are common, clarity on their usage trends and effectiveness is lacking. This research aimed to deepen the understanding of the relationships between personal characteristics, pre-licence accompanied driving, self-reported post-licence driving behaviour, and driving performance score...

Background. Even though accompanied driving and simulator training are common, clarity on their usage trends and overall effectiveness is lacking. This research aimed to deepen the understanding of the relationships between personal characteristics, pre-licence accompanied driving, self-reported post-licence driving behaviour, and driving performan...

p>This paper presents a three-step validation approach for subjective rating predictions of driving simulator motion incongruences based on objective mismatches between reference vehicle and simulator motion. This approach relies on using high-resolution rating predictions of open-loop driving (participants being driven) for ratings of motion in cl...

p>This paper presents a three-step validation approach for subjective rating predictions of driving simulator motion incongruences based on objective mismatches between reference vehicle and simulator motion. This approach relies on using high-resolution rating predictions of open-loop driving (participants being driven) for ratings of motion in cl...

In driving simulation, the choice of a simulator, motion cueing algorithm, and associated set of tuning parameters for an experiment is typically made with an exclusive focus on the quality of the motion. In practice, many other metrics could affect this choice as well, such as tuning complexity, algorithm stability, or the financial costs of the s...

Evaluation of the power required in level flight is essential to any new or modified helicopter performance flight-testing effort. The conventional flight-test method is based on an overly simplification of the induced and profile power components required for a helicopter in level flight. This simplistic approach incorporates several drawbacks tha...

p>Due to the difficulty of reproducing inertial motion of urban scenarios in moving-base driving simulators, accurate evaluation methods of the motion are required. In this paper, an open-loop driving experiment in an urban scenario is discussed, in which 61 participants evaluated the motion cueing through an overall rating and a continuous rating...

p>Due to the difficulty of reproducing inertial motion of urban scenarios in moving-base driving simulators, accurate evaluation methods of the motion are required. In this paper, an open-loop driving experiment in an urban scenario is discussed, in which 61 participants evaluated the motion cueing through an overall rating and a continuous rating...

Due to the non-deterministic nature of longitudinal human driver behaviour, motion cueing algorithms currently cannot fully utilize the workspace of driving simulators. This paper explores the possibility of using various predictor variables to predict longitudinal driving behaviour. Through the development of a logistic regression model, it is sho...

Haptic cues on the side stick are a promising method to reduce loss of control in-flight incidents. They can be intuitively interpreted and provide immediate support, leading to a shared control system. However, haptic interfaces are limited in providing information, and the reason for cues may not always be clear to pilots. This study presents the...

In academic air traffic control research, traffic scenarios are often repeated to increase the sample size and enable paired-sample comparisons, e.g., between different display variants. This comes with the risk that participants recognize scenarios and consequently recall the desired response. In this paper we provide an overview of mitigation tec...

To alleviate the workload of air traffic controllers, part of the air traffic may be handled by a future automated system. When deciding which flights to delegate, a distinction can be made between basic and non-basic flights, with the former being prime candidates for delegation. The human controller can then focus on the non-basic flights, where...

Background. Previous studies and accident analyses have shown that pilots can make roll reversal errors when responding to bank angles shown by the artificial horizon in the Primary Flight Display (PFD). In the current study, we tested whether adding stereoscopic depth cues to the artificial horizon may lead to better bank angle representation due...

Background. Mnemonic procedures are currently being taught to airline pilots to manage startle and surprise. We previously tested the effectiveness of a four-item mnemonic. Pilots generally rated it as useful but some remarked that it induced too much additional workload. Therefore, we tested whether a simpler mnemonic, Aviate-Breathe-Check, would...

Expert participants may not always be available for evaluation of new displays or support systems, and in some cases, it might be better to use novice participants, particularly when the display or support significantly changes existing work practices. To provide tools and arguments for selecting the expertise level of participants, we propose the...

Accurate process control through automation is the key to achieving efficient and stable operation of a blast furnace. In this study, we developed an automatic control system of hot metal temperature (HMT). To cope with the slow and complex process dynamics of the blast furnace, we constructed a control algorithm that predicts eight-hour-ahead HMT...

This paper analyzes the effects of the helicopter dynamics on pilots' learning process and transfer of learned skills during autorotation training. A quasi-transfer-of-training experiment was performed with 10 experienced helicopter pilots in the SIMONA moving-base flight simulator at Delft University of Technology. Pilots had to control an in-hous...

This article discusses a long short-term memory (LSTM) recurrent neural network that uses raw time-domain data obtained in compensatory tracking tasks as input features for classifying (the adaptation of) human manual control with single- and double-integrator controlled element dynamics. Data from two different experiments were used to train and v...

The introduction of more advanced automation in air traffic control seems inevitable. Air traffic controllers will then take the role of automation supervisors, a role which is generally unsuitable for humans. Gamification, the use of game elements in non-gaming contexts, shows promising results in mitigating the effects of boredom in highly automa...

Air traffic controller workload is a limiting factor in the current air traffic management system. Adaptive support systems have the potential to balance controller workload and gain acceptance as they provide support during times of need. Challenges in the design of adaptive support systems are to decide when and how to trigger support. The goal o...

In the quest for more efficient air traffic management, a common approach is to allocate an increasing amount of functionality to higher levels of automation, with a supervisory role for humans. This potentially leads to forthcoming issues such as skill degradation and out-of-the-loop phenomenon. If the traffic in an airspace is instead shared betw...

Mathematical human controller (HC) models are widely used in tuning manual control systems and for understanding human performance. Typically, quasi-linear HC models are used, which can accurately capture the linear portion of HCs’ behavior, averaged over a long measurement window. This paper presents a deep learning HC skill-level evaluation metho...

To meet increasing safety and performance demands in air traffic control (ATC), more advanced automated systems will be introduced to assist human air traffic controllers. Some even foresee complete automation, with the human as a supervisor only to step-in when automation fails. Literature and empirical evidence suggest that supervising highly-aut...

Better understanding of manual control requires more research on human anticipatory feedforward behaviour. Recent advances include a human control model for preview tracking, and a subsystem identification (SSID) technique that uses a candidate pool approach to identify the human feedforward and feedback responses. This paper discusses the performa...

This paper presents the results of an experiment that was performed to verify the ‘supervisory control algorithm’, a well-known model of human operator adaptation to changes in controlled element dynamics. This model proposes that human adaptive behavior is triggered once the magnitudes of the tracking error or error rate exceed certain decision re...

Without intervention the widespread adoption of autonomous vehicles could be compromised by an increased incidence of motion sickness compared to conventional cars. To investigate whether passengers’ motion sickness can be reduced by manipulating an autonomous vehicle's accelerations on a fixed route without altering the travel time, a human-out-of...

Cyberneticists develop mathematical human control models which are used to tune manual control systems and understand human performance limits. Neuroscientists explore the physiology and circuitry of the central nervous system to understand how the brain works. Both research human visuomotor control tasks, such as the pursuit tracking task. In this...

For many logistics applications, such as drone delivery missions, finding an optimized network of routes yields a Vehicle Routing Problem (VRP). Such optimizations are mostly conducted offline prior to actual operations for reasons of computational complexity. In case disturbances arise during operations, for example a sudden loss of a vehicle, the...

Mathematical human control models are widely used in tuning manual control systems and understanding human performance. Human behavior is commonly described using linear time-invariant models, averaging-out all non-linear and time-varying effects, which are gathered into the remnant. These models are limited in their capability to capture particula...

BMW's new driving simulation center operates multiple motion-base simulators-each with a different kinematic configuration-to serve various experiment use-cases and requirements of simulator users. The selection of a simulator for each experiment should ideally be based on their relative strengths and weaknesses. To support this decision-making pro...

To achieve the automation of blast furnace operation, an automatic control system for hot metal temperature (HMT) was developed. Nonlinear model predictive control (NMPC) which predicts up to ten-hour-ahead HMT and calculates appropriate control actions of pulverized coal rate (PCR) was constructed. Simulation validation showed that the NMPC algori...

The use of driving simulators for training and for development of new vehicles is widely spread in the automotive industry. In the last decade, a few motorcycle riding simulators have been developed for similar purposes, with focus on maneuvering at high speed. This article presents the subjective and objective evaluation of a motorcycle riding sim...

The power required to hover a helicopter is fundamental to any new or modified performance flight-testing effort. The conventional method of relating two nondimensional variables (coefficients of power and weight) is overly simplified and neglects compressibility effects in the power required to hover under a wide range of gross weights and atmosph...

This paper investigates the effects of different automation design philosophies for a helicopter navigation task. A baseline navigation display is compared with two more advanced systems: an advisory display, which provides a discrete trajectory suggestion; and a constraint-based display, which provides information about the set of possible traject...

When coupled with additional degrees of freedom, centrifuge-based motion platforms can combine the agility of hexapod-based platforms with the ability to sustain higher G-levels and an extended motion space, required for simulating extreme maneuvers. However, the false and often nauseating sensations of rotation, by Coriolis effects induced by the...

View Video Presentation: https://doi.org/10.2514/6.2022-2448.vid Improved understanding of human adaptation can be used to design better (semi-)automated systems that can support the human controller when task characteristics suddenly change. This paper evaluates the effectiveness of a model-based adaptive control technique, Model Reference Adaptiv...

Sectorless air traffic management (or flight-centric ATC as it is known in the SESAR context) is a novel concept that restructures the airspace to make better use of the human controller as a resource. Currently investigations on the introduction of a team concept for sectorless air traffic management is being conducted. As part of this team concep...

When designing driving simulation experiments with motion cueing, it is often necessary to make choices between Motion Cueing Algorithms (MCAs) without being fully able to know how well an MCA will perform during the experiment. Choices between MCAs can therefore be greatly supported by previous measurements or predictions of motion cueing quality....

This paper analyzes the effects of the helicopter dynamics on pilots’ learning process and transfer of learned skills during autorotation training. A quasi-transfer-of-training experiment was performed with 14 experienced helicopter pilots in a moving-base flight simulator. Two types of helicopter dynamics, characterized by a different autorotative...

Training has the potential to inject a "safety vaccination" into the rotorcraft community by reducing the number of accidents. The term training should not be intended only in a strict sense, i.e., as pilot technical skills training, but more broadly as risk avoidance and safety culture training. As in the case of vaccination , where immunity is cr...

Current aircraft flight deck interfaces do not provide information on how a performance-altering failure constrains an aircraft’s flight envelope. As a result, it is difficult for flight crews to plan maneuvers in order to reach navigation targets. This study presents the results of the conceptual development of constraint-based interface symbology...

This paper investigates the interaction effects of motion filter order and break frequency on pilots’ manual control behavior and control performance using two simulators. Eighteen pilots performed the experiment in the Vertical Motion Simulator (VMS) at NASA Ames Research Center and 20 pilots in the SIMONA Research Simulator at Delft University of...

Allocation is a challenge for higher levels of automation in air traffic control, where flights can be dynamically assigned to either a human or an automated agent. Through an exploratory experiment with six professional air traffic controllers, insight was gained into the possibilities and challenges of human-automation teamwork in an en-route env...

Eigenmode distortion is a novel quantitative methodology developed to objectively evaluate motion cueing fidelity in flight simulation. It relies on an explicit coupling of linearized vehicle and Motion Cueing Algorithm dynamics. Modal analysis subsequently performed on this coupled system reveals the degree of distortion imposed by the Motion Cuei...

Modern aircraft can be equipped with a flight envelope protection system: automation which modifies pilot control inputs to ensure that the aircraft remains within the allowable limits. Overruling the pilot inputs may lead to mode confusion, even when visual or auditory feedback is provided to alert pilots. We advocate using active control devices...

This paper investigates the effect of employing different display design principles for human–machine interaction in helicopters. Two obstacle avoidance support displays are evaluated during low-altitude forward flight. A baseline head-up display is complemented either by a conventional advisory display or a constraint-based display inspired by eco...

Linear mixed-effects models provide several benefits over more traditional statistical inference tests and are particularly useful for most human-in-the-loop tracking experiment data. However, surprisingly, mixed models are virtually not used for the analysis of tracking experiment data. This paper uses linear mixed-effects models to analyze combin...

In-flight non-normal events can be rather taxing for a flight crew. Numerous tasks, often competing for attention, need to be handled adequately after which, the best plan of action for the remainder of the flight needs to be determined. In the light of recent developments towards reduced crew operations, the demand for reducing workload has become...

Non-normal event resolution in-flight can be challenging on the flight crew with increased time pressure, workload, stress. Other competing tasks impose a risk on flight safety and burdens the decision-making process. Pilots rely on checklists to aid in their effort, which in its state-of-the-art form are presented on the dedicated Electronic Check...

The Perceptual Eigenmode Distortion (PEMD), an extension to the Eigenmode Distortion (EMD), is a method for objectively evaluating simulator motion fidelity, developed over the last few years. EMD assesses how the Motion Cueing Algorithm (MCA) distorts the vehicle's perceived eigenmodes. In this paper, EMD is extended by a human perception model, w...

Ground-based demonstration of spatial disorientation (SD) has been recommended for military as well as commercial pilot training. Although the leans illusion is the most common form of SD, no data exist yet of an effective ground-based leans procedure for a hexapod simulator. In this paper we describe the development of such a procedure and its tun...

Modern aircraft use a variety of fly-by-wire control devices and combine these with a flight envelope protection system to limit pilot control inputs when approaching the aircraft limits. The current research project aims to increase pilot awareness of such a protection system through the use of force feedback on the control device, i.e., haptics....

Objective. We tested whether a procedure in a hexapod simulator can cause incorrect assumptions of the bank angle (i.e., the “leans”) in airline pilots as well as incorrect interpretations of the attitude indicator (AI). Background. The effect of the leans on interpretation errors has previously been demonstrated in nonpilots. In-flight, incorrect...