Lynne Martin’s research while affiliated with Ames Research Center and other places

Small uncrewed aircraft systems (sUASs) operate in low-altitude, uncontrolled airspace – where support services for their operators (UASOs) are not currently provided. NASA’s System-Wide Safety (SWS) project is identifying the potential risks and hazards to sUAS operations to provide, inform, and improve the designs of In-time Aviation Safety Management Systems (IASMS). The IASMS will include a suite of data-driven tools that compile and analyze data collected from aviation systems and environmental sources to predict hazards, and provide information to allow operators to mitigate these risks (Young et al., 2020). These risk and hazard services can be run and displayed to operators on graphical user interfaces (GUIs), as they relate to a vehicle(s)’ route of flight. These interfaces offer both a means to present hazard service output and offer an opportunity to test user understanding of the information, user decision making, and the best ways to present such data to an operator. Based on these future technologies and intended missions, it is important to investigate interface requirements and evaluate how operators might use these tools. Presenting salient and meaningful risk assessment information to operators is necessary to increase situation awareness and ultimately safety. Building on previous research (Feldman et al., 2022), a usability study comparing two GUIs was conducted to explore how individuals interacted with different styles of information displays. A series of pre-flight hazard and risk-assessment tasks were developed to evaluate participant performance using the Supplemental Data Service Provider Consolidated Dashboard and the Human Automation Team Interface System interfaces. Participants were trained to use both GUIs and their performance was analysed across different scenarios involving multiple sUASs. Performance on simple tasks and the System Usability Scale scores were reported by Feldman et al., 2023. Additional analyses and evaluations on more complex tasks (e.g., risk assessment, prioritization), workload and response times are examined in this paper.

View Video Presentation: https://doi.org/10.2514/6.2022-3462.vid The Supplemental Data Services Provider-Consolidated Dashboard (SDSP-CD) is a graphical user interface (GUI) that displays the results of predictive tools in a single location. It is intended to be used in the preflight planning phase of an operation to allow users to proactively assess predicted flight hazards off-line; expanding an operator’s overall situational awareness of a flight plan and providing an opportunity for decision making and assessing the associated risks prior to flight. Hazard data and risk predictions are informative but can be complex to read and understand. However, presented visually and in relation to flight parameters (such as flight path), the nature and significance of hazards become much more evident. The SDSP-Consolidation Dashboard interface was designed to offer a means to present the results of hazard services in an easy to-use format. Two usability studies were run to explore what features might make a suite of hazard assessment services easy to use, and to assess the SDSP-CD interface. The first study evaluated the presentation of information on the GUI and the second evaluated users’ ability to understand and use the information. The studies gathered valuable information about how users approach a hazard assessment task and interpret information from the interface. Many suggestions were given for improving the interface’s information display, to allow users to more quickly understand and interpret the information being presented.

View Video Presentation: https://doi.org/10.2514/6.2022-4003.vid The use of unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) to support disaster management is becoming more widespread. Uninhibited by many of the operational constraints imposed on crewed aircraft, UAS have the potential to augment the aerial response in a number of ways, including supporting situation awareness, thereby accelerating disaster management efforts. The intent of the Scalable Traffic management for Emergency Response Operations (STEReO) activity is to build an ecosystem that will allow small UAS (sUAS) operations to fly safely in the airspace during disaster management events. The first step toward this goal is to develop a small, single-user tool (the UASP-kit) that will enhance an sUAS pilot’s situation awareness of the airspace. User needs for the functions and features of this tool were collected during a walkthrough over multiple days with subject matter experts from the US Forest Service. A prototype of the UASP-kit was then taken on an extended demonstration to multiple users, who were able to interact with it. User feedback was largely positive, and users discussed the information they needed to support situation awareness in context. The demonstration also highlighted features that were unintuitive to use, and functions that need to be modified to make the kit more user-friendly and robust.

NASA’s Air Traffic Management Technology Demonstration #1 Project has a goal of improving airport capacity by developing and testing ground and flight deck tools for the terminal airspace. The Controller Managed Spacing (CMS) suite of tools has been developed to maintain high traffic density for aircraft on optimal profile descents on area navigation routes. Several studies have examined the controllers’ interaction with CMS, but there has only been one study that explored the impact of this toolset on pilots. This human-in-the-loop simulation is the second to focus on the impact of CMS on the flight deck. Twelve Boeing 737-800 qualified flight crews flew a glass cockpit simulator with the flight management system and flight dynamics of a B737-800 aircraft. Crews flew four scenarios in the Phoenix Terminal Airspace that included clearances to descend on a profile, which was adjusted almost exclusively with speed changes. Two variables were manipulated: speed changes and ATC phraseology. Workload and questionnaire data indicate that scenarios with clearance speeds faster than the route restrictions were more challenging. The phraseology of the speed clearances had an impact upon pilot workload and the efficiency of the profile descent, as determined by the number and duration of flight level-offs. Finally, the time variation to fly the descent illustrated the potential for disrupting ground scheduling tools in the terminal area.

Members of the public completed a short survey to complement a larger flight demonstration and data collection exercise in Corpus Christi, Texas. Respondents were invited to share their concerns and were asked about their knowledge of small Unmanned Aerial System (sUAS) operations. Participants were familiar with sUAS operations and reported feeling moderately comfortable with urban area operations, reflecting this in opinions that sUAS are as safe as other modes of transport. Compared to other UAS opinion surveys, participants gave similar responses to affect questions but were more knowledgeable concerning sUAS operational regulations. At first exposure to these live sUAS flights, participants reported positive impressions about the traffic management system that was being demonstrated.

A tool to give the public a window into Unmanned Aerial Systems (UAS) Traffic Management (UTM) operations was created from an existing data collection tool. The interface included a map and a table showing details about UAS operations that could be queried in a number of ways. Eleven participants attended the study, successfully completing a 19-item task set in about 30 minutes. They correctly found information for 87% of the non-subjective tasks at a rate of around a minute per task and rated the usability of the tool at the end of the session above the industry benchmark. Participants gave favorable reviews of the “public portal tool”, even reporting that they would be satisfied with less information than it presented. There were one or two elements of the display that users found distracting and some navigation functions that need improvement but, on balance, the public representatives liked the features they saw in, and had few criticisms of, the public portal tool. One important issue for the small Unmanned Aerial System community to resolve will be how much or how little information should be available about UTM operations to members of the public.