Human Centered Engineering

SafeTRANS addresses the following challenges in its research area Human Centered Engineering

• Prediction: Accurate prediction of safety hazards in human-in-the-loop traffic control systems.
• Operator Models: Constructing reliable computational models of safety-related operator behaviour.
• Model Extraction: Extracting safety-related behaviour patterns from sampled data.
• Trans-disciplinarity: To bridge the gap between engineering and psychological approaches to the development of human-in-the-loop control systems.

Example Projects

ESACS / ISAAC. Within the Growth project ESACS, a model-based methodology and tools supporting the current safety assessment process used in aircraft industry (ARP 4754) were developed and - jointly with the main European aircraft manufacturers - applied to several industrial case studies. The FP-6 project ISAAC extends the model-based safety analysis approach developed in ESACS to cover common cause analyses, impact of human errors, and operational aspects. The ESAC/ISAAC results have achieved high attention in a recent EUROCAE/SAE meeting and are expected to impact future versions of ARP 4754.

HEACE is an EC-funded project which focuses on the investigation of health effects on aircraft cabin crew and pilots and the development of a respective human response model. The project was co-ordinated by the Acoustics Group of Oldenburg University and ended in July 2005.

H-Metaphor and H-MODE. Complex technology can sometimes be simplified with a design metaphor. An example is the PC, where the interaction is based on the desktop metaphor. An example in transportation is the H-Metaphor, which is based on the interaction of a horse and its rider. Initially described by NASA and DLR, the H-Metaphor is used to develop a universal language “H-Mode”, to drive or fly intelligent vehicles intuitively and safely (funded by DFG).

Virtual Institut Human Automation. Within the "Virtual Institute Human Automation in Traffic" the Helmholtz Association funds the cooperation of the DLR Institute of Transportation Systems, the Institute of Automotive Engineering at the RWTH Aachen and the Interdisciplinary Center for Traffic Sciences (University of Würzburg), which cooperate in a research project where the functionality of advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS) is adapted to situational factors like traffic density. From an analysis of driving behaviour, requirements for ADAS are developed and demonstrated in a prototype.

ERTMS Operational Rules. Within the working team "Exhaustiveness" of the Operational Rules Group (EEIG Users Group) it will be traced whether all the requirements of the system requirements specification for ETCS are represented in the operational rules. The goal is to develop harmonized Europe-wide operational rules, to prove their exhaustiveness and to validate the functional analysis, and to identify national deviations.

Sparc. This EU-project led by DaimlerChrysler is developing a semi-automated truck and car to provide assistance and automation for lane keeping, breaking and obstacle avoidance. DLR’s task is to develop the interaction strategy.

FliDA – Flight Data Analysis. This project aims at the development of software agents assisting the assessment and diagnosis of man/machine interactions. In brief, these agents can be characterized as autonomous, proactive, and social software components. They shall help pilots or trainers to (online) evaluate individual performance in real flight situations or training sessions in flight simulators.

ASMS – Advanced Student Monitoring System. This Project aims at the development of a Data Warehouse System for training-oriented data and flight data. The project is carried out in tight cooperation with the Lufthansa Flight Training GmbH (Bremen/Frankfurt).

Strategies for Advanced Driver Assistance Systems (ADAS). In this project funded by the Ministry of Economics, Labor and Traffic of Lower Saxony a model is developed to derive strategies for the human-machine-interface of ADAS in accordance to driver characteristics, the current driver situation and the state of the surrounding. The model is tested empirically using simulators and demonstrators.

AIDA – Improving Human-in-the-Loop Simulations. For a better understanding of the HMI related to pilot workload the AIDA project has been conducted. The objective is the identification and the development of simulation fidelity criteria utilising different simulators. Fixed based, moving based and the flying simulator ATTAS were utilized in order to evaluate criteria on task performance and pilot workload.

FACE (Friendly Aircraft Cabin Environment), Development of an environmental comfort index for passengers. Methodology similar to HEACE, but focussed on passengers and travel comfort. Additionally: Measurement of acoustic and dynamical parameters of acoustic material and new compound material used in aircraft construction.

FRIENDCOPTER is an Integrated project for the integration of technologies in support of a passenger and environmentally friendly helicopter.

ICE (Ideal Cabin Environment). ICEs Objectives are (1) to establish target levels and ranges of cabin environment parameters (such as pressure, airflow, humidity and temperature), individually and in combination, to ensure that the cabin provides a healthy environment (both physiological and psychological well-being) for passengers in commercial aircraft; (2) to develop radical design models and predictive tools for airframers and airlines to provide, for the first time, a means by which they will be able to determine the health impact of their aircraft on their passengers; and (3) to develop guidelines for a draft European Prestandard, including the first ever scientifically based for cabin pressure, and provide practical design guides and operational recommendations in cooperation with stakeholders.

Enhanced Data Recording (EDDI). New data recording techniques to be investigated within EDDI, like Data Recording on Event and Image Recording, will improve the quality of current incident investigation and aircraft health assessment possibilities due to the availability of higher quality data. The focus is on eliminating accidents by automatic systems that lighten the burdens on the crew and help them to make correct decisions.

Autonomous Rotorcraft Testbed for Intelligent Systems (ARTIS). This project is part of the DLR-ONERA Joint Research Programme. The work is focussing on the development of an autonomous flight system with an intelligent on-board mission management. An important topic is the design process for a cognitive component that is well suited for the certification process. The operator-machine interface is based on the concepts of cognitive automation.

Self-Guided Parafoil-Load System (ALEX). A new generation of airdrop systems enables the automatically controlled delivery of personnel and materials e.g. for humanitarian missions. The aim of this project is to model the dynamic behaviour of the system, to study new GNC concepts and to design a smart man-machine interface.

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• Application Domain
  • Automotive
  • Avionics
  • Railway Systems
• Research Area
  • Human Centered Engineering
  • System/Embedded Software Development Process
  • Safety and Certification Process