Pilot interaction with automated airborne decision making systems

An investigation was made of interaction between a human pilot and automated on-board decision making systems. Research was initiated on the topic of pilot problem solving in automated and semi-automated flight management systems and attempts were made to develop a model of human decision making in a multi-task situation. A study was made of allocation of responsibility between human and computer, and discussed were various pilot performance parameters with varying degrees of automation. Optimal allocation of responsibility between human and computer was considered and some theoretical results found in the literature were presented. The pilot as a problem solver was discussed. Finally the design of displays, controls, procedures, and computer aids for problem solving tasks in automated and semi-automated systems was considered

Pseudo steady-state period in non-stationary infinite-server queue with state dependent arrival intensity

An infinite-server queueing model with state-dependent arrival process and exponential distribution of service time is analyzed. It is assumed that the difference between the value of the arrival rate and total service rate becomes positive starting from a certain value of the number of customers in the system. In this paper, time until reaching this value by the number of customers in the system is called the pseudo steady-state period (PSSP). Distribution of duration of PSSP, its raw moments and its simple approximation under a certain scaling of the number of customers in the system are analyzed. Novelty of the considered problem consists of an arbitrary dependence of the rate of customer arrival on the current number of customers in the system and analysis of time until reaching from below a certain level by the number of customers in the system. The relevant existing papers focus on the analysis of time interval since exceeding a certain level until the number of customers goes down to this level (congestion period). Our main contribution consists of the derivation of a simple approximation of the considered time distribution by the exponential distribution. Numerical examples are presented, which confirm good quality of the proposed approximation

Performance Modelling and Optimisation of Multi-hop Networks

A major challenge in the design of large-scale networks is to predict and optimise the total time and energy consumption required to deliver a packet from a source node to a destination node. Examples of such complex networks include wireless ad hoc and sensor networks which need to deal with the effects of node mobility, routing inaccuracies, higher packet loss rates, limited or time-varying effective bandwidth, energy constraints, and the computational limitations of the nodes. They also include more reliable communication environments, such as wired networks, that are susceptible to random failures, security threats and malicious behaviours which compromise their quality of service (QoS) guarantees. In such networks, packets traverse a number of hops that cannot be determined in advance and encounter non-homogeneous network conditions that have been largely ignored in the literature. This thesis examines analytical properties of packet travel in large networks and investigates the implications of some packet coding techniques on both QoS and resource utilisation. Specifically, we use a mixed jump and diffusion model to represent packet traversal through large networks. The model accounts for network non-homogeneity regarding routing and the loss rate that a packet experiences as it passes successive segments of a source to destination route. A mixed analytical-numerical method is developed to compute the average packet travel time and the energy it consumes. The model is able to capture the effects of increased loss rate in areas remote from the source and destination, variable rate of advancement towards destination over the route, as well as of defending against malicious packets within a certain distance from the destination. We then consider sending multiple coded packets that follow independent paths to the destination node so as to mitigate the effects of losses and routing inaccuracies. We study a homogeneous medium and obtain the time-dependent properties of the packet’s travel process, allowing us to compare the merits and limitations of coding, both in terms of delivery times and energy efficiency. Finally, we propose models that can assist in the analysis and optimisation of the performance of inter-flow network coding (NC). We analyse two queueing models for a router that carries out NC, in addition to its standard packet routing function. The approach is extended to the study of multiple hops, which leads to an optimisation problem that characterises the optimal time that packets should be held back in a router, waiting for coding opportunities to arise, so that the total packet end-to-end delay is minimised

A Retrieval Queueing Model With Feedback

A multi-server retrial queuing model with feedback is considered in this paper.Input flow of calls is modeled using a Markovian Arrival Process (M AP) and the service time is assumed to follow an exponential distribution. An arriving call enters into service should there be a free server. Otherwise, in accordance to Bernoulli trials, the call will enter into an infinite orbit (referred to as a retrial orbit) to retry along with other calls to get into service or will leave the system forever. After obtaining a service each call, independent of the others, will either enter into a finite orbit (referred to as a feedback orbit) for another service or leave the system forever. The decision to enter into the feedback orbit or not is done according to another Bernoulli trial. Calls from these two buffers will compete with the main source of calls based on signals received from two independent Poisson processes.The rates of these processes depend on the phase of the M AP. The steady-state analysis of the model is carried out and illustrative numerical examples including economical aspects are presented