Unearthing air traffic control officer strategies from simulated air traffic data

With the growth in air traffic volume, automation tools are being developed to increase the capabilities of Air Traffic Control Officers (ATCOs). In this paper, a novel approach to unearth Air Traffic Control (ATC) strategies from raw simulator data is described by utilizing executed radar commands obtained via mouse click data. Five sets of air traffic simulation exercise data were used to identify potential conflicts and unearth likely strategies undertaken using a proposed strategy identification model. The preliminary results demonstrate the success of the model in its ability to identify four distinct strategies adopted by the controllers to safely navigate air traffic conflicts that occurred during the simulation and the conflict type in which they occurred. Strategies identified were also verified by an expert panel to be effective in solving the targeted conflict type. The proposed model can be used to objectively identify ATC strategies for use in automation development.Civil Aviation Authority of Singapore (CAAS)Nanyang Technological UniversityAccepted versionThis project is supported by the Civil Aviation Authority of Singapore and Nanyang Technological University, Singapore under their collaboration in the Air Traffic Management Research Institute

Integrated photoacoustic, ultrasound and fluorescence platform for diagnostic medical imaging-proof of concept study with a tissue mimicking phantom

The structural and molecular heterogeneities of biological tissues demand the interrogation of the samples with multiple energy sources and provide visualization capabilities at varying spatial resolution and depth scales for obtaining complementary diagnostic information. A novel multimodal imaging approach that uses optical and acoustic energies to perform photoacoustic, ultrasound and fluorescence imaging at multiple resolution scales from the tissue surface and depth is proposed in this paper. The system comprises of two distinct forms of hardware level integration so as to have an integrated imaging system under a single instrumentation set-up. The experimental studies show that the system is capable of mapping high resolution fluorescence signatures from the surface, optical absorption and acoustic heterogeneities along the depth (&gt;2cm) of the tissue at multi-scale resolution (&lt;1μm to &lt;0.5mm).</p

A real time neurophysiological framework for general monitoring awareness of air traffic controllers

With the increasing traffic volume, air traffic controllers (ATCos) highly efficient performance plays an essential part in ensuring the safety and managing within limited manpower and resources. To ensure the performance, one way is to perform situation awareness (SA) examination. However, the known SA methods (such as text query) are either subjective or inapplicable in a practical scenario. Therefore, the use of physiological signals is becoming popular. In this work, a real time monitoring approach is proposed to assess a general monitoring awareness while looking at the events happening at the radar display during air traffic control (ATC), using neurophysiological measures taken from electroencephalogram (EEG) signals along with eye-tracking metrics such as eye fixation count and duration. Seven university engineering students participated in the attentive and non-attentive radar monitoring activities. The preliminary experimental results revealed that the real-time data of EEG, average fixation count, and fixation duration highlight distinct differences in levels between attentive and non-attentive monitoring activities (individual and collective). Also, the cognitive resource required for air traffic management (ATM) monitoring is relatively high. Such measures can be used as complementary data sets to gauge and validate an ATCos general SACivil Aviation Authority of Singapore (CAAS)Accepted versionThis project is supported by the Civil Aviation Authority of Singapore and Nanyang Technological University, Singapore under their collaboration in the Air Traffic Management Research Institute. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the author(s) and do not reflect the views of the Civil Aviation Authority of Singapore. The authors would also like to thank all the participants for their valuable time

PVDF nanofiber sensor for vibration measurement in a string

Flexible, self-powered and miniaturized sensors are extensively used in the areas of sports, soft robotics, health care and communication devices. Measurement of vibration is important for determining the mechanical properties of a structure, specifically the string tension in strings. In this work, a flexible, lightweight and self-powered sensor is developed and attached to a string to measure vibrations characteristics in strings. Electrospun poly(vinylidene) fluoride (PVDF) nanofibers are deposited on a flexible liquid crystal polymer (LCP) substrate for the development of the sensor. The electrospinning process is optimized for different needle sizes (0.34-0.84 mm) and flow rates (0.6-3 mL/h). The characterization of the sensor is done in a cantilever configuration and the test results indicate the sensor's capability to measure the frequency and strain in the required range. The comparison of the results from the developed PVDF sensor and a commercial Laser Displacement Sensor (LDS) showed good resemblance (±0.2%) and a linear voltage profile (0.2 mV/με). The sensor, upon attachment to a racket string, is able to measure single impacts and sinusoidal vibrations. The repeatability of the results on the measurement of vibrations produced by an impact hammer and a mini shaker demonstrate an exciting new application for piezoelectric sensors.Published versio

Assessing attentive monitoring levels in dynamic environments through visual neuro-assisted approach

This work aims to establish a framework in measuring the various attentional levels of the human operator in a real-time animated environment through a visual neuro-assisted approach.Civil Aviation Authority of Singapore (CAAS)Published versionThis research is supported by the Civil Aviation Authority of Singapore and Nanyang Technological University, Singapore under their collaboration in the Air Traffic Management Research Institute

Physiological based adaptive automation triggers in varying traffic density

Adaptive automation is paramount in alleviating the undesired effects of high levels of automation. This paper examines various visual physiological measures whilst participants were engaged in conflict detection tasks in an air traffic control environment of varying traffic densities. Results showed that global means of fixation count and duration do not perfectly convey the underlying cognitive processes of operators and that successive comparisons on aircraft targets could serve as potential predictors of conflict detection performance end states. The agnostic nature of successive comparisons to varying traffic densities is also vital in a realistic air traffic control environment where traffic is fluctuating constantly. Additionally, physiological measures derived from such behavioural cues could potentially serve as fail-safe triggers in conventional physiological-based adaptive automation triggers in safety-critical domains.Civil Aviation Authority of Singapore (CAAS)Nanyang Technological UniversityAccepted versionThis research is supported by the Civil Aviation Authority of Singapore and Nanyang Technological University, Singapore under their collaboration in the Air Traffic Management Research Institute

Investigation into the characteristics and processing of bio-degradable / recyclable protective packaging materials

In this report, an investigation into various biodegradable / recyclable materials to be used for protective packaging was made.RG 62/97 & RG 62/97/9

A spatial, temporal complexity metric for tactical air traffic control

Tactical monitoring and controlling of air traffic is becoming increasingly difficult to manage for Air Traffic Controllers (ATCOs) owing to an increasingly complex traffic flow. A dynamic tactical complexity model, herein known as Conflict Activity Level (CAL), has been developed and is presented in this paper. This can be achieved either by establishing an overall score for an entire region or sub-regions of interest as specified by user's input location and time. This is done by evaluating the likely aircraft flight shape profile based on its current and projected position and trajectory. From the flight shape profile, CAL values are computed based on instantaneous existing traffic numbers in the overall region or sub-regions of interest. The proposed complexity approach shows good agreement with other methods in terms of ranking the order of complexity of various air traffic scenarios and the key influencing factors contributing to conflict.EDB (Economic Devt. Board, S’pore)Published versio