Evaluation of augmented reality tools for the provision of tower air traffic control using an ecological interface design

One of the major problems faced by the growth of air traffic in the last decade is the limited capacity of the runway especially during low visibility procedures (LVP) due to fog and bad weather. To solve this issue, the project \u201cResilient Synthetic Vision for Advanced Control Tower Air Navigation Service Provision\u201d (RETINA) project, a two-years exploratory research project, under SESAR2020 program, proposes to use new Synthetic Vision (SV) and Augmented Reality (AR) technologies for the tower controllers to allow them to conduct safe operations under any Meteorological Conditions while maintaining a high runway throughput, equal to good visibility. In this paper we introduce the Ecological Interface Design (EID) as a methodology to investigate the potential and applicability of SV tools and Virtual/Augmented Reality (V/AR) display techniques for the Air Traffic Control (ATC) service provision by the airport control tower. We explain how the EID framework can be used in RETINA, we experiment the framework on a suitable airport and we provide the EID results comparing normal and LVP conditions with operations using RETINA technologies

Human-in-the-loop evaluation of an augmented reality based interface for the airport control tower

An innovative airport control tower concept based on the use of modern augmented reality technologies has been developed and validated by means of human-in-the-loop experiments in a simulated environment. An optical-based augmented reality interface underpins the proposed concept that consists in providing air traffic control operators in the airport control tower with complete head-up information, as opposed to the current mix of information retrieval through both head-up real view and head-down interfaces. Specific measurement of the time spent by the operator working in either head-up or head-down position, show that the proposal has a clear effect in stimulating the air traffic control operator to work in a head-up position more than in a head-down position, with positive effects on his/her situational awareness and perceived workload, especially when dealing with low visibility conditions operational scenarios

A Quantum-Conceptual Explanation of Violations of Expected Utility in Economics

The expected utility hypothesis is one of the building blocks of classical economic theory and founded on Savage's Sure-Thing Principle. It has been put forward, e.g. by situations such as the Allais and Ellsberg paradoxes, that real-life situations can violate Savage's Sure-Thing Principle and hence also expected utility. We analyze how this violation is connected to the presence of the 'disjunction effect' of decision theory and use our earlier study of this effect in concept theory to put forward an explanation of the violation of Savage's Sure-Thing Principle, namely the presence of 'quantum conceptual thought' next to 'classical logical thought' within a double layer structure of human thought during the decision process. Quantum conceptual thought can be modeled mathematically by the quantum mechanical formalism, which we illustrate by modeling the Hawaii problem situation, a well-known example of the disjunction effect, and we show how the dynamics in the Hawaii problem situation is generated by the whole conceptual landscape surrounding the decision situation.Comment: 9 pages, no figure

Design and implementation of eye tracking application for generation of augmented reality content on spatial see through display of remote and virtual control tower (RVT)

Airports are a fundamental node in the aviation system. The growth of this sector undergoes the evolution of the airports procedures and infrastructures. Air traffic control is considered to be one of the most important activity performed in an airport. This often involves numerous personnel, construction and maintenance costs etc. With the ongoing digitalisation process in various fields, the concept of remote and virtual control towers (RVT) has emerged owing to the innovation in this field. Technologies such as augmented reality (AR) have successfully paved their smooth way to bring in improvements to an RVT. The current work aims to enhance and improve the controller work in an RVT exploiting the adaption of virtual reality and AR systems. In particular, this concept is under investigation within the EU funded SESAR project: RETINA (Resilient Synthetic Vision for Advanced Control Tower Air Navigation Service Provision) and DTT (Digital Technologies for Tower). AR content generation by virtue of various display technologies are studied and, Optical Spatial See-through displays (O SSTDs) have been considered for its own advantages in developing this application. One of the necessary requirements of AR in this configuration is identified as the tracking of the operator’s point of view (eye-tracking), to provide virtual content consistent with its real position. Thus, this paper elaborates the design of specific eye-tracking system using Microsoft Kinect V2 for the virtual control tower application. The need to have binocular vision to use AR content is assessed and the interface has been tested with few subjects to evaluate the precision of the measurements detected through the proposed solution

Classical Logical versus Quantum Conceptual Thought: Examples in Economics, Decision theory and Concept Theory

Inspired by a quantum mechanical formalism to model concepts and their disjunctions and conjunctions, we put forward in this paper a specific hypothesis. Namely that within human thought two superposed layers can be distinguished: (i) a layer given form by an underlying classical deterministic process, incorporating essentially logical thought and its indeterministic version modeled by classical probability theory; (ii) a layer given form under influence of the totality of the surrounding conceptual landscape, where the different concepts figure as individual entities rather than (logical) combinations of others, with measurable quantities such as 'typicality', 'membership', 'representativeness', 'similarity', 'applicability', 'preference' or 'utility' carrying the influences. We call the process in this second layer 'quantum conceptual thought', which is indeterministic in essence, and contains holistic aspects, but is equally well, although very differently, organized than logical thought. A substantial part of the 'quantum conceptual thought process' can be modeled by quantum mechanical probabilistic and mathematical structures. We consider examples of three specific domains of research where the effects of the presence of quantum conceptual thought and its deviations from classical logical thought have been noticed and studied, i.e. economics, decision theory, and concept theories and which provide experimental evidence for our hypothesis.Comment: 14 page

Quantum Experimental Data in Psychology and Economics

We prove a theorem which shows that a collection of experimental data of probabilistic weights related to decisions with respect to situations and their disjunction cannot be modeled within a classical probabilistic weight structure in case the experimental data contain the effect referred to as the 'disjunction effect' in psychology. We identify different experimental situations in psychology, more specifically in concept theory and in decision theory, and in economics (namely situations where Savage's Sure-Thing Principle is violated) where the disjunction effect appears and we point out the common nature of the effect. We analyze how our theorem constitutes a no-go theorem for classical probabilistic weight structures for common experimental data when the disjunction effect is affecting the values of these data. We put forward a simple geometric criterion that reveals the non classicality of the considered probabilistic weights and we illustrate our geometrical criterion by means of experimentally measured membership weights of items with respect to pairs of concepts and their disjunctions. The violation of the classical probabilistic weight structure is very analogous to the violation of the well-known Bell inequalities studied in quantum mechanics. The no-go theorem we prove in the present article with respect to the collection of experimental data we consider has a status analogous to the well known no-go theorems for hidden variable theories in quantum mechanics with respect to experimental data obtained in quantum laboratories. For this reason our analysis puts forward a strong argument in favor of the validity of using a quantum formalism for modeling the considered psychological experimental data as considered in this paper.Comment: 15 pages, 4 figure

The return of Diesel engine in the aeronautic propulsion

The recent developments in piston engine technology have increased performances as specific power and specific fuel consumption; environmental concern and increasing fuel cost are the main driving factors of this evolution. New generations of turbo-diesel engines have been developed for automotive applications, being now competitive with their gasoline counterpart. The use of Diesel engine for aeronautical propulsion is a discussed topic. In the past few years there have been a number of attempts to produce diesel engines for aircraft/rotorcraft and to this aim the three most important objectives to be pursued are reliability, compactness and low weight to power ratio. In this paper an outline of the most challenging aeronautical applications for diesel engines and an overview of the most promising technical solutions are provided

Vibroacoustic analysis of an innovative windowless cabin with metamaterial trim panels in regional turboprops

The purpose of this work is to study the possible noise reduction, in terms of sound pressure level, in the passenger cabin of a regional turboprop aircraft under multiple tonal and broadband noise components characterizing the noise generated by the engines during cruise flight conditions. In particular, we want to show the acoustic performances of innovative passive noise and vibration technologies, such as acoustic metamaterials applied to the trim panel of the cabin, in the low-frequency range, from 100 to 300 Hz. Moreover, the removal of windows from the passenger cabin is evaluated, in acoustic terms. Analyses are performed using a numerical tool, Actran, a finite element based software, and a numerical model of a regional aircraft fuselage. According to the results, metamaterials seem to have significant acoustic performances that lead to a reduction in noise and therefore an increase in passenger comfort

Aerospace Science and Engineering – III Aerospace PhD-Days

The Aerospace PhD Days are organized by the Italian Association of Aeronautics and Astronautics, AIDAA, and are open to PhD students working on Aerospace Science and Engineering topics. The first two editions were held in Pisa under the supervision of Professor Aldo Frediani. The event has no parallel sessions to allow students to follow all presentations; furthermore, most of the organization is carried out by graduate students. The 2023 edition had 63 presentations, with students from more than ten institutions, including delegates from China, France, and Spain. Many aerospace disciplines and topics were covered, i.e., dynamics and control, navigation, aeroacoustics, fluid dynamics, human-machine interaction, structures, maintenance and operations, sustainability of aeronautics and space, space economy, propulsion, additive manufacturing, sensors, aerospace systems, aeroelasticity, artificial intelligence, and UAV. Four invited speakers delivered lectures on opportunities, challenges, and perspectives of the aerospace field: Angelo D’Agostino (Head of Research career and NCPs coordination Unit, APRE), ERC Starting Grant & MSCA-Postdoctordal Fellowships opportunities; Franco Ongaro (Chief Technology and Innovation Officer – Leonardo), Aerospace perspectives of Leonardo Company; Tatjana Bolić (Chair of the SESAR 3 Joint Undertaking’s Scientific Committee - University of Westminster), Innovations in ATM; Maria Antonietta Perino (Director Space Economy Exploration and International Network - Thales Alenia Space), Exploration: from LEO to Moon and Mars. The closing ceremony included a speech from Anthea Comellini, a Member of the ESA astronaut reserve