Development of a CRM Skills Measurement Method Including Threat and Error Management Concept

The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) has developed a Crew Resource Management (CRM) Skills measurement method that includes a Threat and Error Management (TEM) concept and identifies a crew’s level of CRM Skills by the way in which they manage human errors and threats. To validate the method, a CRM Skills measurement experiment was carried out by four raters using Line Oriented Flight Training (LOFT) scenarios. To increase inter-rater reliability, the raters collated their results to develop “True Scores”. The experiment identified factors contributing to individual scoring differences between the raters and provided information for improving the CRM Skills rating sheet, inter-rater reliability training and LOFT scenarios

Comparing Tunnel-In-The-Sky Display on HDD and HUD from Task Occupation Point of View

A series of flight simulations was carried out to investigate the causal factors of attention capture, focusing on a traffic detection task while following a curved trajectory using a Tunnel-in-the-Sky display. The location (head-up or head-down) and size of the display were varied, and traffic detection time and path tracking performance were measured. The results show that the HUD gave the best path tracking at the expense of traffic detection performance, and supports the hypothesis that using a limited viewing volume and high display gain with a Tunnel-in-the-Sky display induces pilots to rely on precise guidance cues instead of the “tunnel” itself, consequently focusing much attention on the control task

Development of Method for CRM Skills Asessment

Crew Resource Management (CRM) is currently considered as one of the most effective methods for avoiding human errors or minimizing their effects. In training, measurement of the level of flight crews’ CRM Skills is necessary in order to evaluate objectively which Skills have been adequately learned and which are lacking. The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) has developed CRM Skills Behavioral Markers and CRM Skills Measurement Methods that can identify a crew’s level of CRM Skills by which human errors and threats are managed. A series of simulated-LOFT (line oriented flight simulation training) were conducted to examine the applicability of the method

Reconstruction of Pilot Behaviour from Cockpit Image Recorder

A method to automatically identify pilot actions from cockpit camera footage is reported in this paper. Although they have long been considered for the enhancement of flight safety, cockpit image recorders have not yet been standard equipment in aircraft cockpits. The rules on Flight Data Recorders have been changed, however, to include a cockpit image recorder as one of the safety devices, and it is recommended to be installed in small aircraft as a substitute for a Flight Data Recorder. With cockpit images becoming available, it would surely be useful for accident analysis as well as for daily flight analysis. Especially for the latter purpose, pilot behavior should be automatically analyzed and classified into specific actions, or procedures. The authors conducted a study to assess the feasibility of automatic detection of pilot actions in the cockpit by a machine learning process. Results show that even with a small amount of training data, the resulting algorithm could identify some typical actions, such as manipulation of the switches on the glare shield, with 80% accuracy. Even in cases with a button and a switch positioned very close to each other, the actions ‘pushing the switch’ and ‘pushing the button’ could be distinguished by the algorithm. The action estimation accuracy improves up to 90% when using the training data focused on the pilot’s body parts, rather than the data focused on the whole body.Invited paperControl & Simulatio

Temporary Capture of Asteroid Ejecta into Periodic Orbits: Application to JAXA’s Hayabusa2 Impact Event

In this paper, we study the dynamical environment around asteroids to investigate whether ejecta particles from an impact event (artificial or natural) could be temporarily trapped in periodic orbits. If such particles remain about an asteroid, they could potentially jeopardize an orbiting spacecraft in the event of a collision. We make use of invariant manifold theory to assess the conditions - impact location, particle radius, ejection velocity - that cause ejecta particles to get captured in periodic orbits. The analysis is carried out within the dynamical framework of the perturbed Augmented Hill Problem, which takes into account the solar radiation pressure, the effect of eclipses, and the J20 and J40 terms of the asteroid's gravity potential in its spherical harmonics expansion. We analyze millimeter- to centimeter-sized particles and captures into three families of periodic orbits that are robust to large values of the solar radiation pressure acceleration – the traditional a and g’ families of the Hill Problem and the southern halo orbits. We go on to find the impact locations from where ejecta particles are most likely to be captured into periodic orbits via their stable manifolds. As such, we recover the sets of initial states that lead ejecta to temporary orbital capture and show that solar radiation pressure and, subsequently, eclipses, cannot be neglected in these analyses. We apply our analyses to the specific case of JAXA's Hayabusa2 mission that successfully carried out its Small Carry-on Impactor (SCI) operation at asteroid Ryugu in April 2019. For this event, we identify locations on the Sun side of the asteroid at medium latitudes as the best impact locations.Invited paperAstrodynamics & Space Mission