Papers by Ronald Verhoeven
Insight: Assisting aviation display designers by measuring visual clutter
Crew interfaces for future ATM
Two flight simulator evaluations were conducted at NLR with a four degrees of freedom moving base... more Two flight simulator evaluations were conducted at NLR with a four degrees of freedom moving base simulator. A navigation display (ND) and primary flight display (PFD) for application in a future ATM environment were evaluated. In total 22 airline pilots participated. Conclusion is that flight execution by using a perspective PFD resulted in more accurate flight performance, faster recovery after
Journal of Aircraft, 2017
Time and Energy Managed Operations (TEMO) is a new integrated planning and guidance concept that ... more Time and Energy Managed Operations (TEMO) is a new integrated planning and guidance concept that optimizes the vertical aircraft trajectory, to achieve a continuous engine-idle descent whilst satisfying time constraints. To investigate acceptance of the concept and the influence of pilot involvement on performance, TEMO was evaluated in a real-time simulation involving nine airline pilots. Three Human-Machine Interface (HMI) variants were tested, these varied in the level of information presented. The results were compared to computer simulations with a zero-delay pilot response model, to evaluate the effect of pilot reaction time variation on performance and environmental impact. Results indicated that the effects of pilot response delays are limited. Pilots preferred the HMI variant that included a timer to support accurate selection of flaps and gear. Although
Safety
Human factors (HF) in aviation and maritime safety occurrences are not always systematically anal... more Human factors (HF) in aviation and maritime safety occurrences are not always systematically analysed and reported in a way that makes the extraction of trends and comparisons possible in support of effective safety management and feedback for design. As a way forward, a taxonomy and data repository were designed for the systematic collection and assessment of human factors in aviation and maritime incidents and accidents, called SHIELD (Safety Human Incident and Error Learning Database). The HF taxonomy uses four layers: The top layer addresses the sharp end where acts of human operators contribute to a safety occurrence; the next layer concerns preconditions that affect human performance; the third layer describes decisions or policies of operations leaders that affect the practices or conditions of operations; and the bottom layer concerns influences from decisions, policies or methods adopted at an organisational level. The paper presents the full details, guidance and examples ...
Automation Support in Low Visibility Conditions: Virtual Stop Bars in the Cockpit
2019 Integrated Communications, Navigation and Surveillance Conference (ICNS)
The Virtual Block Control (VBC) concept makes use of Virtual Stop Bar (VSB) positions on both con... more The Virtual Block Control (VBC) concept makes use of Virtual Stop Bar (VSB) positions on both controller and flight crew displays with the aim to reduce the size of control blocks used under low visibility conditions and, at the same time, ensure sufficient spacing between taxiing aircraft. In recent years, VBC was investigated within the European SESAR Programme (2008-2016) as an operational concept for improving weather resilience at airports. It has evolved in the SESAR timeframe towards the Dynamic VBC (D-VBC) concept allowing for smoother traffic flows. The validation activities that were carried out on the NARSIM-Tower simulation platform at the Netherlands Aerospace Centre (NLR) in Amsterdam predominantly focused on ground control aspects of the concept.
ACROSS: Reference Scenarios
This document is the Deliverable D1.4-1 Reference Scenarios of ACROSS, a European 7th Framework E... more This document is the Deliverable D1.4-1 Reference Scenarios of ACROSS, a European 7th Framework EC funded project. The main purpose of ACROSS is: · To develop, integrate and test new cockpit solutions that facilitate the management of the peak workload situations that can occur during a flight, in order to improve safety and ensure the reduction of accident risks through the reduction of stress; · To develop, integrate and test new cockpit solutions that will allow reduced crew operations in a limited number of well-defined conditions; · To identify the remaining open issues for the implementation of single pilot operations, taking into account first learning about evaluations done on workload reduction and reduced crew operations. Deliverable 1.4-1 presents a collection of scenarios that have been selected as relevant for the ACROSS project. Those scenarios will be refined for the purposes of validation and embedded in a global validation scenario in the framework of WP11 Validatio...
As a widely-used and proven technology, touchscreens are entering the cockpits of civil aircraft.... more As a widely-used and proven technology, touchscreens are entering the cockpits of civil aircraft. As part of the project ACROSS (Advanced Cockpit for Reduction Of StreSs and workload), NLR designed an innovative cockpit display with touch interaction for Tactical Flight Control; changing the aircraft’s (vertical) speed, heading and/or altitude. In current cockpit configurations, the controls for this autopilot (AP) functionality are spatially separated from the visualization of the parameters they adjust, introducing aspects of physical and mental workload. In this paper, the Human Machine Interface (HMI) design process of eliminating this physical gap and creating an intuitive interaction by means of Direct Manipulation (DM) is described. DM is characterized by manipulating graphical objects directly on the position where they are visualized in a manner that at least loosely corresponds to manipulating physical objects. It has the potential to be highly intuitive, and less prone to...
ACROSS:Reporting on Testing and Evaluation Plans for Local Test Benches
This report is the internal project deliverable D5.1-4 “Reporting on Testing and Evaluation Plans... more This report is the internal project deliverable D5.1-4 “Reporting on Testing and Evaluation Plans for Local Test Benches”, for ACROSS, a European Commission 7th Framework funded project. This document aims to describe the overall aspects of the foreseen evaluations of all the new technologies, novel Human-Machine Interface (HMI) and new cockpit automation function aspects that are currently under development by WP5 partners. More specifically, it provides a first overview of the main activities foreseen by all the WP5 developing partners including, when already feasible, the experimental setup, evaluation metrics and first ideas on the test scenarios, based on the overall scenarios already defined under D1.4-1 “Reference Scenarios”. The report is intended to be further matured and updated in the internal project deliverable D5.2-2 “Overview of local technology developments“.
Design and Evaluation of a 4D Navigation Display with Direct Manipulation
ACROSS: Scope and State of the Art
This document is the Deliverable D1.1-1 Scope and State of the Art of ACROSS, a European 7th Fram... more This document is the Deliverable D1.1-1 Scope and State of the Art of ACROSS, a European 7th Framework EC funded project. The main purposes of ACROSS are: To develop, integrate and test new cockpit solutions that acilitate the management of the peak workload situations that can occur during a flight, in order to improve safety and ensure the reduction of accident risks through the reduction of stress; To develop, integrate and test new cockpit solutions that will allow reduced crew operations in a limited number of well-defined conditions; · To identify the remaining open issues for the implementation of single pilot operations, taking into account first learning about evaluations done on workload reduction and reduced crew operations. This document details the goals of the ACROSS project and collects the state of the art in technology, procedures and regulations, as well as human aspects related to workload for basic operations (two pilots in the cockpit), reduced crew operations (...
ACROSS: Overview of Local Technology Developments
This document is the internal project deliverable D5.2-2 “Overview of Local Technology Developmen... more This document is the internal project deliverable D5.2-2 “Overview of Local Technology Developments”, for ACROSS, a 7th Framework project co-funded by the European Commission. The goal of this report is to improve and refine the contributions provided to D5.1-4 “Reporting on Testing and Evaluation Plans for Local Test Benches”. Partners detail the development/evaluation planning aspects, including experimental setup, evaluation metrics and the scenarios chosen to test the concepts under development. The foreseen planning schedule of the local evaluations is also indicated. The results of the technological evaluations will be included in separate deliveries to be drafted by all partners (D5.2-3[a-g]). The work reported is to be assisted by the Integrated Human Factors Teams (as part of both WP3 and WP5 Aviate), as well as by the Validation and Global assessment WP11.
2017 IEEE/AIAA 36th Digital Avionics Systems Conference (DASC), 2017
The contents of this report may be cited on condition that full credit is given to NLR and the au... more The contents of this report may be cited on condition that full credit is given to NLR and the author(s).
From 9-26 October 2015 the Netherlands Aerospace Centre (NLR) in cooperation with Delft Universit... more From 9-26 October 2015 the Netherlands Aerospace Centre (NLR) in cooperation with Delft University of Technology (DUT) has executed Clean Sky flight trials with the Cessna Citation II research aircraft. The trials consisted of several descents and approaches at the Eelde airport near Groningen, demonstrating the TEMO (Time and Energy Managed Operations) concept developed in the Clean Sky Joint Technology Initiative research programme as part of the Systems for Green Operations (SGO) Integrated Technology Demonstrator. A TEMO descent aims to achieve an energy-managed idle-thrust continuous descent operation (CDO) while satisfying ATC time constraints, to maintain runway throughput. An optimal descent plan is calculated with an advanced on-board real-time aircraft trajectory optimisation algorithm considering forecasted weather and aircraft performance. The optimised descent plan was executed using the speed-on-elevator mode of an experimental Fly-By-Wire (FBW) system connected to the...
2017 IEEE/AIAA 36th Digital Avionics Systems Conference (DASC), 2017
Continuous Descent Operations with Controlled Times of Arrival (CTA) at one or several metering f... more Continuous Descent Operations with Controlled Times of Arrival (CTA) at one or several metering fixes could enable environmentally friendly procedures without compromising capacity. This type of flight operation requires advanced on-board systems not only able to compute a plan satisfying Required Times of Arrival (RTAs), but also to safely and efficiently guide the aircraft during the execution of the descent such that RTAs are accurately accomplished. The primary aim of this paper is to compare the performance (in terms of environmental impact mitigation and ability to fulfill operational constraints) of four guidance strategies: tactical, strategic, hybrid and Model Predictive Control (MPC). A high fidelity flight simulator has been configured, and several descents to Barcelona-El Prat airport (Spain) have been simulated in presence of weather forecast and aircraft performance modeling errors. Results show that MPC is the most robust in terms of energy and time deviation, providing at the same time excellent environmental impact mitigation.
This paper describes the development and validation of environmentally efficient Continuous Desce... more This paper describes the development and validation of environmentally efficient Continuous Descent Approach techniques in a future high density operational environment for Amsterdam Airport Schiphol. Efficient CDA operations under such conditions are promoted by the combined use of new and/or available enabling airborne and air traffic management technologies. This includes FMS CDA and RTA functions, cockpit display cues, air-ground datalink and time based arrival management by means of advanced AMAN, RNAV STARS and a traffic flow sequencing and merging controller support tool. Validation was carried out using fast time capacity and safety simulations, as well as realtime human-in-the-loop simulation exercises, the latter involving both air traffic controllers and flight crews. The evaluation showed promising results with respect to the feasibility of the concept to achieve medium to high density CDA traffic flows. The work has been carried out within the OPTIMAL project (Optimised...
Problem area With the continuing growth of air traffic as well as the ever increasing level of ur... more Problem area With the continuing growth of air traffic as well as the ever increasing level of urbanization around most airports in Western Europe, the impact of aircraft noise and emissions on the quality of life for surrounding communities has become a serious issue to be dealt with. Throughout the world, much effort is being undertaken to increase the usage of Continuous Descent Approaches (CDA). This type of operation can provide significant reductions to community nuisance while improving the fuel economy in the approach. There are, however, still many issues to resolve prior to the realization of this type of operation during highdensity traffic at major airports. Present air traffic control procedures and technology do not easily allow flying such procedures except during night time when there is less traffic. To improve the throughput (for use during daytime) the initiation of a CDA procedure should be better planned and the execution should be more accurate.
TEMO (time and energy managed operations) is a new concept that aims to optimise continuous desce... more TEMO (time and energy managed operations) is a new concept that aims to optimise continuous descent operations, while fulfilling with a very high accuracy controlled time of arrival (CTA) constraints at different metering fixes. This paper presents the results and main lessons learnt from two human-in- the-loop experiments that aimed to validate the TEMO trajectory planning and guidance algorithm: a full motion flight simulation experiment and a flight testing campaign. Positive results were obtained from the experiments, regarding the feasibility of the concept and acceptance from the pilots. TEMO descents typically showed lower fuel figures than conventional step-down descents. Moreover, RTA adherence at the initial approach fix (IAF) showed very good performance. Time accuracy at the runway threshold, however, did not fulfil the (very challenging) time target accuracies. Further work is needed to enhance the current algorithm once the aircraft is established on the instrument lan...
1 Abstract In this paper an initial implementation of a real - time aircraft trajectory optimizat... more 1 Abstract In this paper an initial implementation of a real - time aircraft trajectory optimization algorithm is presented . The aircraft trajectory for descent and approach is computed for minimum use of thrust and speed brake in support of a “green” continuous descent and approach flight operation, while complying with ATC time constraints for maintaining runway throughput and considering realistic wind conditions. The trajectory opti mizer forms an important part of a new integrated, planning and guidance concept name d TEMO (Time and Energy Managed Operations) developed in the Systems for Green Operat ions (SGO) Clean Sky EU - program . It is compared with a typical A320 Flight Mana gement System ( FMS ) showing improvement s regarding time adherence performance and environmental impact.
Journal of Guidance, Control, and Dynamics, 2019
Time and Energy Management During Descent and Approach: Batch Simulation Study
Journal of Aircraft, 2015
ABSTRACT A noval integrated planning and guidance concept has been developed that optimizes aircr... more ABSTRACT A noval integrated planning and guidance concept has been developed that optimizes aircraft trajectories from Top of Descent to the runway threshold to achieve a continuous engine-idle descent. The new concept, named Time and Energy Managed Operations (TEMO), aims at reducing noise, gaseous emissions and fuel burn while maintaining airport landing capacity by means of time management. TEMO uses an optimization algorithm to minimize thrust and speedbrake use through energy management by exchanging kinetic and potential energy. Sustained deviations during descent are corrected using a strategic or tactical approach. TEMO is evaluated in a batch simulation study and compared with conventional step-down descents in terms of environmental impact. Various disturbances are introduced to test TEMO's robustness to disturbances and time constraints. Moreover, the two different methods of correcting deviations are compared. The results show that TEMO allows idle descents whilst adhering to time constraints and reduces the environmental impact of aircraft. Moreover, TEMO can cope with disturbances and updated time constraints. However, large wind estimation errors degrade TEMO performance.
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Papers by Ronald Verhoeven