Based on the six-year NASA Aviation Safety and Security Program Human Performance Modeling project, a collaboration of five teams from industry and academia, Human Performance Modeling in Aviation chronicles the results of modeling NASA-supplied data on two aviation flight deck problems: pilot surface operations taxi errors, and approach and landing with synthetic vision systems. The book provides a deep understanding of the aviation problems and "what-if" system redesigns of flight deck technologies and procedures.

Five modeling teams describe how they applied their models to these two problems and discuss the results in terms of the specific problems addressed, the modeling challenges faced, and the modeling solutions developed to address complex, real-world situations. The book then compares the five modeling tools used, shedding light on the unique approach that each brings to bear on two qualitatively different problems. It includes a "virtual roundtable discussion" that poses questions to each of the five teams and offers take-home lessons and insights into the modeling process and its complexities. The modeling teams also explore the issue of model validation and the approach that they adopted.

Concluding with a summary of how modeling fits into the system design and evaluation process, the text covers state-of-the-art advances in human performance modeling for complex systems. Critical for modeling aviation-domain tasks, these modeling capabilities can also be applied to other complex-system domains such as process control, medical applications, surface transportation, and military command and control, which share similar human-system interaction issues.

About the Author
NASA Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, Californi NASA Ames Research Center; San Jose State University

Reviews

"The editors put conspicuous effort into making this volume a tightly integrated presentation of the research project, the tools (i.e. HPM), and the specific problems in the larger context of aviation safety . . . The text works very well as a stand-alone introduction to modeling as well as a review of the state of the art of HPM techniques."
-Esa M. Rantanen, Rochester Institute of Technology, in Ergonomics in Design, Fall 2008

"... the first volume devoted entirely to the topic of human performance modeling in aviation. ... particularly valuable because, similarly to Gluck and Pew (2005), it compares the performance and usefulness of multiple models (five, to be exact) when addressing the same tasks and scenario contexts. As an added benefit, the editors did not stop after articulating a comparison among models; in addition, they sought out and documented the model developers' retrospective reflections on the model-building process and the state of the art in such models. The result is a coherent summary of the capabilities of the five models and an assessment of the state of the art of human performance modeling in general and in the field of aviation in particular."
-Richard W. Pew, Principal Scientist, BBN Technologies, from the Foreword

Book Information
ISBN 9780805859645
Author David C. Foyle
Format Hardback
Page Count 392
Imprint CRC Press Inc
Publisher Taylor & Francis Inc
Weight(grams) 703g