Safety of Human-Autonomy Teams

This project seeks to answer two questions. First, where does the machine fit into the team in safety-critical operations? Second, how do we assure safety in human-machine teams with increasingly-autonomous capabilities? To answer these questions, the project involves:

• modeling and computer-based fast-time simulation of aviation operational concepts of operation with a wide range of different human-machine team structures. These models identify the actions required of each teammate, the information they depend upon and that they create, and their predicted timing.
• Safety analysis of team operations, including hazard analysis of predictable contingencies requiring a response from the flightdeck team, and then extrapolation of safety parameters from the modeling results given earlier.
• Human-in-the-loop (HITL) experiment results, providing measures similar to those provided by the modeling and computer-based fast-time simulation as observed in the operations of an actual human-machine team (human pilot and autonomy) in actual operation