Today’s modern aircraft are equipped with advanced systems for fault detection and prognostics, known as aircraft health management systems, which can monitor and predict when a system or component will no longer perform its intended function. They also come with increased on-board autonomy, allowing them to perform many functions required for safe flight with reduced human intervention.

Does all of this technology also make them safer than their predecessors?

Not always, according to West Virginia University Assistant Professor Yu Gu, who will be working to understand the adverse impact these technologies may have on aviation safety, thanks to a $500,000, three-year cooperative agreement with NASA.

Gu, an assistant professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering, and his team will be working on two tasks. The first, which is mathematical, is to develop tools for evaluating the stability of information fusion algorithms that are commonly used in aircraft health management systems. The second is to develop a better understanding of the pilot-vehicle system, which could become unstable due to a number of factors including human error or stress.

“Imagine you’re driving on a road and the lane you’re in narrows,” said Gu. “You change the way you’re driving, perhaps slowing down or trying to pay more attention to accommodate the changes in the environment. Similar changes also occur in the air, where changes in human control behavior may lead to reduced pilot-vehicle system stability, which could be highly dangerous.”

According to Gu, new methods, tools, test beds and metrics need to be established for understanding phenomena that cannot be thoroughly evaluated using existing methods.

“These new methods will be validated through simulation studies and sub-scale aircraft experiments under potentially problematic conditions, which will aid in exposing system deficiencies and limitations,” said Gu. “These methods will enable researchers to predict future problems and provide innovative solutions, even though the specifics of future technology are still unknown.”

—WVU—

mcd/10/02/12

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CONTACT: Mary C. Dillon
304-293-4086; mary.dillon@mail.wvu.edu