Crew Operations Research Articles

Towards resilience in the value chain of coal mining upstream: an agent-based modeling and simulation to improve coal discrepancy

Coal discrepancy refers to the variance between actual coal-mined production and planned. This study aims to explore the contributing factors to the coal discrepancy phenomenon and its magnitude of impact, especially in the upstream area of the coal mining value chain. The author carried out a focus group discussion (FGD) involving experts at one of the largest coal mining companies in Indonesia. The result will then be verified by empirical data related to discrepancies that was collected from January to December 2023. The output variables then become the input of the simulation using Agent-Based Modelling and Simulation (ABMS) to explore the emergent properties. The study discovered that the top three significant contributing factors to this phenomenon are the change in mining sequence (47.1%), the accuracy of the geological model (36.5%), and operational loss (5.5%). The simulation result shows that coordination among the pit technical or planner, geologist, and operation crew is crucial for fostering value co-creation within the company, which in turn optimises this phenomenon. The statistical analysis reveals that the collaboration has a significant correlation of − 0.844 to coal achievement time and 0.912 to coal mined achievement per unit of time, with a significance level value of 0.000 (< 0.01).

Artificial Intelligence on the Digital Flight Deck: A Continuum with Parallel Trajectories

Reports of artificial intelligence (AI) in industries have drawn attention to digital flight decks of airliners. This encompasses single pilot operations, distributed crewing, and forms of reduced crew operations. Pilots, understandably, have concerns about reliability of AI and intrusion in crew operational procedures. To better comprehend the extent of automation malfunctions, and advanced roles for AI, data from NTSB and ASRS databases were examined. Results were assessed for applications of AI to resolve known human or system limitations. To evaluate trust and confidence related to AI, a survey of 42 company pilots provided baseline findings. Results revealed a substantial level of distrust in AI to make important decisions and that pilots believe they are necessary to prevent critical mistakes. To better understand the potential role of AI on the flight deck, parallel tracks for development are presented that illustrate domain-specific applications from more complex human-automation teaming and shared cognition operations.

Exploring the Human-Centric Interaction Paradigm: Augmented Reality-Assisted Head-Up Display Design for Collaborative Human-Machine Interface in Cockpit

Human-cybernetic interfaces (HCI) focuses on the integration and synergy of human-centric design, human factors (HFs) and economics, and human–machine interaction (HMI). The scrutiny of single pilot operations (SPO) approval from civil aviation authorities (CAAs) is subject to the aviation safety and pilot capability during exceptional handling and flight emergency. Airliners advocate the possibility from dual pilot operations (DPO) to SPO because of the financial considerations and captain shortage in the post-pandemic era. One could expect that SPO can only realise when reduced crew operations initiative is proven to be safe and airworthy. Public concerns pilot mental workload and potentially low situational awareness (SA) when handling overwhelmed multi-source information from the HMI in a cockpit, leading to degraded skills and flying performance. Advanced head up display (HUD) design, an integrated transparent display, can assist pilots in maintaining their optimal performance when SPO exercised. In this study, we are interested to design a SPO-favoured cockpit design with HUD and investigate the potential of integrating augmented reality (AR) and HUD in SPO in flight operations. An experiment involving 21 pilots was conducted to assess the effectiveness of AR-HUD on SA and workload in DPO, SPO, and SPO with AR-HUD scenarios. The Situation Awareness Present Assessment Method (SPAM) and a self-rated workload scale were used to evaluate SA and workload levels. Eye-tracking data was also collected to analyse behavioural performance. Results indicated that the AR-HUD scenario achieved optimal workload and SA levels and demonstrated superior performance in handling emergencies. Eye-tracking data revealed that AR-HUD facilitated a more equitable distribution of gaze between instruments and external view. In conclusion, the integration of AR in cockpit design introduces a human-centric interaction paradigm, contributing to aviation safety, SPO implementation and adaptive HMI design.

Comparison Analysis Of Fuel On Manual And Systematic Flight Plan On Citilink Airlines On The Jakarta-Surabaya Route Using Airbus A320 Aircraft

A Flight Plan is an essential element for achieving efficiency. Prior to operating a flight, a Flight Plan must be prepared. The flight operations officers (FOOs) utilize Airbus's NavBlue application to create a systematic Flight Plan. They can also manually generate a Flight Plan using the FCOM (Flight Crew Operating Manual) guidebook. This research focuses on the differences in fuel planning between the systematic and manual methods of Flight Plan creation, as there are variations between the two approaches. Qualitative methodology is used to gather and analyze secondary data, including both manual and systematic Flight Plans, weather and environmental data, as well as aircraft technical documents and fuel tank capacities. The anticipated outcome of this research is to provide valuable insights for the aviation industry in enhancing operational efficiency.

Sistem Informasi Monitoring Pengiriman Kargo DAMRI Logistik Lintas Jawa - Sumatera Berbasis Web

Cargo delivery is an integral part of logistics operations, where monitoring plays a crucial role. Manual approaches in monitoring increase the risk of human error and prolong the process duration. Major issues frequently encountered in cargo delivery, such as damages, losses, and bus travel delays, can be addressed through the implementation of monitoring systems. Damages and losses during cargo transportation, coupled with significant bus travel delays, stem from finalizing cargo delivery data after passenger check-in. This research aims to identify the root causes of these three issues and offer solution recommendations to enhance the reliability of the cargo delivery process. The research methodology includes analysis of historical delivery data, interviews with operational crews, and the development of a web-based information system for more structured monitoring processes. Research findings indicate that discrepancies between delivery schedules and inconsistent monitoring are primary factors contributing to damages, losses, and delays. Recommended solutions involve implementing real-time tracking systems and providing training to enhance awareness of swift and accurate delivery procedures. In conclusion, understanding the challenges encountered in cargo delivery can contribute to developing better service solutions, thereby improving overall logistics efficiency within DAMRI logistics.

An adaptive greedy heuristic for large scale airline crew pairing problems

A crew pairing represents a sequence of flight legs that constitute a crew work allocation, starting and ending at the same crew base. A complete set of crew pairings covers all flight legs in the timetable of an airline for a given planning horizon. That determines the rosters for the crew and their quality, since those pairings would potentially include layovers, deadheads and connection times which are the key factors which directly contribute to the operational crew costs. Considering that crew costs form the second largest bit in the overall operational cost, generating optimized crew pairings is a vital process for the airline companies. In this study, a score-based adaptive greedy heuristic and a genetic algorithm are presented for solving large scale instances of airline crew pairing problems. Both solution methods are applied to a set of real-world problem instances from Turkish Airlines which is one of the largest carriers in the world. The empirical results show that the proposed approaches are indeed capable of generating high quality solutions for crew pairing, even for the large scale problem instances.

Categorization of Select Cockpit Performance Evaluation Techniques.

INTRODUCTION: The modern aircraft cockpit has evolved into a complex system of systems. Numerous performance evaluation metrics and techniques exist that can measure the effectiveness of cockpit components in terms of how they influence the human operator's ability to perform tasks relevant to mission success. As no prior review of these metrics has been found in the literature, this effort attempts to do so, albeit without applying the metrics to a novel cockpit evaluation.METHODS: These metrics and techniques are discussed and presented in five defined categories as they relate to evaluating cockpit subsystems: ergonomics and anthropometrics; human-computer interaction; data management and presentation; crew resource management and operations; and ingress and egress.DISCUSSION: While this effort is significant and novel, it is not necessarily comprehensive. In conclusion, it is noted that no single holistic quantitative metric to evaluate cockpit design and performance yet exists. Utilizing some of the preexisting metrics presented to develop such a metric would be beneficial in efforts to evaluate aircraft cockpit designs and performance, as well as aiding future cockpit designs.Brighton EM, Klaus DM. Categorization of select cockpit performance evaluation techniques. Aerosp Med Hum Perform. 2023; 94(9):696-704.

Cyber-Physical Interdependent Restoration Scheduling for Active Distribution Network via Ad Hoc Wireless Communication

This paper proposes a post-disaster cyber-physical interdependent restoration scheduling (CPIRS) framework for active distribution networks (ADN) where the simultaneous damages on cyber and physical networks are considered. The ad hoc wireless device-to-device (D2D) communication is leveraged, for the first time, to establish cyber networks instantly after the disaster to support ADN restoration. The repair and operation crew dispatching, the remote-controlled network reconfiguration and the system operation with DERs can be effectively coordinated under the cyber-physical interactions. The uncertain outputs of renewable energy resources (RESs) are represented by budget-constrained polyhedral uncertainty sets. Through implementing linearization techniques on disjunctive expressions, a monolithic mixed-integer linear programming (MILP) based two-stage robust optimization model is formulated and subsequently solved by a customized column-and-constraint generation (C&CG) algorithm. Numerical results on the IEEE 123-node distribution system demonstrate the effectiveness and superiorities of the proposed CPIRS method for ADN.

Application of a Psychosocial Approach to the Identification and Strengthening of Adaptation Mechanisms of Humans and a Small Social Group during the Isolation Experiment “SIRIUS 2017–2023”

TOPIC: The task of the 21st century is the implementation of manned flights in Earth’s orbit with the view to building orbital and planetary bases. This requires addressing the impacts on people and small social groups in terms of psychological, psychosocial, physiological and health. The author presents her own comprehensive research and intervention approach to exploring and supporting the operation of the space crew in the four-month isolation period of “SIRIUS-18/19”, which can be used in the future for manned flights into deep space. GOAL: The main goal is to present three main areas, within the implementation of social research, designed to analyze the operation of the crew in a simulated space flight: 1. WORKING CONDITIONS, WORKING ENVIRONMENT AND SOCIAL ATMOSPHERE; 2. the STRUCTURE AND DYNAMICS OF RELATIONSHIPS and TIES; 3. a set of other specific areas. The key outputs of the comprehensive analysis of the “SIRIUS-19” crew operations concerning the level of satisfaction with the working environment and conditions, the structure and dynamics of relationships and other specific areas are presented. The suitability of the implementation of intervention activities for isolated crews is pointed out. The purpose is to contribute to the preparation of human crews for manned flights in deep space and to reduce the risks of damage to human biopsychosocial health. METHODS: For a comprehensive analysis, a set of the author’s own questionnaire methods, verified over 25 years in the normal and extremely demanding conditions of specific professions, was used. The diagnostic and intervention method sociomapping, based on fuzzy theory and the mathematical modeling of outputs, was used for the analysis of the structure and dynamics of relationships as it is a technique suitable for the analysis of nonlinear dynamical systems. The methodology enabled the author to obtain a comprehensive view of the experimental situation from a psychosocial and sociological point of view. RESULTS: The model of the author’s analytical approach confirmed the legitimacy of its implementation in the case of isolation experiments. A comprehensive analysis of the “SIRIUS-18/19” crew’s work environment yielded outputs from the 10 main and 48 sub-areas analyzed. The analysis of the six-member, gender-mixed, multicultural crew in the area of structure and dynamics of relationships focused on 35 areas; a total of 344 sociomaps were created. The files were analyzed qualitatively and quantitatively using control diagrams. CONCLUSIONS: Outputs have the potential to be used in other isolation experiments as sociotechnical measures for project organizers and as verification of the need to introduce work with the crew in the form of development workshops using the sociomapping method.

The importance of time-resolved personal Dosimetry in space: The ISS Crew Active Dosimeter

Monitoring space radiation is of vital importance for risk reduction strategies in human space exploration. Radiation protection programs on Earth and in space rely on personal and area radiation monitoring instruments. Crew worn radiation detectors are crucial for successful crew radiation protection programs since they measure what each crewmember experiences in different shielding configurations within the space habitable volume. The Space Radiation Analysis Group at NASA Johnson Space Center investigated several compact, low power, real-time instruments for personal dosimetry. Following these feasibility studies, the Crew Active Dosimeter (CAD) has been chosen as a replacement for the legacy crew passive radiation detectors. The CAD device, based on direct ion storage technology, was developed by Mirion Dosimetry Services to meet the specified NASA design requirements for the International Space Station (ISS) and Artemis programs. After a successful Technology demonstration on ISS, the CAD has been implemented for ISS Crew operations since 2020. The current paper provides an overview of the CAD development, ISS results and comparison with the ISS Radiation Assessment Detector (RAD) and the Radiation Environment Monitor 2 (REM2) instruments.

Analysis of Burnout, Job Satisfaction, and Fatigue Among Yacht Crew: A Case Study of Turkish Yacht Crew Operating in the Southern Aegean Sea

An examination was conducted on the correlation between burnout, job satisfaction, fatigue levels, and the demographic characteristics of yacht crew. In March 2023, a survey was administered to 81 yacht crew of various ratings operating in the South Aegean. The Maslach Burnout Inventory, Minnesota Satisfaction Questionnaire, and Piper Fatigue Scale were used in the study, and the subdimensions of these scales analyzed in detail in relation to the yacht crew. Low burnout levels, moderate emotional exhaustion, low depersonalization and a lack of personal accomplishment was found among participants. Job satisfaction was moderate, primarily influenced by internal factors. Overall fatigue levels were moderate, with varying subscale levels. Deckhands had higher burnout and fatigue levels, whereas able seamen had the highest job satisfaction. Statistically significant relationships were found between participant age and years of service and burnout; between job satisfaction, competence, and years of service; and between fatigue and marital status. A statistically significant relationship was found between crew burnout and their levels of job satisfaction and fatigue. Another finding of the research was that males had higher job satisfaction than females, however, male crew members reported higher levels of burnout and fatigue. Furthermore, since there is dense yacht traffic in the Aegean Sea, the high levels of fatigue among yacht crew in the region could be affecting the safety of commercial vessel navigation. Excluding captains, this study is the first to research job satisfaction, burnout, and fatigue levels among yacht crew.

A Multiple Objective Hybrid Algorithm for Daily Ore Blend in Oil Sands Mines

ABSTRACT Oil sands mining contributes to the Canadian daily oil production by producing 1.617 million barrels per day. Processing oil sands is a complex operation with a critical sensitivity to the properties of the blended ore at the crusher that must follow the slurry pipeline and separation tank requirements. The blend optimisation in oil sands mines is a tedious work performed mostly manually by the mining engineers at the mine sites and requires fine-tuning as shovels move from one block to another in the same mining face. Miscalculations leading to deviation from the target properties cause inevitable economically and operationally expensive issues to the value chain including but not limited to sanding the pipeline, separation tank hick-ups, etc. Herein, we present a hybrid multi-objective algorithm addressing abovementioned issues in daily blending process and providing the operation crew with a clear practical production target at each mining face. The algorithm takes the processing targets as inputs and minimises deviations from each desired target by considering material properties at mining faces, the capacity of trucks, and production rates of active shovels.

Comparison and synthesis of two aerospace case studies to develop human-autonomy teaming requirements

This paper developed human-autonomy teaming (HAT) characteristics and requirements by comparing and synthesizing two aerospace case studies (Single Pilot Operations/Reduced Crew Operations and Long-Distance Human Space Operations) and the related recent HAT empirical studies. Advances in sensors, machine learning, and machine reasoning have enabled increasingly autonomous system technology to work more closely with human(s), often with decreasing human direction. As increasingly autonomous systems become more capable, their interactions with humans may evolve into a teaming relationship. However, humans and autonomous systems have asymmetric teaming capabilities, which introduces challenges when designing a teaming interaction paradigm in HAT. Additionally, developing requirements for HAT can be challenging for future operations concepts, which are not yet well-defined. Two case studies conducted previously document analysis of past literature and interviews with subject matter experts to develop domain knowledge models and requirements for future operations. Prototype delegation interfaces were developed to perform summative evaluation studies for the case studies. In this paper, a review of recent literature on HAT empirical studies was conducted to augment the document analysis for the case studies. The results of the two case studies and the literature review were compared and synthesized to suggest the common characteristics and requirements for HAT in future aerospace operations. The requirements and characteristics were grouped into categories of team roles, autonomous teammate types, interaction paradigms, and training. For example, human teammates preferred the autonomous teammate to have human-like characteristics (e.g., dialog-based conversation, social skills, and body gestures to provide cue-based information). Even though more work is necessary to verify and validate the requirements for HAT development, the case studies and recent empirical literature enumerate the types of functions and capabilities needed for increasingly autonomous systems to act as a teammate to support future operations.

DIGITALIZATION IN AIRCRAFT MAINTENANCE PROCESSES

Aircraft maintenance is considered as one of the major expenditures of aircraft operating costs. Notwithstanding that the new aircrafts, engines, and aircraft hard time parts became more durable and maintainable, the maintenance cost is still too high as against other costs like fuel and operational crews. Moreover, aircraft maintenance should be carried out with a high level of safety and security standards. All aircraft maintenance operations are subject to regulations by regulatory authorities. Such authorities can be attributed to European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA), Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and National Civil Aviation Authorities (NAA). The last two decades have become a turning point in the transition from the paper form of the introduction of accounting for aircraft maintenance technical operations into electronic systems, despite all the difficulties associated with these procedures. Such difficulties are not limited to regulatory authorities, personnel training and investment which is case-sensitive for small companies. Similar to all other sectors of logistics and transportation, digitalization can be one of the key engines of change in aviation, especially in the aviation maintenance; thus, the study of digitalization effects on aircraft maintenance processes at present is an important factor for improving the maintenance processes and reducing the cost of aircraft maintenance. The objective of this research is to define the ability of aircraft maintenance and repair organizations to transform their processes. To that end, a data collection method in the form of a survey was implemented within Maintenance, Repair and Overhaul Organizations (MRO) and among aircraft maintenance engineers. The survey results demonstrate that the aircraft maintenance industry is not yet fully prepared for moving into digitalization in aircraft maintenance processes. However, at the same time, the study indicates the readiness of the personnel involved in the industry to improve themselves and their skills. The industry should invest in the improvement of safety and quality of tasks subject to digitalization by means of development of reliable software/hardware, and provide suitable training for safety and quality personnel.

Analysis of Single-Pilot Intention Modeling in Commercial Aviation

With the continual enhancement of the onboard avionics, the minimum flight crew has been downsized from five to two-person crew mode, and reduced crew operation has drawn extensive attention from aviation experts. Single-pilot operation (SPO) mode warrants careful account and research. This study investigated the intention modeling of commercial aviation single pilot based on the bidirectional long short-term memory (BiLSTM), mining the intention tendency of pilots’ behavior through artificial intelligence technology. This was done to avoid safety hazards caused by different intents and inconsistent operations of the single pilot and the cockpit automation system. The classification task of a single pilot’s behavior is the core of intention recognition. Various operation items contribute differently to the classification. To construct the interaction dataset and encode it into time series features, a single-pilot experiment is specifically performed, wherein the experience of an expert is summarized into single-pilot intent labels. The deep information in the feature vector of a single-pilot operation item is captured by the BiLSTM network, and the neural weight is adaptively assigned by the training mechanism. The operation sequence with the feature data is finally loaded into the softmax layer for intention classification. The proposed method is evaluated against long short-term memory (LSTM), term frequency-inverse document frequency (TF-IDF), convolutional neural network (CNN), Naive Bayesian (NB), and distributed representation’s intention modeling techniques. Because the proposed methods have higher F1 scores, the model can effectively share real-time information about the single-pilot intention with the cockpit automation system.

Applying an improved particle swarm optimization algorithm to ship energy saving

Due to the increasingly competitive maritime market and stringent regulatory requirements, the optimization of ship energy efficiency is attracting more and more attention. The energy efficiency of ship navigation is affected by many factors such as ship structure, crew operation and navigation environment. In this paper, the proposed improved second-order oscillating PSO algorithm is used to study the ship energy efficiency from the viewpoint of route optimization by considering the sea conditions and constraints. Firstly, a nonlinear optimization model for ship FOC (fuel oil consumption) considering the time-varying sea state is established. On this basis, the energy efficiency and economic benefits are analyzed in terms of multiple indicators e.g., FOC and CO2 emissions per unit distance and per unit mass of freight. Finally, the energy saving potential of the method is demonstrated with an example of an oil tanker. The results show that both FOC and emissions are reduced after optimization, and energy efficiency and economy are improved by 1.17% and 2.55%, respectively. This indicated that the considerable effect of the proposed method applied to ship energy saving optimization.

Gateway program status and overview

This paper provides an overview and status of the Gateway, which will be an outpost orbiting the Moon that provides vital support for a sustainable, long-term human return to the lunar surface and a steppingstone to Mars as part of the Artemis program. Gateway is a destination for deep space crew expeditions and science investigations, as well as a port for deep space transportation – for landers en route to the lunar surface or spacecraft embarking to destinations beyond the Earth-Moon system. The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) leads the Program and serves as the integrator of the spaceflight capabilities and contributions of U.S. commercial partners and international partners to develop the Gateway.This paper will provide an overview of each component of the Gateway: The Power and Propulsion Element, the Habitation and Logistics Outpost; Deep Space Logistics; the International Habitation module; External Robotics System; European System Providing Refueling, Infrastructure and Telecommunications; an Airlock; and Exploration ExtraVehicular Activity (xEVA).Expanding on the successful partnership that has provided over 20 years of continuous crew operations in low-Earth orbit on ISS, the Gateway is an evolution of this extraordinary partnership that leverages the capabilities of each partner to expand humankind's sustained exploration deeper into the cosmos. Highlighting the international program with participation from multiple international partners, this paper will also provide a status of the Gateway multilateral governance structure and international agreements.

Service Restoration for Resilient Distribution Systems Coordinated With Damage Assessment

The time required to restore distribution systems following an extreme event is highly dependent on damage assessment. Waiting for field assessors patrolling the feeders to identify fault locations is a bottleneck in improving restoration efficiency. This paper proposes an optimal service restoration model for resilient distribution systems considering the coordination with damage assessment, as a contribution to earlier studies. The restoration actions such as fault isolation, network reconfiguration, crew mobilization and fault repair are brought forward to the damage assessment stage and the restoration schedules are dynamically updated with the reveal of the damage status. The relationship between fault location, switch status and node status is established to optimize the network topology and guarantee crew operation safety under the condition that the network has multiple faults or unchecked potential faulted areas. Moreover, the crew routing formulations are modified to enable fault isolation and load island reconnection by manual switches during the restoration process. Case studies validate the effectiveness of the proposed model in reducing load shedding and restoration duration.

Mission Overview of the American Public University System Analog Research Group’s First Space Analog Mission: 11 Days at the Inflatable Lunar/Mars Analog Habitat

From September 30, 2021 though October 10, 2021, the American Public University System (APUS) Analog Research Group conducted an eleven day space analog mission simulating a mission to the moon and/or Mars. The mission took place inside the Inflatable Lunar/Mars Analog Habitat located at the University of North Dakota in Grand Forks, North Dakota. This was the first mission organized and operated by the student run and faculty advised APUS Analog Research Group (AARG), and was titled ARG-1I. ARG-1I was centered around a research program that conducted experiments across six disciplines designed to fill research gaps that are required before astronaut crews are sent to the moon and Mars. The mission was designated as an overwhelming success by all stakeholders, and this paper offers a full mission overview emphasizing crew operations, research, and lessons learned.

Analisis Angkutan Kargo Antara ATR 72-600 Passenger, ATR 72-600 Freighter Dan ATR 72-600 Converted Pada Rute Makassar – Kendari

Delivery of goods (cargo) between islands or between countries is faster by air transportation. Air cargo can use passenger aircraft (bulk cargo), Air freighters, Combined air freighters, Converted freighters for the same type of aircraft, such as ATR 72-600. This study discusses fuel consumption, comparison of payload capacity, and comparison of fuel consumption per payload of ATR 72-600 aircraft for the Makassar – Kendari route. namely the ATR 72-600, ATR 72-600 Freighter and ATR 72-600 Converted aircraft. The method used is a quantitative method. The results of the calculation using the flight crew operation manual for ATR 72-600 passenger fuel carried 1.143,4 kg and fuel consumption of 609.4 kg, ATR 72-600 Freighter and Converted aircraft carried 1.210,3 kg of fuel and 613,3 fuel consumption, 4 kg. Fuel costs per kg of cargo, ATR 72-600 Passenger aircraft are more expensive, namely Rp. 1,279 per kg, freighter Rp. 1,136 per kg, converted bulk cargo Rp. 1,175 per kg, Converted Large cargo door Rp. 1,202 per kg. The largest Cargo capacity is 9,000 kg on ATR 72-600 Freighter aircraft and the smallest is 2,150 on ATR 72-600 Passenger aircraft. If cargo delivery does not exceed 2,150 kg, it is more profitable to use ATR 72-600 passenger aircraft, but if the weight or volume sent much larger should use the ATR 72-600 Freighter.