Flying by Feeling: Communicating Flight Envelope Protection through Haptic Feedback

Modern aircraft can be equipped with a flight envelope protection system: automation which modifies pilot control inputs to ensure that the aircraft remains within the allowable limits. Overruling the pilot inputs may lead to mode confusion, even when visual or auditory feedback is provided to alert pilots. We advocate using active control...

Evaluating Stick Stiffness and Position Guidance for Feedback on Flight Envelope Protection

Modern aircraft use a variety of fly-by-wire control devices and combine these with a flight envelope protection system to limit pilot control inputs when approaching the aircraft limits. The current research project aims to increase pilot awareness of such a protection system through the use of force feedback on the control device, i.e.,...

Using asymmetric vibrations for feedback on flight envelope protection

Modern aircraft use a variety of fly-by-wire control devices and combine these with a flight envelope protection system to limit pilot control inputs when approaching the aircraft limits. The current research project aims to increase pilot awareness of such a protection system through the use of force feedback on the control device, i.e.,...

Framework for human haptic perception with delayed force feedback

Time delays in haptic teleoperation affect the ability of human operators to assess mechanical properties (damping, mass, and stiffness) of the remote environment. To address this, we propose a unified framework for human haptic perception of the mechanical properties of environments with delayed force feedback. In a first experiment, we...

What determines drivers’ speed?: A replication of three behavioural adaptation experiments in a single driving simulator study

We conceptually replicated three highly cited experiments on speed adaptation, by measuring drivers’ experienced risk (galvanic skin response; GSR), experienced task difficulty (self-reported task effort; SRTE), and safety margins (time-to-line-crossing; TLC) in a single experiment. The three measures were compared using a nonparametric index...

A new haptic shared controller reducing steering conflicts

When drivers have opposing intentions to a haptic shared controller which, like the driver, can continuously control the vehicle through torques on the steering wheel, the driver has to fight against the controller torque to reach their goal. This phenomenon is called haptic shared control (steering) conflicts and are a reason for drivers to...

A perceptually inspired Driver Model for Speed Control in curves

Understanding speed control in driving is important for analysis of road geometry and for the development of driver support assistance devices. Current models for speed selection are primarily based on the relation between road geometry and observed speeds. This study proposes a more detailed model that relates individual speed control to...

Does the Projected-Hand-Illusion Help in Teleoperation?

A body illusion, commonly known in the form of the “Rubber Hand Illusion”, is an illusion wherein visual inputs on an inanimate object and simultaneous tactile inputs on a part of the body lead to a situation where the inanimate object is identified as the body part. This study investigated the possibility of inducing a body illusion during a...

Admittance-adaptive model-based approach to mitigate biodynamic feedthrough

Biodynamic feedthrough (BDFT) refers to the feedthrough of vehicle accelerations through the human body, leading to involuntary control device inputs. BDFT impairs control performance in a large range of vehicles under various circumstances. Research shows that BDFT strongly depends on adaptations in the neuromuscular admittance dynamics of the...

Manual control cybernetics: State-of-the-art and current trends

Manual control cybernetics aims to understand and describe how humans control vehicles and devices using mathematical models of human control dynamics. This “cybernetic approach” enables objective and quantitative comparisons of human behavior, and allows a systematic optimization of human control interfaces and training...

Estimating driver time-varying neuromuscular admittance through LPV model and grip force

Humans can rapidly change their low-frequency arm dynamics (i.e., stiffness) to resist forces or give way to them. Quantifying driver’s time-varying arm dynamics is important for the development of steer-by-wire systems and haptic driver support systems. Conventional LTI identification, and even time-varying techniques such as wavelets, fail to...

Design of test signals for identification of neuromuscular admittance

The human neuromuscular system can be seen as a versatile and extremely adaptive actuator. Through co-contraction and reex modulation, the properties of the neuromuscular system can be modified, leading to a change in movement response to externally applied forces. These properties are normally expressed in the form of the neuromuscular...

Fundamental issues in manual control cybernetics

Manual control cybernetics aims to understand and describe how humans control vehicles and devices, such that more effective human-machine interfaces can be designed. Current cybernetics theory is primarily based on technology and analysis methods developed in the 1960s and has shown to be limited in its capability to capture the full breadth of...