Steven J. Landry

Human Factors in Transportation: Social and Technological Evolution Across Maritime, Road, Rail, and Aviation Domains

How to cite :Giuseppe Di Bucchianico, Andrea Vallicelli, Neville A. Stanton, Steven J. Landry. 25 Aug 2016, Visual Pleasantness in Interior Yacht Design: A Case Study of the Pleasure-Based Approach Application from: Human Factors in Transportation, Social and Technological Evolution Across Maritime, Road, Rail, and Aviation Domains CRC Press Accessed on: 09 Nov 2019 https://www.routledgehandbooks.com/doi/10.1201/9781315370460-5

What about the Next Generation? Assessing Experts’ Judgments of Human Abilities Required for Working in a Future ATC Environment

With the implementation of the European ATM Master Plan (SESAR, 2012) job requirements for air-traffic controllers (ATCOs) will alter significantly. Especially the introduction of time-based operations is considered to impose large changes in task operations. A controller-in-the-loop simulation study was designed to assess experts’ judgments on the main human abilities required for working in time-based arrival scenarios with different levels of assistance by an arrival-management system. Five male controllers (mean age: 32.5 years; mean job experience: 10.8 years) licensed for the simulated sector performed on one baseline scenario and four future scenarios. Gazedata were tracked and questionnaires on situation awareness and workload, as well as a modified Fleishman Job Analysis Survey (F-JAS) were applied. The experts judged the ability to identify problems produced by automation, as well as the ability to stay vigilant as being increasingly required in a highly automated time-based environment. The high number of gaze transitions between aircraft-targets adds objective indication: Under the simulated future conditions ATCOs were hardly able to build up attention guiding expectations which are necessary to keep up with the system- and traffic-parameters. This was also reflected in low situation awareness and high workload ratings.

Ergonomics and Modern Technology in the Restoration of Historic Vessels: A Challenge for a New Life

User interface design of nowadays safety-critical human-machine systems has a significant impact on human operator situation awareness (SA). SA is composed of three levels including the perception (level 1), comprehension (level 2) and projection (level 3) of information. A significant part of accidents can be attributed to level 1 error. This means that human operators have problems to satisfy their information demand with supplied information during task performance. While thoroughly checking user interface designs for information gaps is a standard in professional system design it is a time consuming and error prone process. In this paper we introduce an information gap model, which allows investigation of inconsistencies between information supply and demand. We present a method to detect information gaps and assess the fitness between information supply and demand. The method can be executed semi-automatically. We show the method’s implementation into an integrated system modelling environment and demonstrate the application with an autopilot component in a course change task on a ship bridge. We performed an expert evaluation with maritime system engineers and a human factors ergonomist to estimate the applicability, benefits and shortcomings of the method. Overall, the evaluation results are promising and warrant further research of the method.

To Beep or Not to Beep: Developing a Non-Fail-Safe Warning System in a Fail-Safe Train Protection Environment

Previous studies have discovered that the tacit but indispensable “ship sense” from seafarers is intensively involved in creating and maintaining “harmony” to assure the safety. The concept of “harmony” reveals the continuous balanced effect by tuning the ship to the dynamic environment under different situations that ship handlers strive for. While the notions of ship sense and harmony is originally created for onboard ship maneuvering, this paper extends it to the domain of shore-based control centers for unmanned ship handling from the perspective of human factors. With the loss of direct ship-sense, the harmony is also lost. This paper analyzes the challenges from having the operator onboard to onshore during ship maneuvering and explores the changing aspects of human factors we need to focus on, in order to facilitate shore-based ship-handlers to regain the harmony. The EU project Maritime Unmanned Ship though Intelligence in Networks (MUNIN) provides the context to conduct the focus group interview of participants with seagoing experience. The shifted human factors in shore-based unmanned ship handling are discussed. The results highlight several differential aspects in human factors that should be considered, such as situation awareness. It provides keys to design shore-based control center for remote monitoring and control in accordance with user-centered design principles.

Leading Indicators of Operational Risk on the Railway: A Novel Use for Underutilized Data Recordings

Abstract : A study was conducted to assess the effectiveness of visual alerting during a task that required full attention and that used multiple displays. Alert detection time was collected, and eye-tracking data was recorded to determine where participants were looking, particularly when an alert appeared. Results showed that a full border around the display was detected faster than a short bar at the top of the display. This finding is in contrast to previous work in our lab, where the bar alert has always been superior for detection. Previous findings had inferred that the bar alert can be included in a spotlight of attention created during the task. The new findings suggest that the spotlight was expanded in the current experiment as a consequence of limitations in head movement imposed by wearing the eye-tracking equipment. As a result the bar was not captured and detection time was slower. The eye-tracking data was also used to validate mouse cursor location as a reasonable indication of where eyes are looking. The data showed a relatively strong correlation between eye and cursor and indicated that for the task used the cursor is a suitable tool for collecting data on where an individual is looking.

If You Can’t Beat Them, Join Them: Using Road Transport Methods to Communicate Ergonomics Methods’ Outcomes to Aid Road Design

An online survey was distributed to end-users of adaptive cruise control (ACC). In total 90 drivers answered the questionnaire, which covered e.g. ACC usage and how such use affects driver behaviour. According the responses: the ACC is used primarily on roads with higher speed limits; the end-users trust the system even though it has some functional limitations; they have a very positive attitude towards the system; and positive effects on comfort and safety are observed including reduced inclination to overtake and increased compliance with speed regulations.