A Systems Engineering Evaluation Method for Piloted Aircraft and Other Man-Operated Vehicles and Machines with Hypothetical Example of a Systems Evaluation and Quantified System Performance-Workload Rating Scales

Abstract

A system evaluation method is presented which systematizes and quantifies both PRP pilot rating procedures and ECP engineering calculation procedure measures of system performance on a logarithmic ratio basis of test aircraft configurations compared to a known selected standard aircraft (vehicle) configuration. The logarithmic units 10 log (ECP test/ECP std) and 10 log (PRP test/PRP std) used in this system evaluation method are termed 'decivals dV' as they are 10 times the log base 10 of the ratio of the ECP and PRP values obtained during tests for the test aircraft configuration compared to the chosen standard aircraft configuration. The system evaluation is for chosen time periods of selected flight operations which are critical to flight safety, such as may occur during takeoff, or approach to landing and may include emergency engine failure, flight control or instrument malfunction conditions. System equations are presented which answer the question as to how good is the test configuration in relation to the known standard configuration during these same flight conditions. Potential ECP measures are discussed and their correlation with PRP pilot ratings obtained during flight test or flight simulator test determines their retention as effective system performance and evaluation measures. The non-dimensional logarithmic nature of the retained ECP system performance descriptors allows their combination by logarithmic summation and their correlation with the PRP pilot ratings is determined. The combination of ECP measures having the highest correlation with pilot ratings is retained for final system evaluation.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Mar 01, 1981
Accession Number
ADA099196

Entities

People

  • Thomas H. Higgins

Organizations

  • Federal Aviation Administration

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Air Platforms

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Accidents
  • Air Traffic
  • Air Traffic Control Systems
  • Aircrafts
  • Cognitive Workload
  • Control Systems
  • Engineering
  • Engineers
  • Flight Instruments
  • Flight Simulators
  • Judgment
  • Measurement
  • Mental Processes
  • Reliability
  • Simulators
  • Standards
  • Systems Engineering

Readers

  • Aviation Science / Aeronautics.
  • Civilian Systems Systems Program Capability Development and Upgrade Support Activity Expense and Pay Management.
  • Regression Analysis.