Human Factors and Ergonomics

Mental processes

Latest Stories

Briefs
Aerospace

Adapting US Army Acquisition to Ensure the Reliability and Safety of Autonomous Vehicles

This report presents several challenges that the U.S. Army will face in the transition to AVs, challenges that are only magnified in the current acquisition environment with limited testing.

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Briefs
Robotics, Automation & Control

Characterizing Motion Prediction in Small Autonomous Swarms

Prior investigations of swarm robot control focus on optimizing communication and coordination between agents, with at most one human control scheme, or with discrete (rather than continuous) human control schemes.

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Articles
Mechanical & Fluid Systems

New Approach to Viscosity Enables Complex Motions in Soft Robots

Cornell researchers have laid the foundation for developing a new class of untethered soft robots that can achieve more complex motions with less reliance on explicit computation.

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Articles
RF & Microwave Electronics

How to Test a Cognitive EW System

Cognition in EW systems is an important element in achieving dominance of the electromagnetic spectrum.

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Briefs
Aerospace

Formal Process Modeling to Improve Human-Decision-Making During Test and Evaluation Range Control

Innoslate software tool formally models the process of conducting test range events.

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Briefs
Sensors/Data Acquisition

Quantifying Eye Movement Trajectory Similarity for Use in Human Performance Experiments in Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance (ISR) Research

ScanMatch software determines the similarity of two strings of eye-tracking data. See why that kind of capability is valuable.

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Briefs
Sensors/Data Acquisition

Preliminary Development of an Integrated Mobility, Lethality, and Survivability Soldier Performance Testing Platform

Develop a methodology that incorporates objective measures of performance and is sensitive to changes in soldier-system equipment.

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News
Test & Measurement

Cab Air Quality: A Critical Component of Operator Comfort

Review the design specs for any new haul truck, excavator, dozer or other off-road machine, and you’re not likely to find requirements related to cab air quality—yet. However,...

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Technical Innovation
Transportation

How HMI Displays Impact Operator Productivity in Industrial Vehicles

The latest research indicates that well-integrated HMI (human-machine interface) systems lead to more attentive users that better retain task-related information and stay...

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Briefs
Mechanical & Fluid Systems

Modular Biosensor Patch

Researchers are identifying new biomarkers to help monitor cognition and stress in the human body and enhance human performance. Traditional biomarkers like heart rate, temperature, oxygen partial pressure, blood...

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News
Unmanned Systems

JLR Pavement Signals Throw New Light on AV Trust Levels

A necessity for all AVs is to ensure that other road users, including pedestrians, have trust in their actions. To help achieve this confidence, Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) has developed...

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Articles
Aerospace

Eye Tracking Technology

Much debate surrounds the skills shortage burdening the manufacturing sector of aerospace and defense (A&D). Industry 4.0, the Baby Boomer retirement wave, and a lack of properly trained workers underpins this issue,...

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News
Manned Systems

A Chat with 2019 Toyota RAV4 Chief Engineer Yoshikazu Saeki

Yoshikazu Saeki (above) is the chief engineer for the Toyota RAV4 and Toyota Highlander. Saeki (54) joined the company in 1987 as a suspension engineer on the Land Cruiser team...

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News
Unmanned Systems

Jaguar Land Rover Makes Eye Contact with New AV Research

Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) engineers developing autonomous-vehicle (AV) driving systems are working with cognitive psychologists to determine how users—and particularly...

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Briefs
Test & Measurement

Soldier-Robot Team Communication: An Investigation of Exogenous Orienting Visual Display Cues and Robot Reporting Preferences

The advancement of robot capabilities and functionality has changed the way in which soldiers perform many of their...

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Briefs
Robotics, Automation & Control

Gesture-Based Controls for Robots: Overview and Implications for Use by Soldiers

Afuture vision of the use of autonomous and intelligent robots in dismounted military operations is for soldiers to interact with robots as teammates, much like...

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Articles
Aerospace

Open Standard Middleware Enables New HPEC Solutions

The military embedded computing landscape has been transformed from where it was 20 years ago — and that has been almost entirely enabled by the ability of prime contractors, systems...

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INSIDER
Electronics & Computers

Scientists Work to Advance Conversational Computing

In an effort to help solve one of the grand challenges of artificial intelligence, the University of Michigan and IBM have launched a $4.5 million collaboration to develop a new class of...

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Articles
Aerospace

Big Data, Aircraft, and a Better Future

The hype phrase today is “Big Data.” It is a phrase Mark Bünger, Research Director for Lux Research, believes can have a number of definitions depending on who is doing the defining. Bünger was...

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Articles
Aerospace

Electronic Warfare Development Targets Fully Adaptive Threat Response Technology

When U.S pilots encounter enemy air defenses, onboard electronic warfare (EW) systems protect them by interfering with incoming radar signals — a technique known...

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Q&A
Imaging

Addressing the Needs of an Aging Population

With more than 75 million Baby Boomers (those aged 50-68) in the U.S., the automotive industry is now faced with the necessity to design products to meet the unique needs of this substantial...

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Application Briefs
Defense

Tactical Fighting System Simulator

Environmental Tectonics Corporation Southampton, PA 215-355-9100 www.etcusa.com Most fighter aircraft simulators are fixed-base, with no motion or sustained G-capability. Even those with six degree of freedom...

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Application Briefs
RF & Microwave Electronics

Jamming-Resistant Adaptive Radio System

Developing smart antennas for jam-resistant cognitive or software-defined radio systems entails a number of challenging issues. Researchers at the University of Texas are investigating methods to locate...

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Articles
Aerospace

Making Unmanned Ground Vehicles Operate More Autonomously

The US Army has announced plans to increase the autonomy of its Unmanned Ground Vehicles (UGVs). “We are moving along that spectrum from tele-operating to semi-autonomy where you can...

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Briefs
Electronics & Computers

Architectures for Cognitive Systems

A need exists for small, autonomic systems in the battlefield. Autonomy allows the creation of unmanned systems to perform complex, high-risk, and/or covert operations in the battlefield without the need for...

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Application Briefs
RF & Microwave Electronics

New All-Digital RF Technology Simplifies the Radio Environment

The concept of a software or “cognitive” radio has been around for about 20 years, and has progressed to the point where open-source software code is available. A cognitive radio is “smart” in the sense that it is continuously aware of changes in radio frequency (RF) spectrum...

Briefs
Software

A Predictive Model for Cognitive Radio

A computational model that predicts effects of changing operational parameters of a cognitive radio has been developed as part of continuing research on cognitive / software - defined radio (C/SDR)...

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