Abstract

Automation has been introduced more and more into the role of air traffic control (ATC). As with many other areas of human activity, automation has the objective of reducing the complexity of the task so that performance is optimised and safer. However, automation can also have negative effects on cognitive processing and the performance of the controllers. In this paper, we present the progress made at AUTOPACE, a European project in which research is carried out to discover what these negative effects are and to propose measures to mitigate them. The fundamental proposal of the project is to analyse, predict, and mitigate these negative effects by assessing the complexity of ATC in relation to the mental workload experienced by the controller. Hence, a highly complex situation will be one with a high mental workload and a low complex situation will be one in which the mental workload is low. Document type: Part of book or chapter of book

Abstract

Traffic congestion is a major issue that plagues many urban road networks large and small. Traffic engineers are now leaning towards Intelligent Traffic Systems as many types of physical changes to road networks are costly or infeasible. Multi-Agent Systems (MAS) have become a popular paradigm for exploring intelligent solutions to traffic management problems. There are many MAS approaches to traffic management that utilise market mechanisms. In market-based approaches, drivers “pay” to use the roadways. However, a major issue with many of these solutions is that they require technology that, as yet, does not exist or is not widely available. For example, they rely on a special software agent that resides within the vehicle. This “vehicle agent” is responsible for participating in the market mechanism and communicating with the transportation infrastructure. In this paper, an auction-based traffic controller is proposed which exploits all the benefits of market mechanisms without the need for a vehicle agent. Experimental results show that such a controller is better at reducing delay and increasing throughput in a simulated city, as compared to fixed-time signal controllers. Document type: Part of book or chapter of book

Abstract

We introduce a tool for simulation and optimization of gas pipeline networks coupled to power grids by gas-to-power plants. The model under consideration consists of the isentropic Euler equations to describe the gas flow coupled to the AC powerflow equations. A compressor station is installed to control the gas pressure such that certain bounds are satisfied. A numerical case study is presented that showcases effects of fast changes in power demand on gas pipelines and necessary operator actions. Document type: Part of book or chapter of book

Abstract

MaxNet is a distributed congestion control architecture in which only the most severely bottlenecked link on the end-to-end path controls the source rate. This paper shows that the small-signal convergence speed of MaxNet is higher than that of conventional architectures, such as the current Internet or REM. It also shows that MaxNet decouples the control, so that each pole position depends only on parameters of one bottleneck link and of the sources controlled by that bottleneck, enabling optimal pole placement. Document type: Part of book or chapter of book

Abstract

In literature, several mechanisms are proposed to prevent Plug-in Electric Vehicles (PEVs) from overloading the distribution grid. However, it is unclear how such technical mechanisms influence the market level control strategies of a PEV aggregator. Moreover, the presence of multiple aggregators in the same distribution grid further complicates the problem. Often, grid congestion management mechanisms are proposed to solve the potential interference between the technical and market objectives. Such methods come at the expense of additional complexity and costs, which is not beneficial for the large scale application of demand response. In our work, we investigate this problem by combining a simple low level voltage droop controller with an event driven control strategy for the coordination of charging PEVs. The approach is evaluated in different distribution grid settings, using two different market objectives for the aggregator. Document type: Part of book or chapter of book

Abstract

In this paper we present a case study of how design sketching can be used as a technique for exploring and creating a common understanding between users, designers and software developers, of the representation design requirements for supporting spatial-temporal reasoning in Air Traffic Control (ATC). The safe and expeditious control of aircraft requires the ATC controller to think in terms of 3D air space, and also plan ahead in time. We refer to this mental process as spatial-temporal reasoning. ATC is a 4D (3D plus time) problem but is currently supported by 2D tools such as the Plan Position Indicator-type radar displays that are seen in ATC centres. This requires the air traffic controllers to construct mental models of the air traffic situation to ensure safe vertical and horizontal separations between moving aircraft, and also expedite traffic flow. These objectives require prediction of traffic patterns and potential bottlenecks. To explain how we used design sketching, we report on the Task Analysis of an exemplar ATC task, and the characterisation of this task in spatial-temporal terms, and how the Ecological Interface Design principle of visualisation of constraints was applied to guide the development of the 4D visual form of the representation design. Document type: Part of book or chapter of book

Abstract

Human machine interfaces (HMI) in the product division of air traffic management (ATM) are in use for long time spans. For an efficient use of HMIs not only user centered but also migration tolerant designs are important. Migration tolerance therefore means considering future requirements for a long lasting controller HMI life cycle. For efficient ATM, the concept of system wide information management (SWIM) will be introduced. This generates a large amount of additional information that will influence controller work. In this paper, we therefore describe a new controller role called Information-and-Conflict-Manager (ICM) who handles the complexity induced by SWIM. The resulting HMI design draft demonstrates how the integration of data could be managed. ICM also supervises training to support controllers successfully passing future flight guidance transitions. Document type: Part of book or chapter of book

Abstract

At recent years, air traffic demand increased at double-digit figures at several Brazilian airports and as a consequence increased controller workload was observed at many Sectors of the Air Traffic Control Facilities, with clear indications that demand consistently surpassed the available capacity of airports and air traffic control units. Although determination of air traffic control capacity values is still a very subjective and controversial issue, with no proven and universally accepted method in place, there is no doubt that there are limits and operating at values above a certain “threshold” will impact the system’s efficiency, and, ultimately, also it’s safety. “Demand” is defined as the number of aircraft requesting to use the Air Traffic Management system ABSTRACT Document type: Part of book or chapter of book

Abstract

Inland navigation transport takes part in the Trans-European network program (TEN-T ), which aims at promoting this mode of transport by creating favorable conditions for the further development of this sector. The NAIADES Action Program comprises numerous actions and measures to boost transport on inland waterways. Among these actions, the infrastructure issue is dealt with. It requires the inventory of the existing infrastructure and the study of the possible effects of the expected climate change. This was one of the objectives of the GEPET-Eau project (2013-2016), which led to the proposal of multi-scale modeling approaches and adaptive and predictive control architectures. The resilience of inland waterways against the increase of navigation demand and the expected extreme drought and flood events was studied by considering deterministic models. The proposed architecture is suitable to consider two scales of space and time to optimize the water resource allocation among the inland networks and to guarantee the navigation conditions by proposing advanced control and fault detection tools. These approaches, which were designed by considering inland waterways in the north of France, are still being improved. Indeed, it is firstly necessary to consider all the uncertainties that are inherent to large-scale and environmental systems. Secondly, the advanced control and fault detection tools require further development to deal with the very complex dynamics that characterize inland waterways. The main objective of this work is to present the current state of the tools that have been developed in order to study and manage the inland waterways in a climate change context. The global framework that allows describing the link between these two management scales will be detailed. The water resource allocation approach can be based on three different techniques: the Constraint Satisfaction Problem (CSP), the quadratic optimization and the Markov Decision Process (MDP). The MDP-based approach will be emphasized due to its suitability to study complex systems with uncertainties, and its main advantages and drawbacks will be discussed and compared to the other techniques. Advanced control and fault detection tools require an in-depth knowledge of the inland waterway dynamics. Characteristics of navigation reaches, i.e. slope, resonance phenomenon, uncontrolled inputs and interconnections, need to be taken into account. A big effort has been made to improve the modeling step of the navigation reaches by considering the IDZ (Integrator Delay Zero) model. The designed tools are based on this accurate model, and they aim at improving the water level control of each reach of the inland waterways and at performing predictive maintenance strategies by detecting, isolating and forecasting faults on sensors and actuators (limnimeters, gates, locks, etc.). The designed management tools will be presented by considering a part of the real inland navigation network in the north of France. Perspectives and future developments will be described. Peer Reviewed Document type: Article

Abstract

IEEE Annual Conference on Power Electronics Specialist (PESC), 2003, Acapulco (Mexico) Hybrid Electric Vehicles, HEV, are an attractive opportunity to use new energy sources in road transportation, not only to minimize fuel consumption but also to reduce air pollution. Efforts are being made to improve the HEV electrical subsystems, such as electric motors, power converters, electronic controllers, energy management units, batteries, and the more important: the system-level integration and optimization. This paper pretends to contribute in the improvement of the hybrid drive-train configuration applying a new motion system, the Joint System, JS. In this article the authors show the possible application of JS, in a simplified HEV model with series configuration. An optimized vector control technique is applied to the JS propulsion drive to enhance the HEV performance. The performance of the Series HEV model with JS power-train has been checked by simulation. Peer Reviewed