Development of an operational fitness test for the Royal Air Force

Since 2002, the Royal Air Force (RAF) has been working towards developing role-related physical tests for use as an operational fitness test (OFT). The purpose of this study was to establish reliability of the OFT (comprising four tests), investigate gym-based tests as predictors of performance and establish performance standards. Fifty-eight RAF personnel performed the OFT on three occasions. A separate cohort carried out fitness and anthropometric tests before performing the OFT, by way of establishing performance predictors. Documented evidence and views of an expert panel were used to determine OFT standards. Reliability ranged from moderate to good for three tests, with one test (Dig) showing poor reliability. The 95% limits of agreement for the prediction models ranged from good to poor (6.7–34.2%). The prediction models were not sufficiently accurate to estimate confidently OFT performance, but could be used as a guide to quantify likely outcome and training needs.     

Flight simulator research at the Royal Air Force Institute of Aviation Medicine

After tracing the development of flight simulators, the author refers to the simulators used for research at the RAF Institute of Aviation Medicine, describing seven examples of the Institute's research carried out with their aid. These cover a comparison of attitude indicators, pilot response, motion cues and landing performance, student pilots assessments, familiarisation behaviour, evaluating an airborne navigation display, and attitude and opinion surveys.     

Development of an operational hydroturbine governor

Requirements of a hydroturbine governor system are considered, including safety constraints and the interface with the power station equipment. The microprocessor system used is described and the structure of the software, whose principal function is the solution of the controller differential equations, is discussed. The programme of tests to confirm operation of the microprocessor system in the laboratory and in the power station included extensive use of real-time simulation of the plant (a 32.5 MW turbine generator) to which the governor was connected.     

Development of an operational cloud classification model

Abstract

Within the PROgramme for a Meteorological Information System (PROMIS) project in Sweden a method of multi-spectral analysis and classification of Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer (AVHRR) data is developed. The model will be based on a statistical database of object classes and ruled by information about prevailing Sun elevations and air mass temperatures. A new system provides the image processing and data handling capacity necessary for an operational classification of AVHRR data. Operational tests will start during the beginning of 1988.     

Performance monitor for an operational LAN

The design and implementation of a performance monitor of an operational LAN, Monet, the local area network of Monash University (Monet-PM) is presented in this paper. The software has a monitoring and data analysis system. The performance monitor allows the evaluation of the network in the normal operational state. It uses the existing hardware types on the network.     

一种用于微型六维力传感器的集成式应变计设计

为实现六维力传感器的微型化与集成化,提出了一种新型的集成式应变计．该应变计由6组敏感栅组成,可与薄壁圆筒型弹性体组成微型六维力传感器．文中介绍了信号调理电路和数字化电路的组成．采用微型数字信号处理器和刚柔结合的电路板实现了传感器的电路集成．对传感器进行了静动态标定并分析了实验结果．     

美空军三位一体“试验旗”系列演习综述

近年来为加快形成多域联合作战能力,美空军将"像作战一样训练"的理念推广应用到新技术、新战术、新能力的试验中,创新推出了"橙旗"、"翠旗"、"黑旗"3个新的以"像作战一样试验"为核心理念、相互联动、三位一体、试训结合的"试验旗"系列演习,为加快研制"天生联合"武器装备体系和快速形成全域作战能力提供重要平台和手段;文章介绍了近年来美空军频繁开展"试验旗"系列演习的实情;分析了"试验旗"成功实施背后的理论方法和能力基础;最后从转变理念、完善机制、整合资源等方面提出了对推动我国武器装备试验鉴定工作发展的启示建议.     

Scheduling Space–Ground Communications for the Air Force Satellite Control Network

We present the first coupled formal and empirical analysis of the Satellite Range Scheduling application. We structure our study as a progression; we start by studying a simplified version of the problem in which only one resource is present. We show that the simplified version of the problem is equivalent to a well-known machine scheduling problem and use this result to prove that Satellite Range Scheduling is NP-complete. We also show that for the one-resource version of the problem, algorithms from the machine scheduling domain outperform a genetic algorithm previously identified as one of the best algorithms for Satellite Range Scheduling. Next, we investigate if these performance results generalize for the problem with multiple resources. We exploit two sources of data: actual request data from the U.S. Air Force Satellite Control Network (AFSCN) circa 1992 and data created by our problem generator, which is designed to produce problems similar to the ones currently solved by AFSCN. Three main results emerge from our empirical study of algorithm performance for multiple-resource problems. First, the performance results obtained for the single-resource version of the problem do not generalize: the algorithms from the machine scheduling domain perform poorly for the multiple-resource problems. Second, a simple heuristic is shown to perform well on the old problems from 1992; however it fails to scale to larger, more complex generated problems. Finally, a genetic algorithm is found to yield the best overall performance on the larger, more difficult problems produced by our generator.     

Grey-box modeling of an ocean vessel for operational optimization

Operational optimization of ocean vessels, both off-line and in real-time, is becoming increasingly important due to rising fuel cost and added environmental constraints. Accurate and efficient simulation models are needed to achieve maximum energy efficiency. In this paper a grey-box modeling approach for the simulation of ocean vessels is presented. The modeling approach combines conventional analysis models based on physical principles (a white-box model) with a feed forward neural-network (a black-box model). Two different ways of combining these models are presented, in series and in parallel. The results of simulating several trips of a medium sized container vessel show that the grey-box modeling approach, both serial and parallel approaches, can improve the prediction of the vessel fuel consumption significantly compared to a white-box model. However, a prediction of the vessel speed is only improved slightly. Furthermore, the results give an indication of the potential advantages of grey-box models, which is extrapolation beyond a given training data set and the incorporation of physical phenomena which are not modeled in the white-box models. Finally, included is a discussion on how to enhance the predictability of the grey-box models as well as updating the neural-network in real-time.     

Assessment of User Affective and Belief States for Interface Adaptation: Application to an Air Force Pilot Task

We describe an Affect and Belief Adaptive Interface System (ABAIS) designed to compensate for performance biases caused by users’ affective states and active beliefs. The ABAIS architecture implements an adaptive methodology consisting of four steps: sensing/inferring user affective state and performance-relevant beliefs; identifying their potential impact on performance; selecting a compensatory strategy; and implementing this strategy in terms of specific GUI adaptations. ABAIS provides a generic adaptive framework for integrating a variety of user assessment methods (e.g. knowledge-based, self-reports, diagnostic tasks, physiological sensing), and GUI adaptation strategies (e.g. content- and format-based). The ABAIS performance bias prediction is based on empirical findings from emotion research combined with detailed knowledge of the task context. The initial ABAIS prototype was demonstrated in the context of an Air Force combat task, used a knowledge-based approach to assess the pilot’s anxiety level, and adapted to the pilot’s anxiety and belief states by modifying selected cockpit instrument displays in response to detected changes in these states.     

Modular operational test plans for inferences on softwarereliability based on a Markov model

This paper considers the problem of assessing the reliability of a software system that can be decomposed into a finite number of modules. It uses a Markovian model for the transfer of control between modules in order to develop the system reliability expression in terms of the module reliabilities. An operational test procedure is considered in which only the individual modules are tested and the system is considered acceptable if, and only if, no failures are observed. The minimum number of tests required of each module is determined such that the probability of accepting a system whose reliability falls below a specified value R₀ is less than a specified small fraction β. This sample size determination problem is formulated as a two-stage mathematical program and an algorithm is developed for solving this problem. Two examples from the literature are considered to demonstrate the procedure     

QFD在嵌入式软件测试运行剖面定义中的应用

嵌入式软件可靠性测试往往是基于运行剖面的,常用均匀分布或分段均匀分布的选取方式确定各个运行剖面输入变量的取值范围,这种选取方式使测试用例的生成和选择是随机的,不具备针对性,使用质量功能展开(QFD)方法能克服这种局限性。将需求优先级、测试成本、业务重要性等因素作为权重分配给嵌入式软件可靠性测试系统的运行剖面的输入变量,可提高工作效率,并且达到以质量为导向的测试目的。     

基于Agent的海军航空兵突防作战仿真研究

航空兵作战中的突防过程决定着作战任务能否顺利完成。在研究海军航空兵突防作战过程的特点的基础上,建立了基于多Agent的作战仿真模型,分析了Agent间的通信过程及指挥所Agent的推理决策过程,并构建了相应的模型。该研究为以后进一步开展多Agent系统的研究打下了基础,对海军航空兵作战仿真研究也具有一定指导意义。     

压力传感器检测系统的研制

在 - 6 0～ 85℃的温度范围内 ,压力传感器检测系统可以满足压力传感器静态特性参数的检测 ,它采用了液体传压原理、温度控制技术和计算机应用技术。解决了压力传感器的热零点漂移、热灵敏度漂移、非线性、迟滞和重复性在不同温度环境条件下难以精确检测的问题 ,为压力传感器的研究和使用提供依据 ,在压力传感器研制和生产中有着重要的应用价值。     

An assessment of operational coverage as both an adequacy and a selection criterion for operational profile based testing

While the relation between code coverage measures and fault detection is actively studied, only few works have investigated the correlation between measures of coverage and of reliability. In this work, we introduce a novel approach to measuring code coverage, called the operational coverage, that takes into account how much the program’s entities are exercised so to reflect the profile of usage into the measure of coverage. Operational coverage is proposed as (i) an adequacy criterion, i.e., to assess the thoroughness of a black box test suite derived from the operational profile, and as (ii) a selection criterion, i.e., to select test cases for operational profile-based testing. Our empirical evaluation showed that operational coverage is better correlated than traditional coverage with the probability that the next test case derived according to the user’s profile will not fail. This result suggests that our approach could provide a good stopping rule for operational profile-based testing. With respect to test case selection, our investigations revealed that operational coverage outperformed the traditional one in terms of test suite size and fault detection capability when we look at the average results.