McCann, R. S., & McCandless, J. W. (2003). Human-Machine Teaming for Dynamic Fault Management in Next-Generation Launch Vehicles. In Proceedings of the Joint Army-Navy-NASA-Air Force (JANNAF) 3rd Modeling and Simulation Subcommittee Meeting, Dec. 1-5, Colorado Springs, CO.

Abstract

In the thirty years since the shuttles started flying, vehicle health management technologies have advanced to the point where they can autonomously monitor systems functioning and detect, diagnose and respond to systems malfunctions in real time. On a crewed vehicle, however, we argue that it is neither advisable nor practical to fully automate the health management system. Instead, human and machine intelligence should function as an integrated team, with roles and responsibilities carefully allocated to optimize the functioning of the human/machine system. In this paper, we first describe how dynamic fault management occurs in the shuttle today. We then develop a "straw man" operational concept for fault management in a hypothetical future version of the shuttle equipped with autonomous fault management technologies. The concept includes a description of human-machine functional allocation and associated human-computer interfaces. We illustrate the operational concept with an example of cooperative management of a disturbance in one of the main engine's helium supply system.