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Dave_Davidson
26th Sep 2011, 23:28
Hi all!
I am studying Aircraft Engineering and currently I am looking for an idea for my degree project.
Basicly, is there any particular problem, or annoyance, or something that could be improved, that you seasoned airline pilots expirience with the aircraft type you fly?
Something that I could use and try to solve in my research?
Anything: safety, passenger comfort, human factors, ease of use in cocpit, alarms etc.. you name it
I will greatly appreciate all ideas!!!
this is the first time I ever used forum, so please be patient with me :}

11Fan
27th Sep 2011, 03:25
Dave,

First, welcome. There are seven pages here in the Tech Forum alone. Surely you can gain some inspiration from one of these threads. Making a recommendation without knowing what resources you would have to tackle it -not to mention what previous experience you have- would make what you are asking us to do somewhat futile, wouldn't you think?

I offer that the simplest of challenges that you will face in this project will be coming up with a topic. Solving it will be far greater. Given that this has had some 50 plus views and no responses, I suspect I may not be the first with this opinion either.

Nevertheless, spend some time reading, if you haven't already. I am sure that you will discover something that will grab your attention. Once you have a topic, have identified key elements of your challenge and have developed a possible remedy, others here may be in the position of offering critique and share their experience.

I'm not trying to dash your hopes, rather, I wish to encourage you to seek out opportunities. Good luck in your studies, and again, welcome.

11Fan

Dave_Davidson
27th Sep 2011, 15:42
Hi
Thanks for your responce. My resources will be very limited and the project as a whole will be mostly theoretical. I will however have acces to electronics lab, and a computer program called MATLAB. This program will allow me to simulate electronic devices and circuits. I will also have acces to CAD..
So I will have all I need for design and problem solving, there just wont be a prototype built.
I do agree that my question was very open.. But thats the whole idea!
My project doesnt even have to be technical, it could be about improving, procedures and checklists etc. anything.
What I needed was just thoughts from pilots.. as you guys are people that have to deal with the plane on a daily basisis you know best what would make your life easier. Maybe there is a safety voulnerability? a lack of some system that would make your life easier? any and every thought appreciated!
The idea came from my friend who did the same on other forum and one pilot there suggested that there is a need for a system function that can calculate landing distance in the event of multiple systems failures (Hydraulic, Flaps, Engine etc)..
Also, this is not my first project and whilile I totaly agree that choosing the topic is the easiest stage, it is quite hard to find something that will be worthwile.
Thanks again and I will just continue to read.. read and read some more

FlightPathOBN
27th Sep 2011, 21:46
there are many projects in AUS to use as a foundation and/or reference data.

perhaps something like optimizing settings for low power takeoffs for noise, better design of the cabin airflow and filtration system,
or of course...winglet design for airbus :}

good luck!

(added: AUS=Australia)

Dave_Davidson
27th Sep 2011, 22:09
That's more like it! thanks!
What do you mean by AUS?

alf5071h
27th Sep 2011, 23:43
Dave you might wish to consider aspects of how future aircraft systems communicate with crews.
Aircraft have evolved from simple lamp and dial information to full system depictions on wide screen displays; what might the future hold with the advent of touchscreens?
You should go beyond the ‘easy’ hardware aspects and system control, and consider information transference – what is required by the crew from a system, and according to situation.
Also consider the broader aspects of awareness, more than seeing and understanding, but projecting future needs. In this aspect you could get into decision aiding concepts; not telling the pilot what to do, but perhaps advising or cautioning against certain options, or alternatively applying a safety rating to a selection of options – negative or positive position according to situation.

In many recent incidents and accidents the problem has been getting the pilot to believe a warning or system display and take quick action – follow the procedures; what might be done to help with future systems displays, and display design and interaction. Just one small, but important part of the man – machine interface; first understand the situation.

One related example I like is an automatic pull up for EGPWS red warnings (a warning not an amber alert, note the difference). The autopilot commences a climb but leaves the pilot the option of disengaging the automatic system, either overriding the advice or continuing to fly manually. The EGPWS terrain display provides the crew with evidence (which some may not believe).
The psychology of the scenario is that once the pull up has been started, then the pilot is reluctant to intervene, to override technology; thus improving safety.
This could be easily extended to Windshear warnings or ACAS, but don’t forget the human – operational view.

Oh, and no increase in workload – a unit of workload comes from each item of ‘a look’, 'a thought’, or ‘an action’.

FlightPathOBN
28th Sep 2011, 02:05
Alf,

that is a good one...ADSB- in/out between aircraft....couple the aircraft for separation and queue...add the RNP course for intent and you have quite a system...

nnc0
28th Sep 2011, 21:26
I'd be interested in a simple flight deck system to allow crew to absolutely know without a doubt that in the context of a displayed warning, is the associated sensor functioning correctly or not and has it been activated or not. I'm thinking of a something like a nuisance cargo smoke warning triggered on the ground by vehicle exhausts or humidity and silenced, but sinced it's latched into the FWC it reappears at 1500'. We all know it's nothing but it still requires a return to base to be certain and cancelling.

rubik101
29th Sep 2011, 07:43
A display similar that on the MS flight sim which shows an outside view of the aircraft would be a cool idea. This could depict the attitude, the position of the flight controls together with basic flight data, ROC/ROD groundspeed etc. It might just prevent another AF 447, maybe.

plain-plane
29th Sep 2011, 09:12
I would like a "soft" VNAV mode. where not only vertical restrictions are meet, but where a max 1000'/min climb/descend is used in RVSM. and ie a 2000' rate 2000' before selected level, 1000' rate 1000' before level off is commanded in TMAs ie. FL150 and below...
should be fairly simple, then you could look at what this will do to fuel usage, and so on...

OverRun
29th Sep 2011, 10:15
Hi Dave,

Let me stand back from your research topic quest, and offer a broader view about the academic side of it:

TOPIC
In picking your topic, it’s important to choose one that gives enough for you to be able to work on it, rather than one that sounds nice but won’t give you anything to work on. By doing work on it, I mean:

- you doing a laboratory or field experiment to collect data, or
- taking someone else’s data set, and analysing that, or
- doing advanced engineering computation (which is what you seem best set up to do).

Often your lecturer/university will have some experiments already going on, and there will be sections of research to be done by you in these experiments; it is always worth asking them for topics. In other cases, you may be working for an employer that has their own data or laboratory that can be used. Otherwise you’ll have to find some data to analyse.

Examples of topics I have given students at the 4th year civil engineering level, in each of the above categories, include:

Field experiment – we were measuring friction on an airport and some freeways. We had a new type of friction measuring machine. The student worked with the operator to test them with the new machine and to test them with our old type of machine, and to development the calibration equations for the new machine against the old machine.

Someone else’s data - There are major databases of long term pavement performance (LTPP) which can be accessed freely on the web and used to test hypotheses. This research study examined if the initial roughness of a pavement section has any effects on its long-term performance. The statistical tests performed indicate that asphalt and concrete pavements with low initial smoothness stay smooth over time.

Advanced engineering computation – we had a new bitumen product combining bitumen and solvent to make something that could be sprayed at low temperatures, covered with stones, and then which the solvent rapidly evaporated and it hardened in a couple of days. The student analysed the diffusion of the solvent through the bitumen using advanced diffusion mathematical modelling.


TITLE
The trick is to make your title/topic narrow rather than wide. You haven’t got much time available at your level (compared to masters and PhDs), so it helps being narrow. In a similar PPRUNE discussion a few years ago, the topic was initially HUD systems. Then Hugel [and others] made some good suggestions to narrow it such as: “HUD Installation on civil aircraft”. That could be tackled in several areas such as installation, design, effect on safety, cost/benefit analysis, ergonomics, etc. One could even narrow that down further into “A comparison of single and dual HUD installations on civil aircraft” if the data or experiment was available to research that narrow area.

TIME ALLOCATION
The optimum allocation is to allow a quarter on reading up (literature search and writing it up and recording the references properly), a quarter on getting your data, a quarter on data analysis, and a quarter on writing it up. No-one ever does that, but it is nice to dream of it.

Don’t get caught in spending half your time on reading, and the second half on getting your data, and leaving nothing for analysis and writing up. Many students do that, and have a tough time at the end frantically writing 18 hours a day to get what can only be a poor mark.

LITERATURE REVIEW
It came as a surprise to me when I did my first research degree that I wasn’t the first researcher ever and that others had already been working away in the area for years unbeknownst to me. It came as something of a let down, but I guess learning that is part of the education.

When you get your topic, the first task is to find out what is already known and written about it. This is the literature review or bibliography bit where you read up about what is known in the field, and get the extracts and quotes to use in your report (without plagarising them), and where you write down your references (which is the most annoying part of doing the research.

It is not just using Google. Instead, use ‘Google Scholar’ as the minimum. I tried it on the HUD topic and got 53,000 good-quality hits searching on 3 words ‘head display aircraft’.

Then of course you have to start to sort through them, and maybe do more searches to narrow things down a little. Once you have the titles of papers you want to read, you need to use your university’s library – they have the online subscriptions to access the better journal articles.

For example, one journal article I found in the HUD field was:
The Efficacy of Head-Down and Head-Up Synthetic Vision Display Concepts for Retro- and Forward-Fit of Commercial Aircraft by Lawrence J. Prinzel III; J. Raymond Comstock Jr; Louis J. Glaab; Lynda J. Kramer; Jarvis J. Arthur; John S. Barry. In International Journal of Aviation Psychology, Volume 14, Issue 1 February 2004 , pages 53 – 77

The library should allow you to access journals free and online, and even if not, they will get you articles for free in a few days anyway. I reckon at the 4th year level, you’ll need 20+ references, of which 5+ will be journal articles.

I strongly suggest you write the references up properly on the day that you access it or you will lose them. The simplest is to use a Word file and just keep adding to it and sorting it at the end. Here is the sort of stuff that should be appearing in it within a couple of days of starting your literature search (these are civil engineering examples from a recent student of mine):

Moranville-Regourd, M. (1997), Cements made from blastfurnace slag, Chapter 11 of Lea’s Chemistry of Cement and Concrete, 4th edition, Arnold, London UK. pp. 634

Sherwood, P.T., (1995) Alternative Materials in Road Construction, Thomas Telford, London, UK.

Shi, C., Wu, X., and Tang, M. (1993), Research on alkali-activated cementitious systems in China: a review, Advances in Cement Research, Vol. 5, No. 17, pp1-7

Good luck with your research

BTW the ‘Prof’ in my avatar stands for Professor.

Dave_Davidson
30th Sep 2011, 01:36
I might be wrong as I am just a student after all :} (my excuse for today) :}
but is there not a self test function for smoke detectors etc. that tests both the sensor itself and the indicating medium i.e. light/buzzer?
Do you have a particular aircraft type in mind?

Other than that, thank you guys for your input, much appreciated and I am reading up and trying to decide.. good to have some anchor point!
@OverRun.. Thanks! you are spot on with everything, one lecturer spend quite a lot of energy making sure we think about this :D

I have about two weeks to decide and come up with initial report along with my objectives, so.. will keep you posted! And in the mean time keep the suggestions coming!

OverRun
30th Sep 2011, 07:32
Using Google Scholar, I got a total of about 50,000 papers and articles on 'false smoke detector' and 'false smoke detection'. There is clearly some interest and development there.