Existing Techniques vs. ISAFE-VATES Technique In Flight Safety Research

Virtual Flight Test and Operation Environment

ISAFE-VATES Based Safety Risk Analysis Process

1. Develop the ‘parametric definition’ and implement the system dynamics model for a vehicle of interest.
2. Select and formalize operational factors for examination in fast-time M&S experiments.
3. Plan and debug baseline flight situation scenarios.
4. Plan and debug a multifactor situational tree ‘genotype’ – a multifactor operational hypothesis.
5. Select knowledge maps to represent the safety performance of a complex flight domain of interest as a ‘bird’s eye view’ picture.
6. Carry out the system model validation using available real or simulated flight data for a prototype.
7. Run autonomous fast-time flight M&S experiments to construct a situational tree.
8. Map the tree’s ’what-if’ branching crown onto integral safety spectra and/or other knowledge maps.
9. Screen the simulated domain of multifactor flight situations using the selected knowledge maps.
10. Generate (‘mine’ and ‘granulate’) new system-level knowledge on the vehicle flight safety performance in multifactor situations from M&S data.
11. Identify (if any) and quantify anomalies/ unsafe scenarios and accident precursors in the system dynamics using knowledge maps and virtual flight experiment statistics.
12. Identify and quantify safe situations, their precursors and control scenarios.
13. Explore accident avoidance/recovery control (or, if required, remedial design solutions) to avoid ‘chain reaction’ anomalies in the system behavior in multifactor situations.
14. Develop recommendations on flight safety enhancement in the multifactor operational domain of interest; recommendation options:

• refine operational constraints (less expensive, time- and budget-wise, recommendation), and/or
• modify piloting tactics, operational procedures, and/ or
• modify automatic flight control laws, and /or
• make changes to the dirigible design – aerodynamics / propulsion / structure (most expensive, time- and budget-wise, recommendation).

NOTE: the steps of input and output data preparation, data processing and results description are omitted.

Distinguishing Features of ISAFE Methodology

1. Generalized model of the ‘pilot – vehicle – operating environment’ system dynamics.
2. Compact and efficient data structures.
3. A generalized language to formalize flight scenarios.
4. A generalized algorithm to plan complex operational hypotheses for simulation.
5. Use of any situation scenario as a tree’s trunk.
6. Built-in fatigue-free ‘silicon pilot’ model.
7. Algorithms for automated exploration of ‘what-if’ branching domains of multifactor flight.
8. Algorithms for automatic ‘mining’ of safety knowledge from simulation raw data.
9. Algorithms and formats for automatic mapping of safety knowledge.

Distinguishing Features of VATES Technology

1. (100 … 200)´N times increase in the speed of complex flight simulation compared to real-time, where N is the number of computers in use.
2. 104 … 105 times increase in the volume and diversity of new knowledge on the system dynamics in multifactor situations.
3. Relaxation of the ‘curse of dimensionality’ in flight simulation research.
4. Capability of virtual flight test beginning from early design of a vehicle.
5. Capability of accident reconstruction and ‘what-if neighborhood’ analysis under uncertainty.
6. Protection of the confidentiality of the customer’s database on the vehicle under study.
7. Capability of proactive research into multifactor flight safety for accident prevention.
8. Accumulation of a library of flight scenarios and multifactor hypotheses for future reuse.

ISAFE-VATES : Main Advantage and Main Limitation

Main advantage: The complexity of a flight scenario planning and simulation task does not depend on the complexity of the multifactor flight situation under examination.

Main limitation: In order to obtain reliable engineering results from ISAFE-VATES-based flight safety research, it is required to have a complete ‘parametric definition’ (input characteristics) database of the vehicle for all the flight regimes of interest.