Human operators often employ discontinuous or "bang-bang" control strategies when performing large-amplitude acquisition tasks. The current study applies Variable Structure Control (VSC) techniques to model human operator behavior during acquisition tasks. The result is a coupled, multi-input model replicating the discontinuous control strategy. In the VSC formulation, a switching surface is the mathematical representation of the operator's control strategy. The performance of the Variable Strategy Model (VSM) is evaluated by considering several examples, including the longitudinal control of an aircraft during the visual landing task. The aircraft landing task becomes an acquisition maneuver whenever large initial offsets occur. Several different strategies are explored in the VSM formulation for the aircraft landing task. First, a switching surface is constructed from literal interpretations of pilot training literature. This approach yields a mathematical representation of how a pilot is trained to fly a generic aircraft. This switching surface is shown to bound the trajectory response of a group of pilots performing an offset landing task in an aircraft simulator study. Next, front-side and back-side landing strategies are compared. A back-side landing strategy is found to be capable of landing an aircraft flying on either the front side or back side of the power curve. However, the front-side landing strategy is found to be insufficient for landing an aircraft flying on the back side. Finally, a more refined landing strategy is developed that takes into the account the specific aircraft's dynamic characteristics. The refined strategy is translated back into terminology similar to the existing pilot training literature. / Ph. D.

This master’s thesis deals with the design of a simulator for measuring the response of a human operator in the MATLAB program and the Simulink extension. The first part summarizes the theory of mathematical models of human operator, which is followed by a description of a simulator for response measurement with a graphical user interface. In the last part, the basic measurement of human operator response to different scenarios, comparison of quality of control for different operators and identification of model for individual operators are performed.

In working machines the human operator is essential for the performance of the total system. Productivity and energy efficiency are both dependent not only on inherent machine properties and working place conditions, but also on how the operator manoeuvres the machine. In order to operate energy-efficient the operator has to experience the machine as harmonic. This is important to consider during the development of such working machines. It is necessary to quantify operability and to include this interaction between the human operator and the machine in both the later stages of a development project (where physical prototypes are evaluated by professional test operators) as well as in the earlier stages like concept design (where only virtual prototypes are available). The influence of the human operator is an aspect that is traditionally neglected in dynamic simulations conducted in concept design, because the modelling needs to be extended beyond the technical system. The research presented in this thesis shows two approaches to rule-based simulation models of a wheel loader operator. Both operator models interact with the machine model just as a human operator does with the actual machine. It is demonstrated that both operator models are able to adapt to basic variations in workplace setup and machine capability. A “human element” can thus be introduced into dynamic simulations of working machines, providing more relevant answers with respect to operator-influenced complete-machine properties such as productivity and energy efficiency. While the influence of the human operator is traditionally ignored when evaluating machine properties in the early stages of the product development process, later stages are very reliant on professional test operators using physical prototypes. The presented research demonstrates how the traditional subjective evaluation of a machine’s operability can be complemented by a calculated measure for the operator’s control effort, derived from the recorded control commands of the machine operator. This control effort measure can also be calculated from the control commands of an operator model in a simulation, such as those presented in this thesis. It thus also allows for an assessment of operability already in the concept design phase. In addition, the results of a study of quantifying operator workload by means of measuring psycho-physiological data such as heart rate variability and respiration rate are presented as the first step towards realising workload-adaptive operator assistance functions. Once fully developed, the method itself can also be used as another complement to the traditional subjective evaluations of operability. This approach can then be applied not only in testing of physical prototypes, but also earlier in the product development process in studies on human-in-the-loop simulators. / I arbetsmaskiner spelar föraren en avgörande roll för maskinens prestanda. Såväl produktivitet som energieffektivitet beror inte enbart av maskinens egenskaper och arbetsomgivningen, utan beror också av sättet på vilket föraren manövrerar maskinen. För att främja ett bränslesnålt körsätt ska maskinerna upplevas som harmoniska och det är viktigt att beakta detta vid utvecklingen. Det är nödvändigt att kvantifiera maskinharmonin och att ta hänsyn till interaktionen mellan föraren och maskinen i alla steg av ett utvecklingsprojekt. Detta gäller såväl sena faser, när fysiska prototyper redan har tagits fram och utvärderas av professionella provförare, såväl som tidiga faser som konceptutveckling, när endast virtuella prototyper finns tillgängliga. Förarens inflytande beaktas traditionellt inte i prestandasimuleringar i konceptfasen, eftersom detta innebär att mer än enbart det tekniska systemet måste modelleras. I den forskningen som presenteras här visas två olika regelbaserade modeller av hjullastarförare. Båda förarmodellerna använder maskinmodellen på samma sätt som en verklig förare använder en verklig maskin. Det visas att båda förarmodellerna kan anpassa sig till förändringar både i arbetsomgivningen och i maskinens egenskaper. I och med detta kan man utöka dynamiska simuleringar av arbetsmaskiner med ”ett mänskligt element”. Detta ger bättre resultat vad gäller produktivitet, energieffektivitet och liknande egenskaper som föraren påverkar i kompletta maskiner. Medan man i tidiga faser av produktutvecklingsprocessen traditionellt bortser från förarens inflytande, så är man i senare faser mycket beroende av att professionella provförare testar fysiska prototyper. Den här presenterade forskningen visar hur den traditionella subjektiva förarbedömningen av en maskins körbarhet kan kompletteras med ett mått på förarens ”spakarbete”, som beräknas utifrån en mätning på hur föraren använder sina kontroller för att styra maskinen. Detta mått på ”spakarbete” kan också beräknas utifrån de spaksignaler som genereras av förarmodellerna i en simulering. I och med detta kan en maskins körbarhet undersökas redan under konceptutvecklingen. I avhandlingen redovisas också resultaten från en studie som gjorts i syfte att kvantifiera förarens arbetsbelastning genom att mäta psykofysiologiska mått som variationer i hjärtfrekvens och andningsfrekvens. Studien är ett första steg mot att förverkliga en vision av stödfunktioner i arbetsmaskiner vilka anpassar sig efter förarens momentana arbetsbelastning. En sådan metod att mäta förarens arbetsbelastning kan också användas som ett komplement till den traditionella subjektiva förarbedömningen av en maskins körbarhet. Metoden kan inte bara användas vid provning av fysiska prototyper utan också tidigare i produktutvecklingsprocessen vid studier i avancerade körsimulatorer. / IN ARBETSMASCHINEN spielt der Fahrer eine entscheidende Rolle für die Leistung des gesamten Systems. Produktivität und Energieeffizienz sind nicht nur abhängig von den Grundeigenschaften der Maschine und den Bedingungen am Einsatzort, sondern auch von der Art und Weise wie der Fahrer die Maschine manövreriert. Für eine kraftstoffsparende Fahrweise muss der Fahrer die Maschine als harmonisch erleben. Dies muss bei der Entwicklung beachtet werden. Das Erfassen der Fahrbarkeit und die Berücksichtigung des Zusammenspiels zwischen Fahrer und Maschine ist in allen Phasen der Entwicklung notwendig, sowohl in den späteren Phasen, wenn Prototypen von Erprobungsfahrern ausgewertet werden, als auch in den frühen Phasen wie dem Konzeptentwurf, wenn nur virtuelle Prototypen vorhanden sind. Der Fahrereinfluss wird traditionell in den dynamischen Simulationen während des Konzeptentwurfs vernachlässigt, denn er erfordert die Ausweitung der Modellierung über das technische System hinaus. In dieser Dissertation werden zwei Herangehensweisen zur Erstellung regelbasierter Modelle eines Radladerfahrers aufgezeigt. Beide Fahrermodelle interagieren mit dem Maschinenmodell gleich einem menschlichen Fahrer mit einer realen Maschine. Es wird gezeigt, dass beide Fahrermodelle in der Lage sind, sich auf Änderungen des Einsatzortes und der Maschineneigenschaften anzupassen. Somit kann „ein menschliches Element“ in die dynamische Simulation von Arbeitsmaschinen eingeführt werden, was zu qualitativ besseren Resultaten bezüglich Produktivität, Energieeffizienz und ähnlicher fahrerbeeinflusster Eigenschaften führt. Während man in den frühen Phasen der Produktentwicklung traditionell vom Fahrereinfluss absieht, ist man später sehr auf die Erprobung physischer Prototypmaschinen durch professionelle Testfahrer angewiesen. In dieser Dissertation wird aufgezeigt, wie die traditionell subjektive Bewertung der Fahrbarkeit einer Maschine mit einem Maß der „Steuerungsarbeit“ komplettiert werden kann, berechnet aus der gemessenen Betätigung der dem Fahrer zur Verfügung stehenden Bedienelemente. Dieses Maß der „Steuerungsarbeit“ kann auch aus den Signalen der von uns vorgestellten Fahrermodelle in einer Simulation berechnet werden. Damit kann man die Fahrbarkeit bereits in der Konzeptentwicklung abschätzen. Weiterhin werden die Resultate einer Studie zur Quantifizierung der Fahrerbelastung mithilfe psychophysiologischer Daten wie Veränderungen der Herzfrequenz und Atmungsfrequenz vorgestellt. Diese Studie ist ein erster Schritt zur Entwicklung eines Assistenzsystemes, dass sich an die aktuelle Fahrerbelastung anpasst. Eine solche Messmethode der Fahrerbelastung kan auch zusätzlich zur traditionellen subjektiven Fahrbarkeitseinschätzung angewendet werden – nicht nur bei der Erprobung physischer Prototpyen, sondern auch schon frühzeitig bei Studien auf Fahrsimulatoren.

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The touchscreen user interface is an inherently dynamic device that is becoming ubiquitous. The touchscreen’s ability to adapt to the user’s needs makes it superior to more traditional haptic devices in many ways. Most touchscreen devices come with a very large array of sensors already included in the package. This gives engineers the means to develop human-machine interfaces that are very intuitive to use. This thesis presents research that was done to develop a best touchscreen interface for driving an industrial crane for novice users. To generalize the research, testing also determined how touchscreen interfaces compare to the traditional joystick in highly dynamic tracking situations using a manual tracking experiment. Three separate operator studies were conducted to investigate touchscreen control of cranes. The data indicates that the touchscreen interfaces are superior to the traditional push-button control pendent and that the layout and function of the graphical user interface on the touchscreen plays a roll in the performance of the human operators. The touchscreen interface also adds great promise for allowing users to navigate through interactive textbooks. Therefore, this thesis also presents developments directed at creating the next generation of engineering textbooks. Nine widgets were developed for an interactive mechanical design textbook that is meant to be delivered via tablet computers. Those widgets help students improve their technical writing abilities, introduce them to tools they can use in product development, as well as give them knowledge in how some dynamical systems behave. In addition two touchscreen applications were developed to aid the judging of a mechanical design competition.

The thesis is aimed on visualisation of data mined by speech processing technologies. Some methods speech data extraction were studied and technologies for this task were analysed. The variety of meta data that can be mined from speech was defined. Were also examined existing standards and processes of call centres. Some requirements for the user interface were gathered and analysed. On that basis and after communication with call centre employees there was defined and implemented a concept for speech data visualization. Gained solutions were integrated into Speech Analytics Server (SPAS).

The doctoral thesis is thematically focused to human operator systems significantly contributing to this system reliability and safety. The theoretical part of the thesis is concerned with human activities and communications in MMS system, valuation and estimation of human reliability probability in MSS. The important part of the thesis is also a description of human operator neuromuscular system as an executive powerful system on MMS system regulating activities and the summary of human driver models in compensative lateral car control. The practical part of the doctoral thesis is based on analyses created by experimental data of drives. Experimental drives were done on drivers set following different backgrounds and different sleep deprivation at whole day. All experimental data was realized from the cooperation and following the agreement of Faculty of Transportation Science research centre on Prague ČVUT. Another part of thesis includes driver simulation model proposals with nonlinear components for lateral car control. Simulation model drives are compared with real drives or drivers on drive-simulator and there are monitored identical and different dynamic movement characteristics. The main target of doctoral thesis is to detect and obtain significant dynamical drive experience characteristics based on experimental data analyses. As well to found drive characters variability owing to driver’s fatigue and determinated evaluated characteristics changes. Acquired results of thesis should help in assistant systems that in cooperation with other components alert to micro-sleep and run off drive possibility.