Aviation Cognitive Engineering (ACE) Laboratory

Lab Overview

The mission of the Aerospace Cognitive Engineering (ACE) Lab is to develop and demonstrate methods that improve the design and evaluation of complex, safety-critical automation systems. The group follows in the tradition of cognitive engineering and cognitive systems engineering to apply principles from cognitive science, human factors engineering/ergonomics, human-systems integration, human-systems engineering and systems engineering to complex, safety-critical systems.

ACE Lab methods and tools focus on helping to clearly define the tasks and associated performance metrics for the automation functions and predict interaction performance based on models of human and system performance. Research conducted by the ACE Lab examines human-automation interaction in safety-critical systems in both aeronautics and space domains and the potential for failures in these interactions. Failures in complex, safety-critical systems are often a result of unexpected interactions between the task, the environment, system components and human operators. Design and evaluation of complex automated systems require special formalisms to understand and communicate the environment, system performance and potential problems.

ACE Lab members have primarily applied their expertise and methods to automation on different categories and classes of aircraft but have also supported spacecraft mission applications. A primary goal for this lab has been to help improve safety in the ever-increasing complexity of modern cockpits, and the ever-changing aviation technology.

Research Areas/Projects

Assessing System Performance

Traditional human-automation interaction analysis techniques rely on human subject experimentation, simulation, and qualitative observation. While these can provide meaningful insights into the system being evaluated, they are all limited in the number of possible combinations of system conditions and human-automation interactions that might result in failures.

Tools for Assessment

Formal methods offer such analysis capabilities: where a variety of automated or semi-automated tools can be used to mathematically prove whether a model of a system will adhere to desirable system properties. We are exploring how these formal methods can be used to complement other human-automation interaction analyses and thus assist in the design, analysis, verification, validation, and certification of complex systems.

An example of a tool developed by the ACE Lab is the Automation Design and Evaluation Prototyping Environment (ADEPT). ADEPT is a tool that combines the specification of logic with formal analysis techniques (e.g. completeness, non-determinism), a graphical interface editor and automatic code generator to create part-task simulations. The simulations and logic generated by the tool are intended to be support the specification of requirements.

Assessment Through Simulation

ACEL-RATE (Aerospace Cognitive Engineering Lab) Rapid Automation Test Simulator) is an adaptable fixed-base aircraft simulator focused on the investigation of the performance and interaction of pilots and increasingly automated aircraft systems. The development of the ACEL-RATE simulation capability provides ACE Lab scientists with a highly reconfigurable suite of hardware components and software tools that support scientific research and development to support various environments. The simulator utilizes NASA developed software, referred to as FlightDeckZ with a simple reconfigurable cockpit placed within a 10-foot spherical dome with a cluster of real-time image generators to display highly realistic scenery and environmental objects.

FlightDeckZ Vehicle Simulation Environment

FlightDeckZ is a modular aircraft research environment, consisting of three major software components:

• FlightZ
• DeckZ
• FMSZ

FlightZ implements the vehicle performance, guidance, control and autopilot functions. FlightZ can import aircraft models of different formats, and currently includes high fidelity models of small aircraft, fighter jet, helicopter, regional and large transport aircraft as well as eVTOL models developed as part of the NASA Revolutionary Vertical Lift Technologies (RVLT) project. Three aircraft performance models representing multi-copter, Lift Plus Cruise and Tilt-Wing configurations were used in AEP-3 depicted below. The aircraft models are representative of a subset of AAM industry concepts used in the 6000 pound weight class. Neither of the aircraft tested included models of ground effect, atmospheric effects or critical azimuth.

DeckZ implements its own virtual cockpit controls and graphics displays for the FlightZ vehicle model. The DeckZ software generates these displays. These cockpit displays are available on the FDz host computer in addition to the eVTOL displays in the ACEL-RATE simulator.

FMSZ implements a Flight Management System (FMS) capability that provides navigation and guidancetargets to the FlightZ aircraft models. FMSZ includes automatic takeoff and landing capabilities and is highly modifiable.

Advanced Air Mobility Investigations

The ACE Lab is supporting the Advanced Air Mobility (AAM), “a rapidly-emerging new sector of the aerospace industry that aims to safely and efficiently integrate highly automated aircraft into American airspace. AAM is not a single technology but rather a collection of new and emerging technologies being applied to aviation, particularly in new aircraft types. AAM is designed to deliver agile, affordable, and accessible flights to all Americans and drive infrastructure development, employment, and innovation.” (DOT, 2026).

To support AAM research on pilot-automation interaction, the ACE Lab started the Automation Enabled Pilot (AEP) series began. Initial AEP studies focused on assessment of piloted eVTOL aircraft with Indirect Flight Control Systems (IFCS). The use of IFCS require design decisions about desired behavior as the aircraft transitions from forward flight to low speed or hover. Some of these transitions occur regardless of aircraft configuration (e.g. airmass to ground-referenced flight, envelope protection) and others (e.g. the transition from wing-borne to thrust-borne flight) will vary with aircraft configurations (e.g. Tilt-rotor, Tilt-Wing, Lift Plus Cruise, etc.).  Industry proposals span a wide range, but the majority include onboard pilots until the concept of operations mature to the point to allow remote piloting or autonomous operations. IFCS also enable aircraft applicants to deviate from conventional pilot station configurations (e.g., cyclic and collective inceptors, pedals). The AEP-2 study conducted in 2024 examined isolated operational maneuvers and performance criteria in a flight test setting. AEP-3 examined the efficacy of concept UAM operations from the perspective of pilots flying representative eVTOL aircraft in purpose-built scenarios. A timeline of the AEP studies (and initial FAA studies) is shown below.

The most recent AEP-3 investigation examined representative eVTOL aircraft and automation flying procedures designed to integrate into complex, high tempo airspace with diverse aircraft types in a mid-term operations airspace concept. The procedure concept was developed based on a previous high fidelity air traffic controller study to examine integrated Urban Air Mobility (UAM) operations in the Dallas-Love airport airspace (Verma et al., 2024) referred to as the Air Traffic Management Interoperability Simulation (AIS) study.