Deadline: 19-Oct-21
The European Commission (EC) is currently accepting proposals for the Safe automation and human factors in aviation – intelligent integration and assistance.
Activities should address a renewed safety focus on the teaming between the human and automation, given the steady increase in automation in aviation operations at large (e.g. in cockpit, ATC, maintenance, etc.), including for new airborne services and vehicles such as drones. When automation is unable to cope, control should be handed back safely to the human.
Prepare the next step-change in automation, artificial intelligence (AI), in two steps.
Firstly, in the medium term with the role of AI as ‘Digital Assistant’, part of the team, earning the trust of the human operators and the flying public.
Secondly, in the long term, with the potential of AI to take over operations. For the transition to digital assistant and ultimately to AI-run operations, develop a novel approach to Human Factors and to safety (and security) assurance methods and processes.
System transition issues should be addressed, to avoid an initial spate of ‘automation-assisted accidents’, as it happened at the last step change in the level of automation in aviation (‘glass cockpits’), which nevertheless resulted in significantly improved safety.
Funding Information
The check will normally be done for the coordinator if the requested grant amount is equal to or greater than EUR 500 000, except for:
- public bodies (entities established as a public body under national law, including local, regional or national authorities) or international organisations; and
- cases where the individual requested grant amount is not more than EUR 60 000 (lowvalue grant).
Expected Outcomes
Project results are expected to contribute to all of the following expected outcomes:
- Improved monitoring of human performance, system performance and external hazards, in order to pave the way to more automation in aviation while meeting Flightpath2050 safety goals.
- Avoiding startle response or “automation surprise”, enabling intelligent assistance to all operators on the air and on the ground in all safety-critical situations and allowing fall-back response in case of severe system perturbations – including pilot incapacitation, cyber-attacks and/or broader operational system-wide failures.
- New crew and team configurations, including human-machine teaming, automation supervisory roles and distributed human crew (both airborne and on the ground) to ensure safety and optimise performance without leading to complacency or to loss of critical skills.
- Better prepared workforce and training, with smarter selection, qualification and training tools and methods to maintain high standards of safety and resilience, including advanced simulation for complex safety-critical events.
- Increased organisational and regulatory preparedness, safety culture and societal acceptance in the advent of more automation in aviation, from earlier integration of human factors and automation into design processes and safety case methods up to ensuring an appropriate level of human factors and automation competence in key organisations, including regulators.
Eligibility Criteria
To be eligible for funding, applicants must be established in one of the eligible countries, i.e.:
- the Member States of the European Union, including their outermost regions;
- the Overseas Countries and Territories (OCTs) linked to the Member States;
- eligible non-EU countries:
- countries associated to Horizon Europe;
- low- and middle-income countries.
For more information, visit https://bit.ly/3hdVWeu