ACROSS Designed To Reduce Cockpit Stress And Workload

Pilots are often noted for their ability to deal with high workloads. However, air accident studies have shown that times of high stress or a depleted crew can lead to potentially fatal errors. ACROSS ... an EU-funded research project developing new cockpit solutions to both manage and reduce aircrew operations ... is intended to develop, integrate and test new cockpit solutions to help manage peak workload during a flight, in order to reduce stress and therefore the risk of accidents.

ACROSS, or the Advanced Cockpit for Reduction of Stress and Workload, will also work towards solutions that will allow reduced crew operations in a limited number of well-defined conditions, such as long-haul flights or a crew member becoming incapacitated. These innovative solutions will be assessed technically and operationally by pilots and other experts with a view to it becoming a long-term answer for aviation operations. Finally, ACROSS will identify the remaining open issues for the implementation of potential single pilot operations.

Avionics specialists from TriaGnoSys, a mobile communications company based in Munich, Germany and an EASA Part 21 Design and Production Organization, have been called on to lead the research stages that develop the dedicated air-to-ground communication infrastructure. TriaGnoSys’ recent developments for the successful EU-funded research project SANDRA (Seamless Aeronautical Networking through integration of Data links, Radios, and Antennas) and of the AeroBTS+ platform marked a leap forward in aviation communication technology that will make this research possible.

Dr Markus Werner, Managing Director of TriaGnoSys, said, “This research will benefit the long-term safety of aviation by reducing the stress faced by pilots during regular operations and in critical exceptional situations, such as the partial or full crew incapacitation. We are delighted to be working with such a distinguished group of European partners from universities and national research centres to airframers and international suppliers of all sizes.”

The ACROSS project is managed by Thales Avionics, and the other partners are: EADS Innovation Works, Selex ES, Airbus, Boeing, Dassault Aviation, BAE Systems, Continental, Diehl Aerospace, Isdefe, EAB, Jeppesen, Zodiac Aerospace, TAI, GNV, DLR, NLR, Trinity College Dublin, Warsaw University of Technology, The University of Malta, Techische Universität Braunschweig, TU Delft,  Deep Blue Consulting, Certiflyer, TriaGnoSys, Stirling Dynamics, Use2Aces, Tony Henly Consulting, GTD.

FMI: http://europa.eu/index_en.htm