Lidé na fakultě
doc. Ing. Luboš Socha, Ph.D. et Ph.D.

2024, IEEE Access, 12, p. 109806-109821), ISSN 2169-3536

The increasing diversity of multirotor unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) designs poses significant challenges in evaluating their flight characteristics and performance parameters. This is particularly true for commercially available UAVs whose control units do not provide users with data that could be used, for example, to estimate the operational and flight limits of the flight device itself. This study introduces the concept of a mountable device designed to track and assess the flight parameters of quadcopters, independent of the UAV's systems. Specifically, it involves independent monitoring of rotations, flight speed, air pressure, temperature, and drone orientation in space. The device validation involved real flight tests with the IRIS+ quadcopter using the Pixhawk control system, whose data were taken as a benchmark for validation. To demonstrate the applicability and benefits of such a device, the study also created a concept of an operational envelope for the drone, i.e. dependence of thrust on weight, angle of attack and speed. This concept was created using robotic simulation in the Gazebo environment. In the simulations, the IRIS+ device was used to simulate flights with different payload weights (0.9-2.9 lb, approximately 0.4-1.3 kg) and twenty flight speeds (1-20 ms-1), while simultaneously monitoring the angle of attack and motor revolutions (subsequently converted to thrust). The created operational envelope was subsequently validated using data from real flights. The overall results demonstrated the successful validation of the designed device and the accuracy of the measurement of critical flight parameters, with rotation measurement errors ranging between 100-200 RPM, angle of attack error at 4.25°, and altitude measurement error based on pressure at 0.56 m. Additionally, within this concept, the measurement of indicated airspeed was introduced, reflecting the expected flight speed values. In the context of validating the operational envelope, the results showed that the parameters of real flights fell within the predicted area of the created operational envelope for the IRIS+ drone. Independent monitoring devices like this can benefit operational limit determination and other testing purposes, especially for UAVs lacking data-sharing control units.

Článek v periodiku excerpovaném SCI Expanded

2024, Aerospace, 11 (12), ISSN 2226-4310

The rapid growth in air traffic has led to increasing congestion at airports, creating bottlenecks that disrupt ground operations and compromise the efficiency of air traffic management (ATM). Ensuring the predictability of ground operations is vital for maintaining the sustainability of the ATM sector. Flight efficiency is closely tied to adherence to assigned airport arrival and departure slots, which helps minimize primary delays and prevents cascading reactionary delays. Significant deviations from scheduled arrival times—whether early or late—negatively impact airport operations and air traffic flow, often requiring the imposition of Air Traffic Flow Management (ATFM) regulations to accommodate demand fluctuations. This study leverages a data-driven machine learning approach to enhance the predictability of in-block and landing times. A Bidirectional Long Short-Term Memory (BiLSTM) neural network was trained using a dataset that integrates flight trajectories, meteorological conditions, and airport operations data. The model demonstrated high accuracy in predicting landing time deviations, achieving a Root-Mean-Square Error (RMSE) of 8.71 min and showing consistent performance across various long-haul flight profiles. In contrast, in-block time predictions exhibited greater variability, influenced by limited data on ground-level factors such as taxi-in delays and gate availability. The results highlight the potential of deep learning models to optimize airport resource allocation and improve operational planning. By accurately predicting landing times, this approach supports enhanced runway management and the better alignment of ground handling resources, reducing delays and increasing efficiency in high-traffic airport environments. These findings provide a foundation for developing predictive systems that improve airport operations and air traffic management, with benefits extending to both short- and long-haul flight operations.

Článek v periodiku excerpovaném SCI Expanded

2024, New Trends in Civil Aviation: Proceedings of the 24th International Conference on New Trends in Civil Aviation 2024, Praha, České vysoké učení technické v Praze), p. 53-58), ISBN 978-80-01-07181-6, ISSN 2694-7854

The approach to landing and the landing of an aircraft represent one of the most critical phases of flight. Under certain conditions, a pilot's activity in this phase can be influenced by the visual illusion of the runway aspect ratio. In this context, an experiment was designed to determine the impact of the runway aspect ratio illusion on pilot performance based on its objective evaluation. The experiment was conducted on a flight simulator using a virtual reality headset. Flight data, collected during visual flight rules approaches, were subsequently analyzed. The deviation of the descent angle during visual approaches from the optimal angle for visual aircraft landing was examined. Data analysis using the repeated measures ANOVA confirmed the influence of this illusion on pilots during flight in a simulated environment, as indicated by the root mean square error and maximum absolute error.

Stať ve sborníku z prestižní konf.

2022, 2022 New Trends in Aviation Development (NTAD), Prague, Czechoslovakia Section IEEE), p. 206-212), ISBN 979-8-3503-2036-7

Ergonomically appropriate placement of flight instruments reduces the crew’s workload and reduces the likelihood of misinterpretation of displayed information. There are established instrument layout standards adapted by aircraft manufacturers that allow pilots to more easily transition from one aircraft to another. However, in certain phases of the flight, increased attention of the crew to the external environment is required. However, the instruments are located on the dashboard and the pilot must still switch between the instruments and the view from the cockpit. This problem is partially solved by the Head-mounted display located in front of the windshield. It is thus possible to follow the displayed information while looking ahead. In this respect, the existing Head-mounted display technology could be surpassed by technology implementing augmented reality into glasses (in some cases into a helmet) as a head/helmet-mounted display. The aim of this article is therefore to design an instrument layout for head-mounted devices. An important part is the conducted pilot testing and evaluation of feedback, which was evaluated using a questionnaire survey. The results point to the possibilities of flight information presentation, which could be configured within the possibilities of the available software and at the same time meet the ergonomic concepts and requirements of the pilots.

Stať ve sborníku z prestižní konf. (Scopus)

2022, Transportation Research Procedia, Amsterdam, Elsevier B.V.), p. 222-229), ISSN 2352-1457

Although illusions may be very common and dangerous, they do not receive enough attention in civil pilots training in terms of identification and experience. In contrast to military aviation, there is not any aeromedical training focused on flight illusions concerning civil aviators to this day. Therefore, the aim of this research was to determine whether to implement vestibular illusion simulator training into IR (Instrument Rating) training. Subsequently, specific parts of IR training along with a particular flight profile were chosen. This was based on the design of a practical experiment, which included induction of specific illusions in various flight profiles and situations. Using spatial disorientation simulator, twenty-five instrument rating instructors were exposed to three flight profiles containing four vestibular illusions. Specifically, it was somatogravic, somatogyral, Coriolis and the leans illusion. After each flight profile, a questionnaire concerning subjective responses regarding specific illusions and flight profiles was filled. Twenty-four out of twenty-five instructors were in favour of implementing vestibular illusion simulator into IR training, either mandatory or on voluntarily basis. The potential integration phase was chosen to be the beginning part or the final part of the IR training. This could lead to an overall improvement for safety of aviation.

Stať ve sborníku z prestižní konf. (Scopus)

2021, Proceedings of the “Transport Means 2021”, Kaunas, Kaunas University of Technology), p. 92-97), ISSN 1822-296X

The article deals with the issue of leadership. There are not always people in management positions who have the necessary predispositions for leading people resulting from the typology of their personality. Therefore, a questionnaire investigation was conducted in an attempt to find predispositions for managerial work in people working in the aviation environment. The questionnaire survey evaluated 8 areas in which the successful manager should have the required skills. Respondents performed best in the areas of communication and interpersonal skills. Through a questionnaire survey, we found that 26% of respondents do not have sufficient predispositions to work effectively in a management role. It was also found that women performed better than men in terms of the assessed predispositions to managerial work.

Stať ve sborníku z prestižní konf. (Scopus)

2021, ISBN 978-83-65547-20-0

Vlády, podniky, odborové zväzy, ale aj ženské organizácie venovali veľa úsilia a energie na prekonanie diskriminácie, ktorá bráni ženám v ich kariérnom rozvoji. Napriek pozitívnemu trendu zmenšovania rozdielov medzi pohlaviami, ktorý je žiaľ pomalý, vynárajú sa nové otázky. Hľadanie odpovedí na ne nie je jednoduché. Problematika je pravidelne diskutovaná na medzinárodných vedeckých konferenciách. Napriek úsiliu odborníkov, štátu aj spoločenských organizácií, výsledky zaostávajú za očakávaniami. Z úst expertov zaznieva, že zamestnávatelia systematickejšie propagujú ženy na manažérskych pozíciách a snažia sa ich udržať v pracovnom nasadení. Napriek tomuto trendu sa ženám nedarí prekonať syndróm, ktorý sa všeobecne nazýva „sklený strop“. Ide o syndróm, ktorý bráni ženám a menšinám postúpiť v rámci spoločnosti na mocenské alebo zodpovedné pozície. Takéto bariéry existujú z dôvodu implicitných predsudkov na základe veku, etnického pôvodu, politickej alebo náboženskej príslušnosti, prípadne pohlavia. Podobné prístupy sa považujú všeobecne za nezákonné, žiaľ vo väčšine krajín existujú. Zo sociologického hľadiska je slovné spojenie sklený strop neviditeľnou bariérou, ktorá niekomu bráni dosiahnuť ďalší úspech. V predkladanej monografii riešime prioritne otázku diskriminácie žien.

Jiná kniha česky

2020, Applied Sciences, 10 (15), ISSN 2076-3417

During their professional career, pilots often experience a change in workplace conditions in the form of an aircraft cockpit ergonomics change. Change of working conditions may impact their perception of flight data or the pilot's psychophysiological condition, especially in cases of inexperienced pilots. The presented study deals with the influence of cockpit ergonomics change on the performance and pilot workload during a training course. We divided 20 subjects with no previous practical flying experience into two training groups (Gr. A and Gr. B). The flight training was focused on acquisition of basic piloting skills where both groups experienced cockpit ergonomics change in different training phases. The performance (piloting precision) was assessed based on deviations from predetermined parameters of the monitored flight manoeuvres. Heart rate variability qualified the extent of workload. The study showed the influence of the cockpit arrangement on piloting precision, where the transition to other type of cockpit ergonomics did not influence pilots' subjective workload with statistical significance.

Článek v periodiku excerpovaném SCI Expanded

2019, 13th Research and Education in Aircraft Design: Conference proceedings, Brno, VUT v Brně, Fakulta strojního inženýrství), p. 76-84), ISBN 978-80-214-5696-9

The article deals with the issue of alternative ways of extraction and insertion of persons by helicopters using rope and non-rope procedures. The article provides a current general overview of rope and non-rope procedures for insertion of persons in places where a helicopter cannot touch down, as well as an overview of techniques used for extraction/transport of persons from places not permitting helicopter touchdown. The article lists advantages and disadvantages of individual methods and their applicability in the helicopter emergency medical service. The main contribution of the article is the comparison of time indicators when inserting and transporting persons by helicopters with the use of rope procedures during typical model situations. For the purposes of comparing rope procedures have been created three typical model situations for inserting two persons from a hovering helicopter and two typical model situations for extracting four persons and their transportation on board. During creating these model situations, we have taken into consideration the most frequently used rope procedures within HEMS in civil, military and police sectors of the Slovak Republic. Total insertion/extraction time was considered the basic piece of data for the comparison. Time data were obtained from flight tests, actual training, technical documentation data and on the basis of the expert estimate. Rope procedures were compared among each other and among three types of helicopters most used for these purposes in the Slovak Republic: Mi-17 LPZS, Bell-429 and AGUSTA A109K2. Processed conclusions from the comparison of each model situation within the considered alternative rope ways of extraction and insertion of persons by helicopters and the conclusions drawn from the performance comparison of HEMS helicopters in the Slovak Republic within these model situations are a significant contribution to the determination of procedures in the framework of rescue missions.

Stať ve sborníku z prestižní konf.

2017, Journal of Sensors, 2017, ISSN 1687-725X

The article summarizes the development of the FlexiGuard modular telemetry system designed for enhancing safety of the Integrated Rescue System team members in solving crisis situations and for improving training processes. Further framework solutions, which lead to the development of automaticmodular telemetry systemallowing for real timemonitoring of physiological parameters, are provided as well. The system provides for the signalization of critical states such as exhaustion, mental stress, and overheating. It further provides differentiation between the nature and intensity of movement, including actual and overall energy output, monitoring environmental parameters, and analysis of an intervention or training. The system has been tested in laboratories as well as in the terrain under real circumstances, and the eventual end users participated in its optimization process. Following the theory of games, amodel of a transmission systemwas also createdwhich demonstrates higher transmission efficiency when using higher number of nodes.

Článek v periodiku excerpovaném SCI Expanded