CSCI 477 – Spring 2008
The class project this year will be a competition being run by Federal
Aviation Administration (FAA). Please see:
http://www.faa.gov/runwaysafety/design_competition.htm
We are going to work on the “Runway Incursion” problem.
We have two major contacts that will act as our clients: NASA Langley Research and our own LAX.
At NASA:
Randall E. Bailey
Crew/Vehicle Integration Branch
Synthetic Vision Principal Investigator
Randall.E.Bailey@nasa.gov
Crew Systems and Aviation Operations Branch Phone:
(757) 864-8682
NASA Langley Research
Center
Fax: (757) 864-7793
Denise R. Jones
(I believe she works with Randall Bailey)
denise.r.jones@nasa.gov
At LAX:
Sherry Avery
Chief of LAX Control Tower
Sherry.Avery@faa.gov
The phone number at the control tower is:
310-342-4921
All of the following links were provided by Randall Bailey.
http://www.faa.gov/runwaysafety/
http://www.nasa.gov/vision/earth/improvingflight/svs_reno.html
Two "survey" papers on Runway Incursion Prevention from the flight
deck:
csrp14.pdf csrp21.pdf
Here is Peachtree-Dekalb
Airport website information
about its incursion policy:
http://www.pdkairport.org/incursion.asp
Here is a movie showing a near disaster:
lax_runwayincursion.wmv
Here is another near disaster:
Another
Near Disaster
Follow links until you see the animation.
A problem at Chicago O'Hare International Airport:
http://www.ntsb.gov/Events/2000/incursion/incur_video.htm
Your first assignment is to do a domain analysis of: LAX Standard
Operating Procedures
This means read and digest those procedures so that you can write some
requirements in preparation for your design.
This is an ill-structured exercise to understand what the client is going to be talking about. Later we will be doing requirements elicitation, that is, talking to our clients about what they want. Well, it’s useless talking to clients if you don’t know their jargon.
As I mentioned in class, a good part of the domain analysis is developing a model of the objects and their relationships to one another. A circles and arrows network showing the objects, their properties, and their inheritance relations is a good way to represent that analysis. Do your best; I know you have never done one of these, but your object-oriented skills should help. In a circles and arrows network you show:
· The objects [Use a named-oval]. Just like classes.
· The object’s properties [use a single-named-arrow to show a property]. Just like the typed slots in a class definition.
· The inheritance relations between objects (use a double-arrow). An object can be a subtype of another object if:
a. It has an inherited property whose filler is a subtype of the super object’s filler. Nothing like this in o-o.
b. It has a new property. Just like how a subclass can have a new slot.
In addition to the circles and arrows network, you can provide whatever text you need. There is no specific structure, but here are some guidelines:
· Don’t write in English what is already in the circles and arrows network (if you do one).
· Try to identify the issues critical to our project, that is, runway incursion.
· Don’t try to tell us what our system is going to do or anything like that. This is only domain information. We are not trying to solve the runway incursion problem right now; we are just trying to understand it.
I’ve changed my mind about choosing random students at the time of the class to make a presentation. Instead, I’ll choose a few randomly soon and alert them well before the next class. I forgot how busy you are—no need to prepare for something you are not going to present. However, if you are one of the lucky few chosen to do a presentation, here are some guidelines:
· You can use the computer if you wish. However, not every presentation needs Powerpoint.
· You have 10-15 minutes. Strangely, that can be a long or short time. Whatever time you take, use it wisely. Remember that everyone in the class has done the same analysis (except me).
· Try to be sharp. Use this time to show us the depth of your analysis, interesting things you’ve learned. After the first class, we all know something about the problem. Don’t tell us what we already know. An interesting 5 minute presentation is MUCH more valuable than a dull 15 minute one.
The deliverables for this assignment can be hardcopy, electronic, or a combination. If it has an electronic component, please put a link to it on your home page and email the link to csci477@usc.edu and use the following subject: “Domain Analysis for Runway Incursion”. The email should be sent BEFORE the beginning of class.
· Please arrive early.
·
Dress like professionals: no shorts, no flip-flops, no
t-shirts.
Guys don’t need coat and ties, but you should look good.
· Take road to LOWER LEVEL (Arrivals). After passing Terminal One (Southwest Airlines), move to left lane and enter Parking Structure 2. The Tower is located next to the parking structure. At the Tower gate, pick up the phone, push the red button, and dial 4901--the guard will buzz you in.
· Bring your yellow parking ticket and guard will have it validated.
Sumit Shah found an interesting image of a 777's Flight
Deck. The image is "interactive". You can click on the various
controls to see a detailed view and description and learn what they do. This will help us in understanding how many
controls the pilots already have to view and if by minimizing this we can solve
some problems (Looks like a GUI problem). The image is hosted at :
http://www.meriweather.com/777/deck-777.html
The following article was written for the LA Times by
Prof. Meshkati and one of his students.
LATimes Article
Naj and Cat
The following is a New Yorker Article about checklists.
http://www-scf.usc.edu/~csci477/FAA/TheChecklistFromNewYorker.htm
The original link is in the document. I made a copy of the article in case that
link disappears.