The Intelligent Crew Support (ICS) system integrated into the ISAWARE II system provides an innovative means of protection against errors and mistakes made by the human crewmembers. The ICS provides interactive and proactive support to the aircrew because it reacts both to changes in the environment and the activities of the crew. As a result, the system can point out a human flight crew mistake, suggest remedial actions and then revert to its default silent-monitor mode, once the situation is under control.
The ICS has the capability to continuously monitor:
a) the external environment of the aircraft,
b) the status of aircraft systems, and
c) the activities and physiological status of the crew.
These parameters are compared with a library of operator plans, which represent correct operating procedures at a fine-grain level, for selected crew activities in all phases of flight. When a potentially hazardous deviation from the safe operating procedures is detected, relevant warnings (and, when appropriate, advice) are generated by the ICS, which then continues monitoring in order to provide further support if this is needed.
Whereas previous ICS support has concentrated on airmanship during the cruise and approach flight phases, during the ISAWARE project, ICS crew support has been extended to include airport surface movement operations. Three new Use Cases have been developed and were assessed in the MTEs.