Rockwell Collins will serve as lead research firm for NASA‘s Single Pilot Operations program under a contract to study automation, ground support and crew capacity technologies for commercial aircraft through the end of September 2015.
“The aviation industry has been looking at the potential for single-pilot operations for quite some time to address concerns about future pilot shortages, but there are a number of technical, certification, and policy considerations that must be addressed along the way,” John Borghese, vice president of Rockwell Collins’ advanced technology center, said Tuesday.
To address this, the company said will work with NASA, California State University at Long Beach and the University of Iowa to research cognitive science concepts and technologies for crew resource management and physiological monitoring.
Borghese added that NASA ultimately wants to help drive down pilot workload.
Rockwell Collins has performed previous work on pilot decision aids and live, virtual and constructive training in support of the Single Pilot Operations program.