Grant: Alliance Grants

Piloting an aircraft is a complex task, requiring pilots to be supported by reliable artificial systems. However, the resolution of critical situations that arise in an aircraft still depends on the pilots, who must intervene by assuming manual control of the aircraft if necessary. Flight safety can therefore depend on the cognitive load of pilots, who are subject to a high flow of information that can lead to errors. In the face of possible degradations in pilot performance resulting from information overload, it becomes useful for pilots to benefit from cognitive assistance. Our previous NSERC-Alliance Pilot-AI project (2020-2022, in partnership with Bombardier, CAE, BMU, Université de Montréal (UdeM), UQAM and CRIAQ), set up methods and tools to measure pilots' cognitive load under different simulated flight conditions, and developed preliminary tools to create pilot models. The present project (named C-Pilot for Cognitive-Pilot, in partnership with Bombardier, BMU, Cognitive Group, UQAM, UdeM, UQAC, ETS and CRIAQ) aims to provide human-machine collaboration enhanced by AI-based models to improve safety in future digital aviation systems by learning to categorize pilot behavior during different phases of flight, creating artificial co-pilots in the form of intelligent agents capable of monitoring the pilot's cognitive state in real time, and detecting and remedying attention-deficit tasks. These intelligent agents will play the role of a virtual pilot capable of reflecting at all times not only the pilot's actions but also his cognitive state, and of a pilot's companion, a true artificial co-pilot, capable of detecting by pilot biometrics tasks at risk due to a lack of attention. The impact of this project will be to help maintain and enhance Quebec and Canadian leadership in two key sectors of our economy and society: artificial intelligence and aerospace. The project will train students specializing in AI, human-machine collaboration, human assistance using AI techniques, and simulation, applied to the aeronautical field. It will also help train the next generation of engineers for the aviation systems of the future.