Standardization of Human Operating Characteristics

Abstract

In man-machine systems like piloted aircrafts, human operating characteristics have great significance. But these human operating characteristics vary with individual and environment. It is desirable in most cases that these variations are reduced.
In this paper, we propose and examine experimentally a method to reduce these variations by utilizing the perfect model following (PMF) system with optimal feedback gain which has capability of sensitivity reduction. We call this method standardization. First, frequency responses of human operators were measured and a transfer function to fit the measured data was determind. Then the PMF system was synthesized for model and plant which have the measured human transfer functions. Next, replacing the plant with human operator, we measured frequency responses of the subject with PMF system. Frequency responses of the subject without PMF system were also measured for comparison. The results of these measurements show that the scatterings of human operating characteristics by individuals are significantly reduced in PMF system, which implies that the objective of the standardization is realized.