TUTORIAL SESSION

Human-In-The-Loop Simulations: History, Trends, Opportunities, & Applications

Dr. Sundaram Narayanan
Wright State University, USA
S.Narayanan@wright.edu

Abstract

A human-in-the-loop (HITL) simulation is a modeling framework that requires human interaction. Traditional simulation studies regard human interaction as an external input to the system being considered. However, studies of complex systems in today’s technological landscape must include humans as active participants. In many complex systems, such as applications in nuclear power plants; emergency response situations, such as search and rescue missions; and in military domains, human decision makers are required to make critical decisions in a time-pressured environment. Typically, most of these applications are dynamic and uncertain and require humans making supervisory control decisions through monitoring, replanning, troubleshooting, and control. The emergence of HITL technologies enables researchers and practitioners to investigate the complexities of human-involved interactions from a holistic, systems perspective. This tutorial will begin with a historical perspective, then highlight salient features of these simulations, outline recent trends, and discuss architectural issues in the development and deployment of this approach. Applications in command and control of uninhabited aerial vehicles and interactive optimization of logistics systems will be used to illustrate the features, capabilities, and architectural challenges in systems modeling and analysis. The tutorial would be of interest to both the modeling and control researchers and practitioners in the IASTED community.

Qualifications of the Instructor(s)

Dr. Narayanan is Dean of the College of Engineering and Computer Science at Wright State University and is Executive Director of the Wright State Research Institute. He has executed research projects of over $20 million on interactive simulations, information analysis, systems analysis, and human computer interaction from a variety of sponsors including the Air Force Office of Scientific Research, the Air Force Research Laboratory, Ohio Board of Regents, Intel, Lexis-Nexis, and other industries. His research interests are in the area of modeling human cognition in context and designing interactive systems to aid humans in performing cognitively complex tasks such as planning, information retrieval and synthesis, and troubleshooting. His research has an interdisciplinary thrust with the following themes: cognition, computational representation, interactivity, and application. He has published over 100 technical articles, including two books on modeling and simulation and was Associate Editor of IEEE Transactions on Systems, Man, and Cybernetics, the International Journal of Modeling and Simulation, and Transactions of the Society for Computer Simulation. He is a Fellow of the American Institute of Medicine and Biology in Engineering. He received the Outstanding Engineering and Scientist Award for Education from the Affiliates Societies Council in 2008 and Outstanding Faculty Member Award from WSU in 2003.