Mixed-Integer Nonlinear Programming (MINLP) deals with the most general optimization problems, involving both continuous and discrete variables and nonlinear constraint functions. These are among the most challenging computational optimization problems, arising in countless applications from various areas. While research on mixed-integer linear optimization is quite advanced, MINLP is considered an emerging area that is likely to grow in the coming years. MINLP models being in general very difficult to solve, they require exploiting their properties and developing special solution techniques to reduce the computational effort. The ATOMIC project is in the framework of this hot research topic, with the aim of contributing to the advancement in both modeling stimulating real-life problems and developing efficient methods for their solution. A number of challenging problems arising in Air Traffic Management (ATM) constitute interesting research topics particularly in Operations Research and Optimization and naturally lead to MINLP models. Air traffic is at the core of the social and economic dynamism of our society, and an efficient Air Traffic Management has evidently a deep impact on the social, economic, environmental and industrial context. In this framework, a few problems urgently need addressing to ensure a higher level of automation in ATM and consequently more efficiency and safety. The present project focuses on air traffic conflicts, which occur when aircraft are too close to each other according to their predicted trajectories. Mixed-Integer Nonlinear Programming formulations appear to be the natural candidates for these addressed ATM problems, where the need for modeling logical choices suggests the simultaneous presence of mixed (continuous-integer) variables and nonlinear constraints arise from separation condition modeling. Solution algorithms for these ATM problems are mainly based on evolutionary computation. While these methods are computationally efficient, the global optimal solution and even a feasible solution (with no conflict) is not guaranteed to be achieved in a given time. Recent advances in mixed-integer linear and nonlinear programming open new perspectives that have been lacking in earlier researches on conflict avoidance and can have an impact on its effective solution. The present project is therefore aimed to fully exploiting and developing mixed-integer optimization techniques to propose efficient solutions. The optimization will be performed developing specific strategies to deal with the computational difficulty of the target large-scale problems. Deterministic Branch-and-Bound (BB)-type methods (spatial-Branch-and-Bound and interval-Branch-and-Bound variants) will be primarily considered, exploring strategies that can have an impact on the algorithm's ability to provide an optimal solution, including for example strong reformulations and branching strategies. To deal with the difficulty of the problem, other strategies will be also explored, where the optimality guarantee is forsaken in exchange for the computational efficiency. Specifically, we will investigate hybridization of mathematical programming techniques and (meta)-heuristics, in a “matheuristic” framework, where an essential feature is the exploitation of the features of the conceived mathematical programming models of the addressed problem. Starting from the results obtained for the considered specific application, we will seek to identify more general classes of MINLP problems to which the developed techniques can be applied. Expected results of the project include new mathematical models from mixed-integer programming and effective optimization methods, as well as a software library implementing the proposed algorithms.

FORMEDICIS is a 48months project proposedbyfive academicand industrial partners: ONERA(coordinator), IRIT/INPT,ENAC, LORIA-Université de Lorraine and Ingenuity io. An earlier version of this project was submitted to the program ANR 2015. In the last 30 years, the aerospace domain has successfully devised rigorous methods and tools for the development of safe functionally-correct software. During this process, interactive software has received a relatively lower amount of attention. However, highly interactive Human-System Interactions (HSI) are now appearing in critical systems and especially in aeronautics: new generations of aircraft cockpits make use of sophisticated electronic devices that may be driven by more and more complex software applications. The criticality of these applications do require a high degree of assurance for their intended behavior. For instance the report by the French BEA about the crash of the Rio-Paris flight AF 447 A330 Airbus points out a design issue in the behaviour of the Flight Director interface as one of the original causes of the crash. There is a real stake to improve the development of these critical interactive applications. The problem is that standard processes for the development of safety critical software in aeronautics are based on a V model and are not really suitable for interactive software design for which more iterative and agile methods that involve end-users and that mix design and verifications are required. Moreover, the stakeholders that participate in the design of these applications do not have real common means to express properly and rigorously the intended behaviourof these interfaces. We believe that part of these issues are due to the lack of a well-defined domain specific language to represent interactive software design in a way that allows system designers to iterate on their designs before injecting them in a development process and system developers to verify their software against the chosen design. Such a hub language (similar to VHDL for hardware description, Scade for safety-critical control and command software development or more generally AADL for achitectures) will bring increased flexibility in the development process leading not only to easier iterations within and between the different phases of a V model but also to the automation of parts of the process. FORMEDICIS aims at designing such a formal hub language, L. This language will permit the designers to express their requirements concerning the interactive behaviour that must be embedded inside the interactive applications. It will be sufficiently abstract and friendly to be used, despite their different scientific skills, by all stakeholders involved in the development process. Being domain specific, it will contain the right abstractions to deal with the specific features of the HSI domain. FORMEDICIS will also develop a framework devoted to the validation, verification, and implementation of critical interactive applications designed and denoted in L, facing various scientific and technological challenges: - Designing adequate formalized transformation rules from the L language to verification tools for proving or checking properties on these models; - Designing concretization rules and adequate transformation rules to translate L into software compliant with ARINC 661 or with the djnn framework devoted to post-WIMP (Windows, Icons, Menus, Pointer) applications; - Verifying these transformation rules and their results; - Handling post-WIMP interfaces; - Contributing to the certification progress. Developments will be released as free open source software. To address future industrial systems, we insist on providing convincing proof of concepts for our ideas to hopefully lead to subsequent industrial research projects and fuel safety critical development standards, and then addressing other domains such as automotive, railway, factory automation, nuclear power or healthcare.

Cockpits of commercial airliners are made up of various instrument panels incorporating screen displays that present information relating to various aircraft systems as well as physical controls (knobs, switches, etc.) to interact with these systems. These cockpits are evolving towards aggregate systems, fewer and larger screens, and a progressive digitalization of pilot-system interfaces. New flight-deck designs are trending towards a rationalization of cockpits equipment by replacing them with touchscreens. The objective for manufacturers is to handle the increasing complexity of systems with greater flexibility and lower costs. For instance, with its one touchscreen-based display concept, Thales ODICIS allows information to be presented in new ways and dynamic configurations of the user interface adaptable to both civil and military aircraft. After having widely explored and promoted touch interactions in this domain, we see their limits in critical contexts. Unlike physical controls, which take advantages of the sense of touch and proprioception, touch screens are not well suited for eyes-free interaction and are not reliable in dynamic environments subjected to vibrations and acceleration. For safety- critical systems, it is yet important to ensure the reliability both in normal and degraded operational situations (smoke inside the cockpit, turbulences, and high levels of stress or cognitive load). Moreover, compared to physical controls, touch interactions are not able to reinforce mutual awareness between pilots. We assume that a mixed approach based on touch screens and physical objects will better take into account the sensory motor skills of pilots and allow for more effective collaboration; and thereby to overcome the disadvantages of touch interactions in safety-critical systems. The key scientific objective of the project is to develop and evaluate this hypothesis through the exploration of mixed interactive systems for the cockpit. We will focus on haptic, tangible and organic technologies. Haptic improves touch screens by providing tactile feedbacks (vibration, pressure, texture information) which stimulate the mechanoreceptors of the fingertip. Tangible interactions add a proprio-kinesthetic dimension and can increase mutual awareness. Finally, organic user interfaces, which shapes are dynamically chosen so as to better support the needs of the user interface, will bring an answer to an inherent constraint in the cockpit: avoiding the presence of loose objects. The technical objective of the project is to design and implement mixed interactive systems for safety-critical contexts. It involves prototyping interactions for the cockpit that will meet the needs of performance, safety and flexibility. The project will rely on the implementation of a simulation and test cockpit platform based on touch screens, which will be extended with physical objects and interactions. This platform will allow us to collect both quantitative and qualitative data on implemented technologies as well as to define the relevant properties and dimensions in safety-critical contexts. The consortium will provide the means to evaluate and compare the impact of technological choices in terms of feasibility, safety and performance. Expected scientific and technical results, a better understanding of mixed interactive systems in safety-critical contexts, will be valued in the industry. They aim to increase the Technology Readiness Level (TRL) of such systems in the cockpit. The consortium is made up of aeronautical universities and innovative SMEs, together they provide the range of skills and knowledge required to define, develop and validate the results of the AIRTIUS project.

In numerous domains (aeronautics, medical, military, nuclear, command-and-control), visual activity is an essential element of the expertise. Therefor, eye tracking and the study of eye movements are omnipresent in neuroscience, psychology, industrial engineering, human factors, and computer science, to study the operator’s state. In addition to the comprehension of the attentional processes, the voluntary eye movements can be used for human-system interaction. Nevertheless, due to the lack of appropriate software and hardware, the use of the gaze-based interaction in real and virtual environments is for now mostly restricted to the research domain. Nowadays, the most used eye tracking technique is video-based tracking using infrared illumination. However, the tools using this technique present a certain number of disadvantages. Notably, for the head-mounted tools, such systems obstruct the visual field et therefore are not suitable for integration in real operational environnements. An alternative technique consists of measuring the changes in electric potential near the eye. The electro-oculography (EOG) requires only a few electrodes to place on the face and does not obstruct the visual field nor unnecessary illuminates the eyes with the infrared light. This technique is convenient for the head-mounted peripherals such as audio or virtual reality headset. The projet ELOCANS addresses this lack of software and hardware for gaze-based interaction in operational environments. In numerous activities such as air traffic control or piloting an aircraft, the operators are already equipped with peripherals (typically, headsets). We are looking to optimize the efficiency of these existing peripherals and integrate the EOG. By studying the EOG integration in these control/communication peripherals to enhance the human-system interaction and making possible the psycho-physiological monitoring (based on blink rate, for instance), this projects has numerous possible applications in aeronautics (fighters, helicopters, UAV operation), naval systems, and control-command centers. We aim to propose an alternative placement for the EOG electrodes that correspond to the available surfaces of the existing peripherals, to develop corresponding signal processing algorithms, to develop the interaction techniques and physiological monitoring algorithms for these devices. During the project, two prototypes will be considered for aeronautical and military domains: 1) an audio headset that integrated the eye tracking for applications in aeronautics and C2, 2) a plug-in for virtual reality headset for applications in industry and consumer marker but also for military training and UAV remote control.

Although aviation is one of the safest means of transport, it appears that maximum safety and performance can only be achieved with human-machine system that perfectly fits with the human cognitive functioning. The EYE-INTERACTION project aims to advance the development of products that prevent cognitive incapacitation, a condition during which an individual's intellectual faculties are temporarily impaired, due, for example, to a significant psychological stress associated with the presence of a dangerous situation. In this perspective, the project builds on the results of the previous ANR ASTRID NEUROERGO, which identified physiological markers of incapacitation, notably based on the combination of functional Near Infrared Spectroscopy (SPIRf) and heart rate measurements. More specifically, this project plans to break three scientific and technical challenges: (1) by the development of standardized batteries of tasks and stressors to produce and detect individual sensitivity to cognitive incapacitation, (2) by the formalization of markers of cognitive incapacitation, mainly based on eye tracking (and secondarily on other physiological measurement devices), (3) by the development of an ocular replay tool providing debriefing support for pilot training and cockpit certification. These three locks will be addressed in a first step of knowledge production by the academic partners (ENAC, INUC, ISAE), all three specialists in these subjects. In a second step, two companies (APSYS, Safetyn) and a defense partner (CEAM) will incorporate this knowledge and protocols into their own products (certification, training or eye tracking embedded in jet fighter). By supporting innovation and transfer, the project aims a high level of technological maturation (TRL 5). The deliverables of this project will also be submitted to Aerospace Valley and SATT of Toulouse, to further develop intellectual property.