Clearing the decks

A new planning tool helps direct traffic on aircraft carriers. CAMBRIDGE, Mass. ' On the deck of an aircraft carrier, where up to 60 aircraft are crammed into 4.5 acres, keeping track of all the pieces - and keeping everyone safe ' can seem like a game of high-stakes chess. While the current 'deck handling? system involving plane-shaped cutouts and color-coded thumbtacks has worked for decades to help human planners reshuffle flight decks, the system depends on people to keep track of all the moving parts. There is a mass of data to process, and MIT's Mary ('Missy') Cummings, associate professor of aeronautics and astronautics, says computers can help people cut through it to draw up faster, safer and more efficient flight-deck plans. Cummings and her students in the Humans and Automation Lab have designed a computer interface, called the Deck operations Course of Action Planner (DCAP) that works with humans to track incoming flight data and create new deck operation schedules. The monitoring system may also cut down on the number of crew members needed to staff the deck, decreasing crowding and the risk of accidents.