Jasenka Rakas
Continuous Lecturer of Civil and Environmental Engineering
Email: jrakas@berkeley.edu
Phone: (510) 642-9064
107B McLaughlin Hall
Berkeley, CA 94720-1740
Dr. Jasenka Rakas is a faculty member in the Civil and Environmental Engineering Department. She serves as deputy director of the UC Berkeley National Center of Excellence for Aviation Operations Research (NEXTOR III) and leads aviation research to modernize the US National Airspace System (NAS). Dr. Rakas is a founder of the UCB Aviation Futures Lab and Airport Design Studio, and she co-chairs the Sustainable Aviation Symposium. Her teaching focuses on sustainable aviation and airport systems design. Dr. Rakas has received numerous awards, including seven national awards in the FAA/ACRP Airport Design Competition for Universities.
She is an AIAA Associate Fellow.
Click here to view Jasenka Rakas’ Google Scholar Bio
Research
Research interests include modernization of the US National Airspace System (NAS); resilience, risk, and robustness of complex systems, such as the NAS Communication, Navigation, and Surveillance (CNS) System; and aviation safety and sustainability. To learn more about Dr. Rakas’ research, please click here; about emerging topics in aviation, click here; and about airport systems design, click here.
Research Projects
Drone Incursions: A Predictive Framework for Risk Assessment and Mitigation Prioritization (sponsor: FAA)
This research supports the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) System Safety Management Transformation (SSMT) program, which is developing advanced data analysis and modeling capabilities to address mission shortfalls. The research focuses on an integrated, risk-
based assessment of new entrants to the National Airspace System (NAS), including Uncrewed Aircraft Systems (UAS).
Controller-Pilot Voice Communication and Intent Monitoring for Future Aviation Systems Safety (sponsor: NASA via SBIR)
The objective of this research is to create a method for continuous real-time detection of aviation safety risks in air traffic flows and pilot-controller
communications. The approach integrates three models: (1) Deep Speech Pattern (DSP) analysis, (2) Speech-to-Text (STT) analysis, and (3) Intent Inference Analysis (IAA). Each model independently evaluates system safety from different angles, determining whether the system is in a nominal, off-nominal, or anomalous state.
Deep Speech Pattern Analysis of Controller-Pilot Voice Communications (sponsor: NASA via
SBIR)
In this research, a method is developed to analyze speech characteristics of air traffic controllers and pilots, to enhance understanding of miscommunication between these parties. A Deep Speech Pattern (DSP) analysis converts speech audio into spectrograms, from which six sound features are extracted: loudness, articulation, tempo, rhythm, melody, and timbre. Initial analyses of these features did not comprehensively explain sound characteristics nor classify messages effectively. Therefore, additional features were incorporated, such as spectral flatness, spectral centroid, onset count, onset rate, onset strength, and beat count. Moreover, two methods for calculating tempo—default and uniform priors—were developed and compared. This extensive analysis facilitates real-time monitoring of critical speech attributes, offering significant insights into potential speech-related origins of miscommunication.
Education
- Postdoctoral, Institute of Transportation Studies, University of California, Berkeley
- Ph.D., Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of Maryland
- M.S., Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of Maryland
- Dipl.Ing., Air Transportation Engineering, University of Belgrade
Awards
- Commendation for the outstanding work on the successful development of the 2nd National Airspace System (NAS) Infrastructure Management Conference, and for contributions to the field of NAS Infrastructure Systems Management; Federal Aviation Administration ATO Technical Operations, 2006
- Commendation for the outstanding work on the successful development of the 1st National Airspace System (NAS) Infrastructure Management Conference, and for contributions to the field of NAS Infrastructure Systems Management; Federal Aviation Administration ATO Technical Operations, 2005
- Harkins Group Fellowship, 2000
- Special Award for Outstanding Performance, CSSI, Inc., 1994
Publications
- To view a list of Dr. Rakas publications, please click here.