A Commercial Aviation Safety Team (CAST) study of 18 loss-of-control events determined that a lack of external visual references was a contributing factor in 17 of these events. CAST recommended that manufacturers should develop and implement virtual day-VMC display systems, such as synthetic vision (SV) or equivalent systems (CAST Safety Enhancement, SE-200). In support of this recommended action, CAST has requested studies to define minimum requirements for virtual day-visual meteorological conditions (VMC) displays to improve flight crew awareness of airplane attitude. NASA’s research in Virtual day-VMC displays, known as synthetic vision systems, are intended to support intuitive flight crew attitude awareness similar to a day-VMC-like environment, especially if they could be designed to create visual dominance. A study was conducted to evaluate the utility of ambient vision (AV) cues paired with virtual Head-Up Display (HUD) symbology on a prototype head-worn display (HWD) during recovery from unusual attitudes in a simulated environment. The virtual-HUD component meets the requirement that the HWD may be used as an equivalent display to the HUD. The presence of AV cueing leverages the potential that a HWD has over the HUD for spatial disorientation prevention. The simulation study was conducted as a single-pilot operation, under realistic flight scenarios, with off-nominal events occurring that were capable of inducing unusual attitudes. Independent variables of the experiment included: 1) AV capability (on vs off) 2) AV display opaqueness (transparent vs opaque) and display location (HWD vs traditional headdown displays); AV cues were only present when the HWD was being worn by the subject pilot.
Research, development, test, and evaluation of flight deck interface technologies is being conducted by NASA to proactively identify, develop, and mature tools, methods, and technologies for improving aviation safety of new and legacy vehicles operating in the Next Generation Air Transportation System (NextGen). One specific area of research was the use of small head-worn displays (HWDs) to serve as a possible equivalent to a head-up display (HUD) for commercial aircraft. A simulation experiment was conducted to evaluate if the HWD can provide an equivalent level of performance to a HUD. Airline flight crews conducted simulated approach and landing operations during low visibility operations. The results showed that there were no statistical differences in flight crews’ performance in terms of flight technical error suggesting that the HWD may serve as an equivalent display to the HUD. Further, the HWD may have several advantages over a HUD making its adoption an attractive alternative for commercial flight deck implementation. Technical hurdles remain to be overcome for complete display equivalence including, most notably, the end-to-end latency of the HWD system. The results and conclusions taken from the results of the high fidelity simulation experiment are described and offer future research directions.
Recent accident and incident data suggest that Spatial Disorientation (SD) and Loss-of-Energy State Awareness (LESA) for transport category aircraft are becoming an increasingly prevalent safety concern in domestic and international operations. A CAST study of 18 loss-of-control accidents determined that a lack of external visual references (i.e., darkness, instrument meteorological conditions, or both) was associated with a flight crew’s loss of attitude awareness or energy state awareness in 17 of these events. In response, CAST requested that the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) conduct research to support definition of minimum requirements for Virtual Day-Visual Meteorological Condition (VMC) displays, also known as Synthetic Vision Systems, to accomplish the intended function of improving flight crew awareness of airplane attitude. These research data directly inform the development of minimum aviation system performance standards (MASPS) for RTCA special committee (SC)-213, “Enhanced Flight Vision Systems and Synthetic Vision Systems.” An overview of NASA high-fidelity simulator research is provided that collected data specific to CAST and RTCA needs on the efficacy of synthetic vision technology to aid in attitude awareness and prevent entry into, and recovery from unusual attitudes. The paper highlights our research with low-hour, international flight crews.
Head-Worn Displays (HWDs) are envisioned as a possible equivalent to a Head-Up Display (HUD) in commercial and general aviation. A simulation experiment was conducted to evaluate whether the HWD can provide an equivalent or better level of performance to a HUD in terms of unusual attitude recognition and recovery. A prototype HWD was tested with ambient vision capability which were varied (on/off) as an independent variable in the experiment testing for attitude awareness. The simulation experiment was conducted in two parts: 1) short unusual attitude recovery scenarios where the aircraft is placed in an unusual attitude and a single-pilot crew recovered the aircraft; and, 2) a two-pilot crew operating in a realistic flight environment with "off-nominal" events to induce unusual attitudes. The data showed few differences in unusual attitude recognition and recovery performance between the tested head-down, head-up, and head-worn display concepts. The presence and absence of ambient vision stimulation was inconclusive. The ergonomic influences of the head-worn display, necessary to implement the ambient vision experimentation, may have influenced the pilot ratings and acceptance of the concepts.
NASA Langley Research Center (LaRC) has conducted research in the area of helmet-mounted display (HMD)/head-worn display (HWD) over the past 30 years. Initially, NASA LaRC’s research focused on military applications, but recently NASA has conducted a line of research in the area of HWD for commercial and business aircraft. This work revolved around numerous simulation experiments as well as flight tests to develop technology and data for industry and regulatory guidance. This paper summarizes the results of NASA’s HMD/HWD research. Of note, the work tracks progress in wearable collimated optics, head tracking, latency reduction, and weight. The research lends credence to a small, sunglasses-type form factor of the HWD being acceptable to commercial pilots, and this goal is now becoming technologically feasible. The research further suggests that an HWD may serve as an “equivalent” head-up display (HUD) with safety, operational, and cost benefits. “HUD equivalence” appears to be the economic avenue by which HWDs can become mainstream on the commercial and business aircraft flight deck. If this happens, NASA’s research suggests that additional operational benefits using the unique capabilities of the HWD can open up new operational paradigms.
NASA Langley has conducted research in the area of helmet-mounted/head-worn displays over the past 30 years. Initially, NASA Langley's research focused on military applications, but recently has conducted a line of research in the area of head-worn displays for commercial and business aircraft. This work has revolved around numerous simulation experiments as well as flight tests to develop technology and data for industry and regulatory guidance. The paper summarizes the results of NASA's helmet-mounted/head-worn display research. Of note, the work tracks progress in wearable collimated optics, head tracking, latency reduction, and weight. The research lends credence that a small, sunglasses-type form factor of the head-worn display would be acceptable to commercial pilots, and this goal is now becoming technologically feasible. The research further suggests that a head-worn display may serve as an “equivalent" Head-Up Display (HUD) with safety, operational, and cost benefits. “HUD equivalence" appears to be the economic avenue by which head-worn displays can become main-stream on the commercial and business aircraft flight deck. If this happens, NASA's research suggests that additional operational benefits using the unique capabilities of the head-worn display can open up new operational paradigms.
Research, development, test, and evaluation of flight deck interface technologies is being conducted by NASA to proactively identify, develop, and mature tools, methods, and technologies for improving overall aircraft safety of new and legacy vehicles operating in the Next Generation Air Transportation System (NextGen). Under NASA’s Aviation Safety Program, one specific area of research is the use of small Head-Worn Displays (HWDs) as a potential equivalent display to a Head-up Display (HUD). Title 14 of the US CFR 91.175 describes a possible operational credit which can be obtained with airplane equipage of a HUD or an “equivalent”' display combined with Enhanced Vision (EV). A successful HWD implementation may provide the same safety and operational benefits as current HUD-equipped aircraft but for significantly more aircraft in which HUD installation is neither practical nor possible. A flight test was conducted to evaluate if the HWD, coupled with a head-tracker, can provide an equivalent display to a HUD. Approach and taxi testing was performed on-board NASA’s experimental King Air aircraft in various visual conditions. Preliminary quantitative results indicate the HWD tested provided equivalent HUD performance, however operational issues were uncovered. The HWD showed significant potential as all of the pilots liked the increased situation awareness attributable to the HWD’s unique capability of unlimited field-of-regard.
NASA’s Fundamental Aeronautics Program, High Speed Project is performing research, development, test and evaluation of flight deck and related technologies to support future low-boom, supersonic configurations (without forward-facing windows) by use of an eXternal Vision System (XVS). The challenge of XVS is to determine a combination of sensor and display technologies which can provide an equivalent level of safety and performance to that provided by forward-facing windows in today’s aircraft. This flight test was conducted with the goal of obtaining performance data on see-and-avoid and see-to-follow traffic using a proof-of-concept XVS design in actual flight conditions. Six data collection flights were flown in four traffic scenarios against two different sized participating traffic aircraft. This test utilized a 3x1 array of High Definition (HD) cameras, with a fixed forward field-of-view, mounted on NASA Langley’s UC-12 test aircraft. Test scenarios, with participating NASA aircraft serving as traffic, were presented to two evaluation pilots per flight – one using the proof-of-concept (POC) XVS and the other looking out the forward windows. The camera images were presented on the XVS display in the aft cabin with Head-Up Display (HUD)-like flight symbology overlaying the real-time imagery. The test generated XVS performance data, including comparisons to natural vision, and post-run subjective acceptability data were also collected. This paper discusses the flight test activities, its operational challenges, and summarizes the findings to date.
Research, development, test, and evaluation of flight deck interface technologies is being conducted by NASA to proactively identify, develop, and mature tools, methods, and technologies for improving overall aircraft safety of new and legacy vehicles operating in Next Generation Air Transportation System (NextGen). Under the Vehicle Systems Safety Technologies (VSST) project in the Aviation Safety Program, one specific area of research is the use of small Head-Worn Displays (HWDs) as an equivalent display to a Head-Up Display (HUD). Title
14 of the US Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) 91.175 describes a possible operational credit which can be
obtained with airplane equipage of a HUD or an "equivalent" display combined with Enhanced Vision (EV). If successful, a HWD may provide the same safety and operational benefits as current BUD-equipped aircraft but for significantly more aircraft in which HUD installation is neither practical nor possible. A simulation experiment was conducted to evaluate if the HWD, coupled with a head-tracker, can provide an equivalent display to a HUD. Comparative testing was performed in the Research Flight Deck (RFD) Cockpit Motion Facility (CMF) full mission, motion-based simulator at NASA Langley. Twelve airline crews conducted approach and landing, taxi, and departure operations during low visibility operations (1000' Runway Visual Range (RVR), 300' RVR) at Memphis International Airport (Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) identifier: KMEM). The results showed that there were no statistical differences in the crews performance in terms of touchdown and takeoff. Further, there were no statistical differences between the HUD and HWD in pilots' responses to questionnaires.
NASA Langley Research Center and the FAA collaborated in an effort to evaluate the effect of Enhanced Vision (EV) technology display in a commercial flight deck during low visibility surface operations. Surface operations were simulated at the Memphis, TN (FAA identifier: KMEM) airfield during nighttime with 500 Runway Visual Range (RVR) in a high-fidelity, full-motion simulator. Ten commercial airline flight crews evaluated the efficacy of various EV display locations and parallax and minification effects. The research paper discusses qualitative and quantitative results of the simulation experiment, including the effect of EV display placement on visual attention, as measured by the use of non-obtrusive oculometry and pilot mental workload. The results demonstrated the potential of EV technology to enhance situation awareness which is dependent on the ease of access and location of the displays. Implications and future directions are discussed.
NASA is researching innovative technologies for the Next Generation Air Transportation System (NextGen) to
provide a "Better-Than-Visual" (BTV) capability as adjunct to "Equivalent Visual Operations" (EVO); that
is, airport throughputs equivalent to that normally achieved during Visual Flight Rules (VFR) operations rates
with equivalent and better safety in all weather and visibility conditions including Instrument Meteorological
Conditions (IMC). These new technologies build on proven flight deck systems and leverage synthetic and
enhanced vision systems. Two piloted simulation studies were conducted to access the use of a Head-Worn Display
(HWD) with head tracking for synthetic and enhanced vision systems concepts. The first experiment evaluated
the use a HWD for equivalent visual operations to San Francisco International Airport (airport identifier: KSFO)
compared to a visual concept and a head-down display concept. A second experiment evaluated symbology
variations under different visibility conditions using a HWD during taxi operations at Chicago O'Hare airport
(airport identifier: KORD).
Two experiments were conducted, one in a simulated San Francisco airport (KSFO) approach operation and
the other, in simulated Chicago O'Hare surface operations, evaluating enhanced/synthetic vision and head-worn
display technologies for NextGen operations. While flying a closely-spaced parallel approach to KSFO, pilots
rated the HWD, under low-visibility conditions, equivalent to the out-the-window condition, under unlimited
visibility, in terms of situational awareness (SA) and mental workload compared to a head-down enhanced vision
system. There were no differences between the 3 display concepts in terms of traffic spacing and distance and
the pilot decision-making to land or go-around. For the KORD experiment, the visibility condition was not a
factor in pilot's rating of clutter effects from symbology. Several concepts for enhanced implementations of an
unlimited field-of-regard BTV concept for low-visibility surface operations were determined to be equivalent in
pilot ratings of efficacy and usability.
Synthetic Vision Systems and Enhanced Flight Vision System (SVS/EFVS) technologies have the potential to provide
additional margins of safety for aircrew performance and enable operational improvements for low visibility operations
in the terminal area environment with equivalent efficiency as visual operations. To meet this potential, research is
needed for effective technology development and implementation of regulatory and design guidance to support
introduction and use of SVS/EFVS advanced cockpit vision technologies in Next Generation Air Transportation System
(NextGen) operations.
A fixed-base pilot-in-the-loop simulation test was conducted at NASA Langley Research Center that evaluated the use
of SVS/EFVS in NextGen low visibility ground (taxi) operations and approach/landing operations. Twelve crews flew
approach and landing operations in a simulated NextGen Chicago O'Hare environment. Various scenarios tested the
potential for EFVS for operations in visibility as low as 1000 ft runway visibility range (RVR) and SVS to enable lower
decision heights (DH) than can currently be flown today. Expanding the EFVS visual segment from DH to the runway
in visibilities as low as 1000 RVR appears to be viable as touchdown performance was excellent without any workload
penalties noted for the EFVS concept tested. A lower DH to 150 ft and/or possibly reduced visibility minima by virtue of
SVS equipage appears to be viable when implemented on a Head-Up Display, but the landing data suggests further study
for head-down implementations.
KEYWORDS: Safety, Visualization, Heads up displays, Telecommunications, Fermium, Frequency modulation, Data communications, Control systems, Interfaces, Algorithm development
By 2025, U.S. air traffic is predicted to increase 3-fold and may strain the current air traffic management system, which
may not be able to accommodate this growth. In response to this challenge, a consortium of industry, academia and
government agencies have proposed a revolutionary new concept for U.S. aviation operations, termed the Next
Generation Air Transportation System or "NextGen". Many key capabilities are being identified to enable NextGen,
including the concept of "net-centric" operations whereby each aircraft and air services provider shares information to
allow real-time adaptability to ever-changing factors such as weather, traffic, flight trajectories, and security. Data-link is
likely to be the primary source of communication in NextGen. Because NextGen represents a radically different
approach to air traffic management and requires a dramatic shift in the tasks, roles, and responsibilities for the flight
deck, there are numerous research issues and challenges that must be overcome to ensure a safe, sustainable air
transportation system. Flight deck display and crew-vehicle interaction concepts are being developed that proactively
investigate and overcome potential technology and safety barriers that might otherwise constrain the full realization of
NextGen.
The Crew Vehicle Interface (CVI) group of the Integrated Intelligent Flight Deck Technologies (IIFDT) has done
extensive research in the area of Synthetic Vision (SV), and has shown that SV technology can substantially
enhance flight crew situation awareness, reduce pilot workload, promote flight path control precision and improve
aviation safety. SV technology is being extended to evaluate its utility for lunar and planetary exploration
vehicles. SV may hold significant potential for many lunar and planetary missions since the SV presentation
provides a computer-generated view of the terrain and other significant environment characteristics independent
of the outside visibility conditions, window locations, or vehicle attributes. SV allows unconstrained control of
the computer-generated scene lighting, terrain coloring, and virtual camera angles which may provide invaluable
visual cues to pilots/astronauts and in addition, important vehicle state information may be conformally displayed
on the view such as forward and down velocities, altitude, and fuel remaining to enhance trajectory control and
vehicle system status. This paper discusses preliminary SV concepts for tactical and strategic displays for a lunar
landing vehicle. The technical challenges and potential solutions to SV applications for the lunar landing mission
are explored, including the requirements for high resolution terrain lunar maps and an accurate position and
orientation of the vehicle that is essential in providing lunar Synthetic Vision System (SVS) cockpit displays. The
paper also discusses the technical challenge of creating an accurate synthetic terrain portrayal using an ellipsoid
lunar digital elevation model which eliminates projection errors and can be efficiently rendered in real-time.
Previous research has demonstrated that a Head-Up Display (HUD) can be used to enable more capacity and safer
aircraft surface operations. This previous research also noted that the HUD exhibited two major limitations which
hindered the full potential of the display concept: 1) the monochrome HUD format; and, 2) a limited, fixed field of
regard. Full-color Head Worn Displays (HWDs) with very small sizes and weights are emerging to the extent that this
technology may be practical for commercial and business aircraft operations. By coupling the HWD with a head tracker,
full-color, out-the-window display concepts with an unlimited field-of-regard may be realized to improve efficiency and
safety in surface operations. A ground simulation experiment was conducted at NASA Langley to evaluate the efficacy
of head-worn display applications which may directly address the limitations of the HUD while retaining all of its
advantages in surface operations. The simulation experiment used airline crews to evaluate various displays (HUD,
HWD) and display concepts in an operationally realistic environment by using a Chicago, O'Hare airport database. The
results pertaining to the implications of HWDs for commercial business and transport aviation applications are presented
herein. Overall HWD system latency was measured and found to be acceptable, but not necessarily optimal. A few
occurrences of simulator sickness were noted while wearing the HWD, but overall there appears to be commercial pilot
acceptability and usability to the concept. Many issues were identified which need to be addressed in future research
including continued reduction in user encumbrance due to the HWD, and improvement in image alignment, accuracy,
and boresighting.
Experiments and flight tests have shown that a Head-Up Display (HUD) and a head-down, electronic moving map
(EMM) can be enhanced with Synthetic Vision for airport surface operations. While great success in ground operations
was demonstrated with a HUD, the research noted that two major HUD limitations during ground operations were their
monochrome form and limited, fixed field of regard. A potential solution to these limitations found with HUDs may be
emerging Head Worn Displays (HWDs). HWDs are small, lightweight full color display devices that may be worn
without significant encumbrance to the user. By coupling the HWD with a head tracker, unlimited field-of-regard may
be realized for commercial aviation applications. In the proposed paper, the results of two ground simulation
experiments conducted at NASA Langley are summarized. The experiments evaluated the efficacy of head-worn
display applications of Synthetic Vision and Enhanced Vision technology to enhance transport aircraft surface
operations. The two studies tested a combined six display concepts: (1) paper charts with existing cockpit displays, (2)
baseline consisting of existing cockpit displays including a Class III electronic flight bag display of the airport surface;
(3) an advanced baseline that also included displayed traffic and routing information, (4) a modified version of a HUD
and EMM display demonstrated in previous research; (5) an unlimited field-of-regard, full color, head-tracked HWD
with a conformal 3-D synthetic vision surface view; and (6) a fully integrated HWD concept. The fully integrated HWD
concept is a head-tracked, color, unlimited field-of-regard concept that provides a 3-D conformal synthetic view of the
airport surface integrated with advanced taxi route clearance, taxi precision guidance, and data-link capability. The
results of the experiments showed that the fully integrated HWD provided greater path performance compared to using
paper charts alone. Further, when comparing the HWD with the HUD concept, there were no differences in path
performance. In addition, the HWD and HUD concepts were rated via paired-comparisons the same in terms of
situational awareness and workload. However, there were over twice as many taxi incursion events with the HUD than
the HWD.
Limited visibility has been cited as predominant causal factor for both Controlled-Flight-Into-Terrain (CFIT) and runway incursion accidents. NASA is conducting research and development of Synthetic Vision Systems (SVS) technologies which may potentially mitigate low visibility conditions as a causal factor to these accidents while replicating the operational benefits of clear day flight operations, regardless of the actual outside visibility condition. Two experimental evaluation studies were performed to determine the efficacy of two concepts: 1) head-worn display application of SVS technology to enhance transport aircraft surface operations, and 2) three-dimensional SVS electronic flight bag display concept for flight plan preview, mission rehearsal and controller-pilot data link communications interface of flight procedures. In the surface operation study, pilots evaluated two display devices and four display modes during taxi under unlimited and CAT II visibility conditions. In the mission rehearsal study, pilots flew approaches and departures in an operationally-challenged airport environment, including CFIT scenarios. Performance using the SVS concepts was compared to traditional baseline displays with paper charts only or EFB information. In general, the studies evince the significant situation awareness and enhanced operational capabilities afforded from these advanced SVS display concepts. The experimental results and conclusions from these studies are discussed along with future directions.
NASA's Synthetic Vision Systems (SVS) project is developing technologies with practical applications that strive to eliminate low-visibility conditions as a causal factor to civil aircraft accidents and replicate the operational benefits of clear day flight operations, regardless of the actual outside visibility condition. Enhanced Vision System (EVS) technologies are analogous and complementary in many respects to SVS, with the principle difference being that EVS is an imaging sensor presentation, as opposed to a database-derived image. The use of EVS in civil aircraft is projected to increase rapidly as the Federal Aviation Administration recently changed the aircraft operating rules under Part 91, revising the flight visibility requirements for conducting operations to civil airports. Operators conducting straight-in instrument approach procedures may now operate below the published approach minimums when using an approved EVS that shows the required visual references on the pilot's Head-Up Display. An experiment was conducted to evaluate the complementary use of SVS and EVS technologies, specifically focusing on new techniques for integration and/or fusion of synthetic and enhanced vision technologies and crew resource management while operating under the newly adopted FAA rules which provide operating credit for EVS. Overall, the experimental data showed that significant improvements in SA without concomitant increases in workload and display clutter could be provided by the integration and/or fusion of synthetic and enhanced vision technologies for the pilot-flying and the pilot-not-flying.
NASA's Synthetic Vision Systems (SVS) project is developing technologies with practical applications to eliminate low visibility conditions as a causal factor to civil aircraft accidents while replicating the operational benefits of clear day flight operations, regardless of the actual outside visibility condition. A major thrust of the SVS project involves the development/demonstration of affordable, certifiable display configurations that provide intuitive out-the-window terrain and obstacle information with advanced pathway guidance for transport aircraft. The SVS concept being developed at NASA encompasses the integration of tactical and strategic Synthetic Vision Display Concepts (SVDC) with Runway Incursion Prevention System (RIPS) alerting and display concepts, real-time terrain database integrity monitoring equipment (DIME), and Enhanced Vision Systems (EVS) and/or improved Weather Radar for real-time object detection and database integrity monitoring.
A flight test evaluation was jointly conducted (in July and August 2004) by NASA Langley Research Center and an industry partner team under NASA's Aviation Safety and Security, Synthetic Vision System project. A Gulfstream G-V aircraft was flown over a 3-week period in the Reno/Tahoe International Airport (NV) local area and an additional 3-week period in the Wallops Flight Facility (VA) local area to evaluate integrated Synthetic Vision System concepts. The enabling technologies (RIPS, EVS and DIME) were integrated into the larger SVS concept design. This paper presents experimental methods and the high level results of this flight test.
NASA's Synthetic Vision Systems (SVS) project is developing technologies with practical applications that will help to eliminate low visibility conditions as a causal factor to civil aircraft accidents while replicating the operational benefits of clear day flight operations, regardless of the actual outside visibility condition. The paper describes experimental evaluation of a multi-mode 3-D exocentric synthetic vision navigation display concept for commercial aircraft. Experimental results evinced the situation awareness benefits of 2-D and 3-D exocentric synthetic vision displays over traditional 2-D co-planar navigation and vertical situation displays. Conclusions and future research directions are discussed.
The Synthetic Vision Systems (SVS) Project of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration's (NASA) Aviation Safety Program (AvSP) is striving to eliminate poor visibility as a causal factor in aircraft accidents as well as enhance operational capabilities of all aircraft. To accomplish these safety and capacity improvements, the SVS concept is designed to provide a clear view of the world around the aircraft through the display of computer-generated imagery derived from an onboard database of terrain, obstacle, and airport information. Display media devices with which to implement SVS technology that have been evaluated so far within the Project include fixed field of view head up displays and head down Primary Flight Displays with pilot-selectable field of view. A simulation experiment was conducted comparing these display devices to a fixed field of view, unlimited field of regard, full color Helmet-Mounted Display system. Subject pilots flew a visual circling maneuver in IMC at a terrain-challenged airport. The data collected for this experiment is compared to past SVS research studies.
NASA's Synthetic Vision Systems (SVS) project is developing technologies with practical applications that will eliminate low visibility conditions as a causal factor to civil aircraft accidents while replicating the operational benefits of clear day flight operations, regardless of the actual outside visibility condition. A major thrust of the SVS project involves the development/demonstration of affordable, certifiable display configurations that provide intuitive out-the-window terrain and obstacle information with advanced pathway guidance for transport aircraft. This experiment evaluated the influence of different tunnel and guidance concepts upon pilot situation awareness (SA), mental workload, and flight path tracking performance for Synthetic Vision display concepts using a Head-Up Display (HUD). Two tunnel formats (dynamic, minimal) were evaluated against a baseline condition (no tunnel) during simulated IMC approaches to Reno-Tahoe International airport. Two guidance cues (tadpole, follow-me aircraft) were also evaluated to assess their influence on the tunnel formats. Results indicated that the presence of a tunnel on an SVS HUD had no effect on flight path performance but that it did have significant effects on pilot SA and mental workload. The dynamic tunnel concept with the follow-me aircraft guidance symbol produced the lowest workload and provided the highest SA among the tunnel concepts evaluated.
Eight 757 commercial airline captains flew 22 approaches using the Reno Sparks 16R Visual Arrival under simulated Category I conditions. Approaches were flown using a head-down synthetic vision display to evaluate four tunnel ("minimal", "box", "dynamic pathway", "dynamic crow's feet") and three guidance ("ball", "tadpole", "follow-me aircraft") concepts and compare their efficacy to a baseline condition (i.e., no tunnel, ball guidance). The results showed that the tunnel concepts significantly improved pilot performance and situation awareness and lowered workload compared to the baseline condition. The dynamic crow's feet tunnel and follow-me aircraft guidance concepts were found to be the best candidates for future synthetic vision head-down displays. These results are discussed with implications for synthetic vision display design and future research.
In commercial aviation, over 30 percent of all fatal accidents worldwide are categorized as Controlled Flight Into Terrain (CFIT) accidents where a fully functioning airplane is inadvertently flown into the ground, water, or an obstacle.
An experiment was conducted at NASA Langley Research Center investigating the presentation of a synthetic terrain database scene to the pilot on a Primary Flight Display (PFD). The major hypothesis for the experiment is that a synthetic vision system (SVS) will improve the pilot's ability to detect and avoid a potential CFIT compared to conventional flight instrumentation.
All display conditions, including the baseline, contained a Terrain Awareness and Warning System (TAWS) and Vertical Situation Display (VSD) enhanced Navigation Display (ND). Sixteen pilots each flew 22 approach / departure maneuvers in Instrument Meteorological Conditions (IMC) to the terrain challenged Eagle County Regional Airport (EGE) in Colorado. For the final run, the flight guidance cues were altered such that the departure path went into the terrain. All pilots with a SVS enhanced PFD (12 of 16 pilots) noticed and avoided the potential CFIT situation. All of the pilots who flew the anomaly with the baseline display configuration (which included a TAWS and VSD enhanced ND) had a CFIT event.
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