Pilot manual path-following performance with synthetic vision displays can be improved with predictive guidance symbols. Little is known, however, on how these predictive guidance concepts can be applied to the landing flare maneuver. This paper discusses the applicability of 3D predictive guidance in synthetic vision displays during the final phase of the landing. Two types of predictive guidance were examined, the Flight-Path Predictor that indicates the aircraft's future position a certain time ahead, and the Flight Trajectory Predictor that presents the future trajectory by interpolating a number of sequential predicted positions. A theoretical investigation and an offline simulation were used to optimize the two guidance laws for the manual landing task. A pilot-in-the-loop experiment, conducted in a moving-base flight simulator, indicated that both predictive guidance types investigated support pilots in manual control. The pilot's ability to determine the correct flare initiation time is improved, and becomes comparable to timing the flare with a more realistic synthetic vision display with textured surfaces. Even though the flare initiation timing was improved by the addition of predictive guidance, the control of the flare after its initiation was not sufficiently supported. As a result, no noticeable improvement in landing performance was found.
AIRSIM, which is short for Avionics Integration Research SIMulator, is an integrated desktop research flight simulator, meant for avionics development and tests checkout of research simulator and research aircraft experiments, accident investigation analysis and Air Traffic Control (ATC) simulations. Developed at the National Aerospace Laboratory NLR, AIRSIM can be used as a high fidelity, low cost flight simulator, as a computer-based trainer and as a familiarization tool for aircraft behaviour and cockpit instruments. AIRSIM offers the same basic functionality as NLR's research flight simulator and has a highly configurable and flexible setup.
A key element in the development and innovation of future aviation concepts and systems is research flight simulation. Research flight simulation is applied when the performance and perception of human pilots is a key measure of the overall assessment. This paper will give an overview of the research simulation set-up of the National Aerospace Laboratory (NLR), Amsterdam, the Netherlands, which is used for the human-in-the-loop evaluation of future operational concepts. Special attention is given to the research topic of Airborne Separation Assurance; often referred to as Free Flight. The presented set-up has proven to be a flexible evaluation tool for assessing human-in-the-loop performance when operating in a simulated future autonomous aircraft environment.
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