Dayton, OH 4543 IWith the advent of the Global Positioning System (GPS), pilots will be able to fly curved instrument approaches. Since current head up display (HUD) symbology was not specifically designed to present this curved information, a study was conducted to determine the most effective set of HUD symbology to assist pilots in flying curved approaches. The military standard HUD symbology was compared with the Pathway HUD format. Dependent measures collected for the comparison were root mean square (RMS) course deviations, RMS altitude deviations, and RMS airspeed deviations. Results showed that there was a significant difference in pilot performance for all dependent measures --subjects performed better using the Pathway HUD format than the standard HUD symbology in all cases. Pilots comments attributed the advantage of flying the Pathway HUD format to the fact that they could see their route in the form of a highway from their present position to a point 45 seconds into the future. This allowed them to anticipate necessary control movements.
Digital avionics technology is rapidly becoming a key factor in the success of modern aircraft. The effects of digital technology are especially being felt in the cockpit where electro-mechanical (E-M) control and display technology is rapidly being replaced by Electro-optical (E-O) devices in both military and civilian aircraft cockpits. For example, both the new Boeing 777 on the commercial side and the F-22 on the military side are intended to have E-O displays that cover the most important portions of cockpit real estate. Not only are new aircraft cockpits being outfitted with E-O displays, but significant retrofit programs are underway. To cite one example, under the Air Force's Reliability and Maintainability Technology Insertion Program, a C-130 cockpit was converted from E-M instruments to E-O flat panels, specifically Active Matrix Liquid Crystal. As a result of this retrofit, 50 E-M instruments were replaced with only 5 E-O displays. There are major initiatives currently underway to retrofit virtually the entire Air Force transport fleet with E-O displays. As the conversion continues, questions arise as to the pilot's efficiency with this equipment. Initial indications are that pilots perform quite well with the new equipment; however, the display formats are first generation --reproductions of E-M instruments. How well will the pilots interact with the second generation display formats and subsystem controls? The objective of this paper is to discuss some recent research dealing with testing the pilot useability of new cockpit technologies. SPIE Vol. 2219 Cockpit Displays (1994)! 3 Downloaded From: http://proceedings.spiedigitallibrary.org/ on 07/03/2016 Terms of Use: http://spiedigitallibrary.org/ss/TermsOfUse.aspx SPIE Vol. 2219 Cockpit Displays (1994) / 7 Downloaded From: http://proceedings.spiedigitallibrary.org/ on 07/03/2016 Terms of Use: http://spiedigitallibrary.org/ss/TermsOfUse.aspx
Electronic approach plate formats were compared to determine which facilitated the best pilot performance when flying precision and non-precision approaches. Four formats which varied in map orientation and color scheme were flown : monochrome north-up, monochrome track-up, color north-up, and color track-up. Although results revealed a statistically significant difference favoring the track-up orientation in the non-precision approaches, the differences were so small that they showed no practical impact on performance. However, when given their choice of which format to fly, pilots overwhelmingly flew a color map format. In addition, half of the pilots flew a map orientation of north-up and half flew track-up.
The purpose of this study was to determine the effectiveness of a hand tracker to designate targets using a three-dimensional (3-D) map. Three variables were manipulated: 1) hand tracker active volume, 2) aiding technique, and 3) target density. There were three different volumes (large, medium and small) in which the hand tracker operated. Each volume represented cockpit space in which hand tracker movements correlated to cursor movements on the screen. Two aiding techniques were referred to as contact aiding and proximity aiding. Contact aiding consisted of a color shade change to the target when the cursor penetrated the target volume. Proximity aiding consisted of an algorithm that selected the target closest to the cursor and thus changed its color shade. Two target densities, high (16 targets) and low (8 targets), were used. Speed and accuracy were measured in the designation of targets using a hand tracker. Results showed that proximity aiding in the medium volume space yielded the best performance.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.
hi@scite.ai
10624 S. Eastern Ave., Ste. A-614
Henderson, NV 89052, USA
Copyright © 2024 scite LLC. All rights reserved.
Made with 💙 for researchers
Part of the Research Solutions Family.