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Equivalent Visual Flight Deck TechnologiesDate: January 31, 2008, 11:15 a.m. to 12:45 p.m.

Presented By: Dr. Steve Young and Mr. Randy Bailey(NASA Langley Research Center)

Primary Flight Display Head Up Display

Reduced visibility affects the safety and efficiency of nearly all flight operations. As a result, researchers havelooked for ways to improve and/or provide a vision capability to pilots that is independent of actual visibility orweather conditions. In recent years, research has focused on two technologies - Synthetic and Enhanced VisionSystems (SVS/EVS). SVS technology provides pilots with a virtual visual depiction of features in the externalenvironment superimposed with relevant aircraft state, guidance, and navigation information. In an SVS, thegeographic location and dimensions of many of these features are stored in on-board databases or models.

In contrast, EVS technology uses imaging sensors that attempt to "see through" obscurations such as thoseproduced by darkness, cloud, or fog. Raw, or processed, video images derived from EVS sensors are typicallypresented to pilots on Head-Up Displays. A third construct - integrated SVS/EVS - is also emerging that takesadvantage of the complementary characteristics of each. For example, SVS is independent of weather effects andprovides unlimited field-of-regard; while EVS is independent of navigation system and geo-spatial model failures orerrors. The idea is that although the methods, architectures, and operational issues associated with SVS and EVSare significantly different, integrating the two approaches can provide a more robust capability.

This seminar begins with a synopsis of the effects of low visibility on operational safety and efficiency andhighlights how flight deck technology has evolved with respect to mitigating these effects. Next, a summary of theresearch issues associated with SVS/EVS concepts are introduced followed by selected findings from recentstudies. Discussion will consider avionics systems issues as well as display design and information transferrequirements taken from a human factors perspective (e.g. man-machine interface issues). The notion of intuitivedisplays is a guiding principle. Based on analyses and a series of human-in-the-loop experiments, results have ledto a set of design criteria, or recommendations, for characteristics such as system integrity, terrain resolution, field-of-regard, pathway depiction, SVS/EVS scene fusion, and the spatial distribution of information across head-upand head-down display surfaces.

Finally, a preview of the future is given based on the concept of Equivalent Visual Operations (EVO). EVO is oneof eight key capabilities that have been identified by the Joint Planning Development Office for the Next GenerationAir Transportation System. Current and future research in ARMDs Integrated Intelligent Flight Deck project isseeking innovative solutions to the technical challenges associated with the EVO application domain. Highlighting

some of these challenges from a flight deck perspective culminates the seminar.

http://www.aeronautics.nasa.gov/steve_young_bio.htmhttp://www.aeronautics.nasa.gov/randy_bailey_bio.htmhttp://www.aeronautics.nasa.gov/randy_bailey_bio.htmhttp://www.aeronautics.nasa.gov/steve_young_bio.htmhttp://www.aeronautics.nasa.gov/randy_bailey_bio.htm