Multimodal presentation in helicopter during brown-out
Publish date: 2012-06-28
Report number: FOI-R--3421--SE
Pages: 25
Written in: Swedish
Keywords:
- Brown-out
- helicopter
- multimodal
- displays
Abstract
During helicopter start or take-off in dry climates the visibility is degraded so the pilot's possibility to see the ground is limited. Experiences from several countries within NATO show that this can seriously affect flight safety. The Pilot's apprehension of the helicopters position may as a consequence be distorted or misinterpreted, since there is a risk of lateral drift or misperception of descending rate. Human perception of position, motion and altitude comes from redundant information from vision, vestibular, and somatosensory systems. In situations when some of these systems do not work or give the pilot false information the risk for an accident increases. In helicopters of today, there are no systems ready for use to solve the brown-out situation. However, there are potential solutions on the market that possibly can help the pilots, namely sensors (radar and laser) and new displays. A combination of good sensors and information presented intuitive could improve flight safety in brown-out start and landing. Display solutions could be new visual, or alternative tactile displays, or a combination. The use of tactile displays gives the pilot the possibility to look out of the window and simultaneously get information of the helicopter's position through a tactile vest. In the current project Intuitive Displays we intend to test if and how, visual and tactile displays can improve the pilot's situational awareness.