Prospective Sky Guides (Fixed Wing Aircraft)

Research Methodology

The research was conducted as an experimental research project using The University of Liverpool’s Bibby Flight Simulation facility, HELIFLIGHT.  It was considered that the best way to develop guidelines for vision aid designers was to go through the process itself.  The experimental set-up involved:

1. The upgrade of the simulation facility to allow the introduction of degraded visibility outside world views;
2. The integration of eNGENUITY Technology’s VAPS rapid prototyping software with the upgraded facility;
3. The procurement of an ASL-501 eye-tracking system;
4. The development of a series of Mission Task Elements for the Large Jet Transport mission and
5. The creation of a generic large jet transport model using FLIGHTLAB simulation software.

The experimental campaign was then organised as follows:

1. Initial search for coherent tau-based motion gap closures;
2. Detailed evaluation of motion gap closures that were found to have coherent tau relationships;
3. Eye-tracker evaluation of selected motion gap closures;
4. Display design parameter shakedown and
5. Display design evaluation by comparison with existing/alternative formats.