Robert Walters
(Advisor: Prof. JVR Prasad)

will defend a doctoral thesis entitled,

Augmented Reality Cueing Methodologies for Rotorcraft Shipboard Landings

On

Wednesday, May 18 at 3:00 p.m.
Montgomery Knight Building 317
and via Zoom @: https://tinyurl.com/WaltersPhD

Abstract
The helicopter-ship interface is one of the most challenging flight regimes in which pilots operate. Several factors make this flight regime complicated, such as the relative motion between the aircraft, the ship, and the sea, and also the air wake turbulence and the confined nature of the landing zone. Degraded visuals conditions such as sea spray, adverse weather, and poor lighting conditions compound the other difficulties. The high pilot workload from these factors can lead to a loss of situational awareness which can result in catastrophic aircraft accidents. Currently fielded cueing systems are not up to this challenge.

To reduce pilot workload and improve situational awareness and performance, better pilot cueing is required. This dissertation investigated the extent to which augmented reality cueing utilizing modern rendering techniques reduces pilot workload and improves situational awareness and performance. This was done by supporting a ‘head-up, eyes-out’ ego-centric interface philosophy. The cueing systems sought to incorporate common pilot mission task elements into the design. Changes to both the path preview and trajectory prediction were studied. The visual elements of the cues were displayed as if they were comprised of three dimensional physical objects.

Operational flexibility in high workload environments is key to pilot task accomplishment. The ability to dynamically generate on demand flight trajectories that pilots could manually fly was another goal of this dissertation. The mathematical framework of Bézier curves was utilized for trajectory planning to ensure the paths satisfy the needs of the pilot, the certification authorities, and the specific mission task element.

Four different cueing paradigms were programmed into the Georgia Tech reconfigurable rotorcraft flight simulator. These paradigms were; a 2D Head Up Display (HUD), a Flight Lead Cueing System (FLCS), a Tunnel In the Sky (TIS), and a 3D Flight Path Marker (FPM). The cues were then evaluated using objective measures and pilot workload surveys in a series of Pilot-in-the-Loop (PIL) studies.

Committee

• Prof. JVR Prasad – School of Aerospace Engineering (advisor)
• Prof. Karen Feigh– School of Aerospace Engineering (co-advisor)
• Prof. Marilyn Smith – School of Aerospace Engineering
• Prof. Emeritus Daniel Schrage– School of Aerospace Engineering
• COL Richard Melnyk, PhD – Dept. of Civil and Mechanical Engineering, United States Military Academy