NASA/TP-2002-211954 Vertical Field of View Reference Point Study for Flight Path Control and Hazard Avoidance

Researchers within the eXternal Visibility System (XVS) element of the High-Speed Research (HSR) program have developed and evaluated display concepts that will provide the flight crew of the proposed High-Speed Civil Transport (HSCT) with integrated imagery and symbology to permit required path control and hazard avoidance functions while maintaining required situational awareness. The challenge of the XVS program is to develop and demonstrate operationally viable, economically feasible, and potentially certificated concepts that would permit a no-nose-droop configuration of an HSCT and expanded low visibility HSCT operational capabilities. The experiment described herein is one of a series of experiments exploring the "design space" restrictions for physical placement of an XVS display. In this study, the primary experimental issue examined was "conformality" of the forward display vertical position with respect to the side window in simulated flight conditions. "Conformality" refers to the condition such that the horizon and objects appear in the same relative positions when viewed through the forward windows or display and the side windows. In particular, this study quantified the effects of visual conformality on pilot flight path control and hazard avoidance performance. For this study, conformality related to the positioning and relationship of the artificial horizon line and associated symbology presented on the forward display and the horizon and associated ground, horizon, and sky textures as they would appear in the real view through a window presented in the side window display. The forward display symbology was presented as conformal (i.e., horizon at the same level as the real world view through the side window) or shifted up by 4 or 8 degrees visual angle..