NASA Tests Mixed Reality Sim In Vertical Motion Simulator
Commercial enterprises and government agencies are increasingly pursuing a more immersive and affordable alternative to conventional screens currently used in flight simulators. A NASA research project works on ways to make this technology available for use faster.
Mixed reality systems where users interact with physical simulators while wearing virtual reality headsets offer a promising path to follow for pilot training. But currently, only limited standards exist to allow their use, because regulators have little or no data on how these systems work. To remedy this, the NASA Ames Research Center in Silicon Valley in California invited a dozen pilots to participate in a study to test how a mixed reality flight simulation would occur in the largest flight simulator in the world.
“For the first time, we collect real data on how this type of mixed reality simulation works in the highest vertical movement simulator,” said Peter Zaal, architect of main systems at Ames. “The more we understand how these systems affect the performance of the pilots, the more we are getting closer to providing a safer and profitable training tool to the aviation community which could benefit each of the commercial airlines to future air taxi operators.”
The mixed reality mixes physical and digital worlds, allowing users to see physical elements while viewing a desired simulated environment. The flight simulators using this technology via the helmet or a similar configuration could offer pilot training to operate new generation aircraft at a reduced cost and in a smaller footprint compared to more traditional flight simulators. Indeed, the pilots could rely more on the visuals provided through the helmet instead of large visual screens integrated into a physical movement simulator.
During the tests – which operated from May 23 to 30 – the pilots put on a helmet through which they could see the physical screens and the control sticks inside the vertical motion simulator cabin (VMS) as well as a superposition of virtual cockpit of a takeoff and vertical landing vehicle through the screen mounted on the head. When the pilots looked at their windshields, they saw a virtual view of San Francisco and the surrounding area.
The pilots made three typical flight maneuvers in four sets of motion conditions. Subsequently, they were invited to provide comments on their level of transport evil while using the screen mounted on the head and in the way the simulator reproduced the same movements as the aircraft would make for a real flight.
An initial study analysis shows that the pilots have reported lower evaluations of transport evil that NASA researchers were waiting for. Many shared that the configuration of mixed reality inside the VMs was more realistic and fluid than the previous simulator configurations they had tested.
As part of the test, Ames welcomed members of the Federal Administration Civil Administration Aerospace Medical Institute, which studies the factors that influence human performance in aerospace. The pilots of the National Test Pilot School attended part of the tests and, regardless of the study, evaluated “the usable benchmark” of the mounted screen or the representation of the visual clues that the pilots rely to control an airplane.
NASA will put the results of the tests available to the public and the aviation community at the beginning of next year. This first test of its kind – financed by a subsidy Fair innovation and managed by the Center aviation systems division – opens the way to potential use of this technology in virtual machines for future aviation and space missions.
