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NASA Helps Clearing The Fog
Roland Piquepaille writes "NASA's Aviation Safety and Security Program wants to cut fatal accident rates by 80 percent over the next ten years. To reach this goal, NASA researchers used "tunnel-in-the-sky" synthetic vision systems (SVS) in recent flights on a Gulfstream V over Reno, Nevada. A guest pilot for Aviation Week & Space Technology (AWST) went onboard and writes that 'NASA Team Brings Synthetic Vision to Maturity.' He was able to see that SVS concepts, such as voice-controlled synthetic vision displays, a runway incursion protection system, database integrity monitoring technology, and enhanced vision sensors meshed with SVS images, were really effective in eliminating low-visibility-induced accidents. However, NASA doesn't say anything about the availability of SVS for commercial airlines. This summary contains more details and illustrations about key SVS concepts."
CLEARING THE FOG
."--Charles A. Lindbergh.
"What I really need is a pair of spectacles to see through the fog. . .
Almost eight decades and a host of hard-won technological advances later, NASA's Langley Research Center and its government, industry and university partners are delivering the equivalent of Lindbergh's fog-penetrating spectacles.
Recent flights here on a Gulfstream V (GV) testbed demonstrated that NASA's consortium of researchers has brought "tunnel-in-the-sky" synthetic vision systems (SVS) to an impressive level of functionality. Tweaking of some features is still warranted, and a suite of enhanced-vision sensors (EVS) is yet to be fully incorporated, but a transition from research to commercial products is clearly in the offing.
The research and demo flights at Reno/Tahoe International Airport last month marked the latest phase of NASA's Aviation Safety and Security Program, which aims to cut fatal accident rates by 80% over 10 years. In 2001, similar evaluation flights on a NASA-Langley Boeing 757 were flown at Eagle County Regional Airport near Vail, Colo. Those highlighted individual elements of SVS, and garnered valuable inputs from NASA, airline, FAA and Boeing pilots (AW&ST Oct. 29, 2001, p. 78).
This summer's Reno deployment focused on integrating several SVS elements to give pilots not only excellent airborne situational awareness, but also runway incursion protection on the ground, and a means of ensuring computer-generated displays are accurate depictions of the environment. I was one of several guest pilots given the opportunity to fly in the GV's left seat and see a number of NASA and Rockwell Collins SVS concepts. Specifically, new integrated concepts included:
* Synthetic vision displays.
* A runway incursion protection system (Rips).
* Enhanced-vision sensors, such as forward-looking infrared (Flir) and advanced weather radar systems, mated with SVS images.
* Database integrity monitoring equipment.
By most pilots' accounts, NASA's team has done an excellent job of meeting the goal of its Synthetic Vision Systems Project: finding ways to eliminate low-visibility-induced accidents. Specifically, the project sought to develop technologies and procedures to avoid CFIT--controlled flight into terrain--during poor weather and at night.
Researchers aimed to "make every flight the equivalent of clear-day operations--what we call 'virtual VMC' [visual meteorological conditions]," said Daniel G. Baize, NASA-Langley's SVS project manager. "SVS is another layer of protection on top of enhanced ground proximity [warning systems]--a great tool in itself--but synthetic vision will give a more intuitive and more advanced warning of a potential terrain [encounter]."
Although definitions vary, NASA's team decided "enhanced vision" refers to sensor-based means of giving pilots information about terrain and man-made features when visibility is obscured. "Synthetic vision" is an artificial, computer-generated view based on a detailed terrain database. Combining the two can either be done via "fusion"--creating one image by melding sensor and database elements--or "integration," which overlays sensor and terrain data.
The latter "provides the flight crew with a synthetic view of the environment, regardless of the weather or time of day," Baize says. "We always start with the database, which includes terrain [and] obstacles. Then we position you within that database to the highest degree of accuracy possible . . . using a differential GPS system [at Reno]. We then confirm your position in the database with a variety of sensors."
During the Reno demonstration-flight phase, the GV's standard Kollsman Inc. "All-Weather Window" infrared-based system provided thermal imagery to both head-up and head-down displays, when selected. A recipient of Frost & Sullivan's 2004 Technology Innovation Award, the Kollsman EVS operates in the 1-5-micron region, which allows b
as in more visual. Most ground-based beacons and VORs and the like can provide "tunnels" to airplanes, and autopilots can bridge the gap in between places with beacons, but until now it was rather conceptual. That new technology allows pilots to visualize directly the virtual route.
Commercial airplanes could benefit from this today, which is what's great.
The ILS (instrument landing system) allows very low visibility (zero-zero) approaches using a glidesope indicator for height and localizer for direction, however, often flights are cancelled because fog prevents safe manouvering on the ground. What is really needed is a way to see static and moving objects through the fog. The visualization technology is cute and would be especially useful for training.
the whole point of this system is to remedy sensory underload. when you've got good visibility, if the synthetic displays get in the way, you just turn them off.
The devil, of course, will be in making it as easy and natural as regular vision, so the pilot is not distracted by the artificially enhanced nature of it.
Uh-huh. As an instrument pilot, I know full well just how much good "regular vision" does you. There are all sorts of fun ways that your brain interprets visual information improperly on days where visibility is unlimited.
The real question isn't how it compares to natural vision, it's how much data it puts right in front of the pilot. There's a lot of stuff to keep track of on an ILS--glideslope, localizer track, altitude, airspeed, whether or not the engine is actually still running, what the minimum altitude you can descend to is, the time or DME fix where you're forced to abort the approach, and what the missed approach procedure is--whether it's the published one or whatever ATC assigns you.
Oh, and all your gauges have errors in them. Some of them might even be out-of-tolerance.
Now, you can watch a dash full of gauges after having put the chart in your lap to memory, or you can fly a little tunnel down to where you can see the runway. The tunnel is going to be easier.
http://www.syntheticvision.com/
If you want to see a demo of what does means "tunnel in the sky" download this demo http://www.dynamitechs.com/ and open the project "path tube Demo" and run the simulation.