ONERA-DLR Joint Research on Tactile Cueing for Reactive Obstacle Avoidance dedicated to Low Speed Helicopter Maneuvers

Abstract

In the framework of their long-term cooperation in the field of rotorcraft research and technology, DLR and ONERA are sharing their complementary activities in the area of tactile cueing with active sidesticks for obstacle avoidance in the low speed flight speed domain for helicopters. The purpose of the haptic feedback is to provide the pilot with assistance regarding the avoidance of the obstacles in the vicinity of the helicopter, which could either be overlooked because of degraded visual environment or due to high workload: although being fully aware of their existence, some highly stressful and/or demanding piloting situations can lead to a wrong appreciation of the relative distances between the helicopter elements (in particular for configurations where the pilot can hardly see the rotor blades) and the surrounding buildings, cliffs, walls, etc. A joint-team collected requirements and defined plausible use-cases for later evaluation in piloted simulation. Each partner developed a function with the objective to calculate and provide efficient haptic feedback through active sidesticks for the piloting task of a helicopter. The paper will gather and present the different approaches, algorithms and cueing forces used. The first of qualitative pilot assessment will be presented.