Piloted Simulator Evaluation of Automatic Flight Control Modes for Helicopter Offshore rescue operation in Degraded Visual Environment

Abstract

A piloted simulation experiment was conducted in the Air Vehicle Simulator (AVES) to evaluate and compare the performance of automatic flight control modes for helicopter offshore rescue operations in both good and degraded visual environments. The control systems investigated as part of this study included a ship relative translational rate command (TRC) combined with two different ship relative hold modes based on a model following controller architecture and an attitude command attitude hold (ACAH) which served as the baseline. In addition to the flight control modes, the pilots also had to handle two additional systems namely an in-house range gated sensor and a Head-Mounted Display (HMD) during the evaluation. The task was to locate personnel on the ship and perform rescue operation while performing a stable hover close to the ship. The study included a combination of operational maritime pilots and experimental test pilots who evaluated the flight control modes for offshore rescue operation in different visual conditions. The simulation results and the pilot feedback indicate improved perceived safety for fleet pilots in terms of increased spare capacity, lower workload and improved situational awareness using the automatic flight control modes in Degraded Visual Environment (DVE).