Visual and Control Augmentation Techniques for Pilot Assistance during Helicopter Shipboard Recovery

Shipboard launch and recovery of helicopters continue to pose operational challenges even to experienced pilots. The present research seeks to develop novel visual and control augmentation techniques and determine their impact on human factors for shipboard recovery operations. The paper first outlines the development and integration of a helicopter–ship dynamic interface model into a wide field of view, fixed-base rotorcraft simulation environment. The paper then describes the development of novel visual and control augmentation techniques for pilot assistance during shipboard recovery. Visual augmentation includes two-dimensional primary flight information and three-dimensional conformal shipboard landing symbology presented on a low-cost, off-the-shelf, see-through head-mounted display system to facilitate “eyes-out” piloting. Control augmentation includes robust nonlinear control laws producing translational rate command position hold, and acceleration command velocity hold response types with good predicted handling qualities. Finally, the paper reports experimental results of simulated visual shipboard approaches conducted with four experimental test pilots for low- and high-intensity ship motions. The results indicate improved piloting performance, mitigation of pilot-induced oscillations, lower workload, improved handling, and improved perceived safety for fleet pilots for the proposed visual and control augmentation techniques.