Engineering news
An augmented reality helmet-mounted display may in the future be able to help pilots detect hazards at an early stage, even when their visibility is severely impaired due to poor weather conditions.
This could help helicopter pilots during search and rescue missions that often have to be called off due to inclement weather.
Developed by researchers at the Technical University of Munich (TUM), the information required to do this is created in an on-board computer and imported into digital glasses. The TUM study has shown that this augmented reality (AR) improves the performance of pilots and ultimately.
Virtual tests of the head-mounted display using a flight simulator have seen users successfully detect hazards and navigate around them, even in thick fog.
TUM engineer Franz Viertler and his colleagues at the Institute of Helicopter Technology developed software that combines terrain information with sensor readings that can be taken during a flight. Light Detection and Ranging, (LIDAR) has proved especially useful, the measuring instruments that can be attached to the helicopter's skids emit radiation in the micrometer range and detect the waves reflected by hazards or obstacles.
All of the data is processed on-board and projected directly to the see-through head-mounted display. This allows the pilot to not only see what he can detect with his own eyes, but also the digitally-generated outlines of the landscape and potential obstacles: green lines represent the outlines of mountains and houses, a red outline in between depicts wind turbines, construction cranes and high buildings.
Flight data, such as speed, altitude, position and course, can also be displayed. In addition, a head-tracking system ensures that the projections adjust to the pilot's line of sight - depending on whether he is looking forward, downward or out the side of the cockpit.
The TUM researchers conducted a study with 16 professional helicopter pilots who tested the head-mounted display during various simulator flights. The engineers recorded how the participants flew and queried them afterward on their stress symptoms.
For ranges of sight below 800 meters, the pilots benefited “measurably” from the terrain and flight data displayed. They not only flew more quickly and more safely than without the head-mounted display, but they also felt that the flights had been less demanding both physically and mentally. However, the researchers said the advantages of the system really came to bear when visibility was extremely poor, in visual ranges of just 100 to 400 meters.
"The new technology can reduce the risk when helicopters are operated," Viertler said. "The main problem is poor visibility caused by clouds or snow, or dust blown up when taking off and landing. AR can help to overcome this white-out or brown-out phenomenon."
The researchers will now look to validate their findings in research helicopters and have already received interest from industry.