Flight Demonstration of an Associate System: A Rotorcraft Pilot’s Associate Example

The U.S. Army’s Rotorcraft Pilot’s Associate (RPA) program has developed an advanced, intelligent associate system for simulation and flight test demonstration in a next-generation attack and scout helicopter. A significant portion of this effort has been devoted to the design of a fourth generation cockpit, with automated cockpit information management, and with state-of-the-art flat panel cockpit displays, which include touch-screens and pop-up windows. The RPA cockpit provides the pilot-vehicle interface with the Cognitive Decision Aiding System (CDAS), the Data Fusion (DF) software, and the Advanced Mission Equipment Package (AMEP). These displays and controls provide the pilot-vehicle interface with the RPA software behaviors: automated attack planning, route planning, survivability planning, reconnaissance planning, and data fusion. This paper describes the high-level flight test results for each of the RPA software behaviors, with an emphasis on the pilot’s displays and controls. First the highly complex test bed aircraft, which recently completed over 12 months of testing in Mesa and Yuma, Arizona is described. Then an outline of the RPA Flight Demonstration Program and the subjective results of pilot questionnaire data collected at the end of each pilot’s Yuma flight demonstration experience is presented. Concluding the paper is a summary of the highly successful RPA flight demonstration, including the key findings, lessons-learned and conclusions.