Flight Visualization Using HUMS Data

Flight visualization is a useful tool when analyzing flight details, especially where safety needs are concerned. 3D renderings of rotorcraft flight, along with real‐time data processing from various recorders and sensor systems, allow users to monitor structural and operational usage. These visualizations are immensely valuable when assessing loads and distinguishing damage accumulation processes on different components during flight. The visualization system may lend itself to the development of a sophisticated HUMS in‐flight reporting or feedback system with real‐time displays of user‐selected parameters. The feedback provided to flight control systems can ensure that limit loads and damage are kept under specified levels, assuring the required or desired life of a component in service. This paper describes our current effort in building a simple and effective flight visualization model using HUMS data. Using Eye‐Sys, an application developed by IDV, we demonstrate how flights can be rendered through appropriate view and display controls. The developed visualization shows how damage is accumulated throughout a flight on user‐selected components under the flown regimes of a flight. Desired threshold exceedances of user‐selected parameters such as pitch or roll rate are displayed in real‐time as well, enhancing the model's level of detail. Also presented in the paper are example situations in which flight visualization may prove useful in quality control of HUMS data and in correlating and correcting identified rule‐set based regime recognition algorithms.