Helicopter Integrated Pictorial Symbology for 4-D Re-Routable Approach-to-Landing

A novel display concept for Helicopter Integrated Pictorial Symbology (HIPS) has been developed for carrying out a curved and descending helicopter approach-to-landing and touch-down, subject to a commanded velocity profile along the trajectory. A unique feature of this concept is its ability to re-route the trajectory in-flight. Re-routing might be triggered by unforeseen events such as obstacles, traffic or an unexpected change in the direction of approach to the landing site. In these situations the pilot might have to deviate substantially from the originally planned trajectory. Trajectory re-routing is initiated by the pilot and executed almost instantaneously by a re-routing algorithm. The new trajectory will be based on the current aircraft position, heading and velocity and on the position of the landing site and direction of approach, and is subject to a set of operational constraints. HIPS together with existing head-up symbols is overlaid on the visual scene of a pair of night vision goggles without head tracking system. It was found that by virtue of properly tuned predictive cues, the symbology could be effectively used for the approach and hover task. The display concept is presently being evaluated in a fixed-base simulation setup simulating night vision goggles. The final results of this study are not yet available but the results of some preliminary runs are presented to demonstrate the concept.