Rapid Pilot Interface Development Simulator

The US Army Aeroflightdynamics Directorate (AFDD), Psycho Linguistics Research Associates (PLRA), and CAE have developed a low cost military rotorcraft flight simulator. It is located at the Crew Station Research and Development Facility (CSRDF), at Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, California. The Rapid Pilot Integration Development (RAPID) simulator is used to perform human factors studies of new cockpit displays and auditory warning systems. The simulation includes a simple rotorcraft dynamics model, a three-axis control stick, an out-the-window scene, an integrated caution/warning system, and representations of malfunctions, threats and weapon systems. Various cockpit display configurations and auditory information formats can be implemented quickly and tested. So far, this facility has been used to evaluate auditory warning formats and multifunction display symbology for MH-60K and MH-47E helicopters used by US Army Special Forces, as well as auditory warning formats for advanced countermeasure systems in the AH-64D Longbow Apache. Results from the US Army Special Forces study showed that a large tactical situation display in the center console should be the primary candidate display that is used for the aircraft survivability equipment pilot vehicle interface in these aircraft. The study also showed that pilots judged the new text-to-speech warning voice as more intelligible than the current threat warning voice. Results from the AH-64D Longbow Apache study showed that pilots preferred detailed auditory messages over the existing format.