Virtual Cockpit Instruments and Visual Conformal Symbology on Head-Worn Displays for Helicopter Offshore Landings

This paper presents the results of a simulator study. The study evaluated the situation awareness provided by an obstacle awareness and warning display (OAWD) and DLR’s conformal 3D landing symbology (CLS) which were presented in a head-worn see-through display (HWD). The OAWD is shown as inset or so called virtual cockpit instrument (VCI). It represents an coplanar orthogonal 360 degree top view and HWD-adapted obstacle awareness and warning display (VCI-OAWD) developed by DLR. The study investigated the application of the VCI-OAWD and the CLS on its own as well as in conjunction. The different display conditions were tested with 7 helicopter pilots conducting an offshore platform landing operation in DLR’s generic experimental cockpit simulator. The study addressed two main questions firstly, the comparison of the spatial awareness provided by the VCI-OAWD and the CLS and secondly, the influence of the amount of information presented in the head-worn display.