Virtual Visual Landing Aid for Rotorcraft Recovery (V2LAR2)
Navy SBIR FY2013.2


Sol No.: Navy SBIR FY2013.2
Topic No.: N132-133
Topic Title: Virtual Visual Landing Aid for Rotorcraft Recovery (V2LAR2)
Proposal No.: N132-133-1086
Firm: Continuum Dynamics, Inc.
34 Lexington Avenue
Ewing, New Jersey 08618-2302
Contact: Robert McKillip
Phone: (609) 538-0444
Web Site: www.continuum-dynamics.com
Abstract: Operational utility for ship-based rotorcraft is often limited by weather conditions that can influence sea states, wind over deck (WOD) and airwake turbulence, and pilot visibility. Recent advances in Visual Landing Aid (VLA) design have made strides in providing better situational awareness to pilots operating at night and in inclement weather, but still require visual contact between the pilot and the ship superstructure to be effective. The proposed research program will extend recent work at CDI on computer-based VLA design tools to provide a head-down display symbology and virtual representation of the ship to support landing operations in zero/zero (visibility/altitude) conditions onto a ship deck. The design of the display representation will include information on deck motion energy and landing suitability, and will be supported by consultants who are subject matter experts in deck motion displays, shipboard recovery, and human factors and flight display design. The resulting display system will, at the completion of Phase I/II development, provide greatly enhanced operational readiness for rotorcraft operating from "small deck" ship platforms.
Benefits: Virtual scene-based flight displays can provide enhanced situational awareness for military, commercial and recreational pilots operating in reduced visibility conditions, in a natural and easy to interpret context. With the advent of higher resolution displays supported by better graphics processors, such capability could be made available for portable electronic devices (iPads) as well. Such displays could complement existing certificated instrumentation by augmenting instrument flight rules (IFR) flight directors with intuitive three-dimensional graphics to give pilots a complete picture of the approach and landing environment.

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