Advanced Reference System cockpit display project

Armstrong Aerospace Medical Research Laboratory (AAMRL) was asked to support display format design for the ARS (Advanced Reference System). The test group engineers who had originally developed the ARS proposed a display design which contained the necessary flight information, but in a somewhat awkward format. AAMRL proposed two alternative designs: one was a rearrangement of the test wing's design with an improved layout, and the other went beyond raw data to include a flight director. The three alternative designs were prototyped on a Silicon Graphics workstation, using variations of the FLIGHT Program available on that computer, and evaluated during simulated flying performance. Pilot subjects flew complex flight paths which included single and combined changes in heading, altitude, and airspeed. Performance measures included root mean squared deviations from nominal flight path parameters and at way points. The flight director display was superior in most categories.<>