Virtual cockpit instruments on head-worn displays for helicopter offshore operations in confined areas

Helicopters are often operated in confined areas. During such operations the aircraft is maneuvered in close proximity to natural and man-made obstructions like terrain, trees, or buildings. Often, the whole crew is involved to conduct such missions safely. All crew members keep their eyes out in different directions and give the pilot feedback on the obstacle clearance in areas that are hardly observable from the front seat. In recent years, these procedures - which generate high workload, require efficient crew resource management, and are still error-prone - were complemented by technology. Cameras as well as radar and lidar sensors are mounted on modern helicopters to provide better awareness of the near-field around the aircraft. Obstacle awareness and warning displays (OAWDs) present the sensed information to the pilot. However, since these displays are usually presented on the conventional cockpit screens, they draw the pilot's attention to the instrument panel and reduce the pilot's head-up, eyes-out time. This paper shows how head-worn see-through displays (or augmented reality glasses) can be used to convey obstacle information in such a way that the pilot can monitor the environment and the OAWD virtually simultaneously. We introduce “virtual cockpit instruments” (VCI), which provide great flexibility in presenting an OAWD in a task-adapted manner. By means of two simulator studies - with 11 and 7 participants respectively - our work evaluates the most valuable VCI variants and confirms that the VCI concept is a very promising approach for future pilot assistance systems.