Two New Aircraft Traffic Surveillance Symbology Concepts: Range Filter and Inboard Field-of-View Symbology

Abstract The purpose of the eXternal Visibility System (XVS) effort for NASA's High-SpeedResearch Program was to determine and to provide required pilot visual information for a HighSpeed Civil Transport vehicle concept to allow safe and efficient operation in the absence offorward windows. The objective of this preliminary experiment conducted at NASA LangleyResearch Center was to investigate two head-up surveillance symbology (HUSS) display issues.The first issue was concerned with the benefits of adding a range filter to the current HUSSconcept. A range filter limits the amount of traffic symbols displayed head-up by setting a rangeboundary (e.g., 7-nmi) around the ownship. The second issue was concerned with the need toincorporate HUSS in the inboard field-of-view (IFOV) display of the XVS concept. Thehypothesis tested was that adding a range filter to the XVS display and HUSS to the IFOV displaywould enhance the pilot's effectiveness in traffic surveillance tasks. Using a high-resolutiongraphics flight simulator, each of three pilots flew departure and arrival scenarios under visualmeteorological conditions. The pilots' main tasks, while managing flight path, were to detect andassess potential airborne traffic hazards and to maintain overall situation awareness. Uponcompleting all the runs, each pilot completed a subjective questionnaire. Results showed thathaving both the HUSS on the IFOV and the range filter on each of the XVS displays enhanced theeffectiveness of the XVS surveillance display concept. This configuration had the least headdown time and the lowest mental workload. Combining both features gave the best targetdetection and, the earliest threat recognition performances, and enabled the pilots to create abetter strategy for evasive action when it became necessary.