Evaluation of head-worn and head-up displays for use in enhanced flight vision system operations

Abstract. Research, development, test, and evaluation of flight deck interface technologies is being conducted by NASA to proactively identify, develop, and mature tools, methods, and technologies for improving aviation safety of new and legacy vehicles operating in the Next Generation Air Transportation System (NextGen). One specific area of research was the use of small head-worn displays (HWDs) to serve as a possible equivalent to a head-up display (HUD) for commercial aircraft. A simulation experiment was conducted to evaluate if the HWD can provide an equivalent level of performance to a HUD. Airline flight crews conducted simulated approach and landing operations during low visibility operations. The results showed that there were no statistical differences in flight crews’ performance in terms of flight technical error suggesting that the HWD may serve as an equivalent display to the HUD. Further, the HWD may have several advantages over a HUD making its adoption an attractive alternative for commercial flight deck implementation. Technical hurdles remain to be overcome for complete display equivalence including, most notably, the end-to-end latency of the HWD system. The results and conclusions taken from the results of the high fidelity simulation experiment are described and offer future research directions.