Horizontal Display for Vertical Flight: A Direction of Motion Experiment

摘要

As a part of a research program to investigate advanced concepts for downward- and forward-looking integrated displays, an experiment was conducted to determine optimum direction-of-motion relationships for a new way of presenting altitude and vertical rate information superposed on a downward-looking navigation and tactical situation display. Altitude was represented by the size of an octagon that could either dilate or constrict to indicate increasing altitude, and vertical rate was indicated by the outward or inward flow of four rate-field patterns emanating from the center of the display toward the 45, 135- 225-, and 315-degree compass positions. The five factors in this experiment were altimeter and vertical rate-field direction of motion, subject ability level, aircraft vertical control order, and vertical flight course. Performance on four vertical flight profiles indicated that the 'out is up' relationship yields superior vertical control, both in terms of control reversals and log RMS tracking precision, whereas the 'out is down' mode results in more accurate control in the horizontal plane. The most clearcut findings was that, whichever direction in altimeter motion is adopted, the vertical rate-field motion should be in the same direction.