Rockwell Collins Teams with NASA for Successful Synthetic Vision Trials

CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa (October 02, 2001) - Rockwell Collins recently completed successful demonstrations of its Synthetic Vision Information System (SVIS) working in partnership with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Aviation Safety Program. The program will develop a visually based system designed to increase safety and terrain awareness during approach and departure operations.

With SVIS, the typical view from the cockpit is augmented with a computer-generated display to give pilots artificial visibility in the worst weather conditions. The synthetic views can be displayed head-up or head-down. "With global positioning systems signals, pilots now know exactly where they are," explains Michael Lewis, director of the NASA Aviation Safety Program. "Add super-accurate terrain databases and graphical displays and we can draw three-dimensional moving scenes that will show pilots exactly what’s outside."

From August 19^th - September 9^th 2001 pilots from the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration, The Boeing Company, Delta Air Lines, United Air Lines and American Airlines participated in more than 100 approaches and 50 flight test hours to both ends of runway 7/25 at Eagle. "The displays, including the Rockwell Collins Flight Dynamics HGS^® 4000 heads-up display, were well received by the pilots," said Tim Etherington, SVIS technical director at Rockwell Collins. The HGS^® 4000 test used wire-frame terrain display overlaid with the standard HGS^® 4000 symbology.

"With the Collins tunnel guidance concept, pilots can fly complex procedures without creating additional pilot workload." Tunnel guidance is part of the display that creates a visual cue for pilots to relate to the intended flight path. This is then overlaid with synthetic terrain images, which are generic and producible in current generation avionics architectures.

Evaluations consisted of an approach to the Eagle, Co. Airport, runway 25 on the localizer course with either a simulated single engine departure through Cottonwood Pass or a visual, circling arrival to runway seven with a simulated single engine departure to the east. Etherington said that the demonstrations were 100 percent successful on approaches to runway seven.

"The Rockwell Collins version of the visual arrival to runway seven consisted of a constant three degree descent from the localizer intercept with a turn at a constant bank angle during the circling portion rolling wings level at 300 feet," Etherington said. "The pilots commented that the procedure was very flyable, very controllable and quite comfortable."

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