Advanced Aircraft Simulator Flight Fidelity Evaluation Measures

While new technology is making flight simulators more affordable, validating the simulators for training applications remains costly. This is mostly due to the inefficiency and inconsistency of the subjective validation approach currently used. Performing trial and error iterations based on the subjective opinion of multiple pilots is costly and inefficient. A major deficiency in the current validation approach is the inability to separately determine the validity of the simulator cueing systems. The subjective validation is end-to-end and the flight dynamics model, after initially being validated in isolation, is ultimately modified to compensate for cueing deficiencies in the total system. Advanced Rotorcraft Technology, Inc. (ART) has proposed a new validation criteria and methodology that provides a quantitative metric for the fidelity of the simulator cueing systems for each training task. The methodology also allows determination of the most cost effective configuration of simulator cueing systems that will satisfy the training requirement. If the cueing systems are inadequate for the training task, this methodology also provides quantitative guidelines for modifying the flight dynamics model to compensate for cueing deficiencies. In Phase I, the proposed methodology will be developed and tested on an in-house OH-58D simulator that ART has tested to FAA Level D standards.