Digital visual-aid technology helps pilots 'own the weather'.

• Author: Erwin, Sandra I.
• Position: Synthetic vision aids landings in poor visibility conditions - Brief Article

Air Force transport-aircraft pilots are testing a so-called "synthetic-vision" system that would make landings in rough terrain and poor visibility conditions safer and easier.

The technology creates a digital picture of the environment around the aircraft, so avia-tots can see their surroundings more clearly at night, in bad weather.

The synthetic-vision project, managed by the Air Force Research Laboratory, is designed to let pilots "own the weather" in much the same way that night-vision technology lets them "own the night," said Guy French, a program official at AFRL. The technology is aimed particularly at the C-130 aircraft. If synthetic vision works as promised, other candidate platforms would be the heavy-lift C-17 and the special operations tilt-rotor, the CV-22.

Synthetic vision has been around for at least a decade and has been installed aboard commercial jets. Only in the past couple of years has the Air Force shown interest, said Ray Liss, manager of integrated applications at Rockwell Collins.

The company originally decided to invest in this technology for commercial aviation customers. NASA also was an early sponsor. It turned out, however, that synthetic vision "has greater potential for military applications," said Liss.

At the core of synthetic vision is a high-fidelity graphics database that replicates the environment, such as an airport. The artificial imagery is enhanced with sensors, for real-time updates.

If a jet lands in bad weather, for example, the system provides "cues and indicators that the air crews would get once they touched down, to help them navigate the airport," Liss said. The idea is to prevent collisions on the ground.

Three-dimensional digital maps of most major airports already exist, he said. The 3-D imagery can assist the pilot establish the position of the airplane relative to the airport. Sensors on the aircraft help to avoid obstacles.

In late November, test pilots at Wright Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio, demonstrated low-level military approaches using synthetic-vision technology.

The flight tests--aboard an Air Force C135 Speckled Trout aircraft--capped a two-year research contract that AFRL awarded to Rockwell Collins.

The Speckled Trout is an extensively modified C-135C that, during the past two decades, has served as an advanced avionics and communications test bed for guidance, control, navigation and communication equipment. It also is used to evaluate future transport aircraft design.

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