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At least 91 records · Page 5
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
NASA NTRS2003

Avionic Pictorial Tunnel-/Pathway-/Highway-In-The-Sky Workshops

In 1994-96, Langley Research Center held a series of interactive workshops investigating highway-in-the-sky concepts, which enable precise flight path control. These workshops brought together government and industry display designers and pilots to discuss and fly various concepts in an iterative manner. The primary emphasis of the first workshops was the utility and usability of pathways and the pros and cons of various features available. The final workshops were focused on the specific applications to the eXternal Visibility System (XVS) of the NASA High-speed Research Program, which was concerned with replacement of the forward windows in a High-speed Civil Transport with electronic displays and high resolution video cameras to enable a "No-Droop" configuration. The primary concerns in the XVS application were the prevention of display clutter and obscuration of hazards, as the camera image was the primary means of traffic separation in clear visibility conditions. These concerns were not so prominent in the first workshops, which assumed a Synthetic Vision System application in which hazard locations are known and obscuration is handled easily. The resulting consensus concept has been used since in simulation and flight test activities of many Government programs. and other concepts have been influenced by the workshop discussions.

Parrish, Russell V.↗
NASA NTRS1959

A Flight Investigation of the Low-Speed Handling Qualities of a Tailless Delta-Wing Fighter Airplane

Carrier landing-approach studies of a tailless delta-wing fighter airplane disclosed that approach speeds were limited by ability to control altitude and lateral-directional characteristics. More detailed flight studies of the handling-qualities characteristics of the airplane in the carrier-approach configuration documented a number of factors that contributed to the adverse comments on the lateral-directional characteristics. These were: (1) the tendency of the airplane to roll around the highly inclined longitudinal axis, so that significant sideslip angles developed in the roll as a result only of kinematic effects; (2) reduction of the rolling response to the ailerons because of the large dihedral effect in conjunction with the kinematically developed sideslip angles; and (3) the onset of rudder lock at moderate angles of sideslip at the lowest speeds with wing tanks installed. The first two of the factors listed are inseparably identified with this type of configuration which is being considered for many of the newer designs and may, therefore, represent a problem which will be encountered frequently in the future. The results are of added significance in the demonstration of a typical situation in which extraneous factors occupy so much of the pilot's attention that his capability of coping with the problems of precise flight-path control is reduced, and he accordingly demands a greater speed margin above the stall to allow for airspeed fluctuations.

White, Maurice D.↗
NASA NTRS1971

A progress report on the development of an augmentor wing jet STOL research aircraft.

The development of the aircraft has progressed to the point where the design of the modifications to the de Havilland C-8A Buffalo is complete and the engines are being tested. The predicted performance shows that the aircraft will be able to take off and land in less than 1500 ft. Simulation studies indicate that the handling qualities of the aircraft, with stability augmentation, will be acceptable for STOL research missions. Special techniques were required, however, for flight path control and transition from cruise to landing configuration .

Quigley, H. C.↗
NASA NTRS1972

The new civil aviation within our grasp.

Noise and congestion present the two main technological constraints on air-transportation growth. Although some of the noise reduction will come with improved flight-path control and steep approaches, the main requirement remains quiet propulsion systems. Higher engine temperatures will compensate for efficiency losses due to noise suppression. Composite structures can reduce structural weight by 20%. New developments in rotorcraft transports are discussed together with advanced subsonic transports of the 1980s and the possibilities for further evolution of the SSTs, leading to a hypersonic aircraft.

Cortright, E. M.↗
NASA NTRS1972

A simulator evaluation of the use of spoilers on a light aircraft

A fixed-base flight simulator was used to evaluate wing spoilers for longitudinal flight path control on a modified Cessna Cardinal aircraft. Spoilers which generated the proper pitching moment to maintain aircraft trim C sub L constant could be used as an effective descent rate control. More than 100 simulated ILS approaches were flown by evaluation pilots using both conventional methods and spoiler descent rate control. Three spoiler control schemes were evaluated during the ILS approaches. Using the spoilers for control, instrument approaches could be flown smoothly and precisely with constant airspeed and pitch attitude. While the spoilers could adequately control ILS approaches, a spoiler system with greater authority would be desirable for use in visual approaches.

Brainerd, C. H.↗
NASA NTRS1972

Comparisons of simulator and flight results on augmentor-wing jet STOL research aircraft

The considerations involved in making a piloted simulator an effective research tool in the design and development of new aircraft are discussed. An assessment of the limitations of the simulator in depicting real flight as well as the problem of recognizing erroneous results when the simulator is supplied with incorrect input data is made. Examples of the ways in which the simulator is used to design and develop the augmentor-wing aircraft are presented. Four areas of investigation are: (1) to design the lateral control system for proper feel and response, (2) determine the effect of engine failure during approach, (3) develop the best technique for controlling flight path during approach, and (4) the significance of lift loss in ground effect and how to compensate for such loss.

Innis, R. C.↗
NASA NTRS1981

Trends in unmanned planetary entry systems

Entry systems used in unmanned planetary exploration are discussed in terms of future missions and more complex demands made upon the design configurations of orbiters and atmospheric space probes. The presently on-going Galileo project involving a Jupiter orbiter and a probe of the Jovian atmosphere is mentioned, and the difficult entry requirements at a velocity of 48 km/sec and an angle of minus seven to minus 10 degrees into an atmosphere composed largely of hydrogen, are described. Re-entry parameters determined by the respective entry environment, type of entry approach (hyperbolic or elliptical orbit) entry velocity, and guidance technology are given attention. Aerobraking, involving relatively slow circularization of an initial elliptical orbit by repeated passes through the atmosphere, is investigated. Aerocapture, by which vehicles using controlled flight paths through the atmosphere, can go directly from a hyperbolic flyby trajectory to low circular orbit is described. Major attractions of aerobraking and aerocapture are analyzed in terms of modest technology needs and relatively small impact on spacecraft design.

French, J. R.↗
NASA NTRS1987

Measurement of pilot workload

A multistage process for evaluating the workload of a five-minute segment of flight including approach and landing for a typical transport aircraft was described. The goal of the analysis was to compare the workload of the two pilots. Four types of measurement techniques were suggested: Analytic (a preliminary task and time line analysis identified task requirements and target performance levels); Performance (flight path control, communications, and interval production); Physiological (heart rate and heart rate variability); and Subjective ratings (a multidimensional technique developed at NASA Ames).

Hart, Sandra G.↗
NASA NTRS1987

Automation - Changes in cognitive demands and mental workload

The effect of partial automation on mental workloads in man/machine tasks is investigated experimentally. Subjective workload measures are obtained from six subjects after performance of a task battery comprising two manual (flight-path control, FC, and target acquisition, TA) tasks and one decisionmaking (engine failure, EF) task; the FC task was performed in both a fully manual (altitude and lateral control) mode and in a semiautomated mode (autmatic latitude control). The performance results and subjective evaluations are presented in graphs and characterized in detail. The automation is shown to improve objective performance and lower subjective workload significantly in the combined FC/TA task, but not in the FC task alone or in the FC/EF task.

Tsang, Pamela S.↗
NASA NTRS1993

Attentional tunneling and the head-up display

Twenty instrument-rated flight students flew simulated landing approaches to a realistic graphics generated airport, using either a head-up display (HUD) of instrument landing systems (ILS) instruments or the same display positioned 8.5 deg. head down. Responses to discrete events appearing either on the ground environment or on the instrument display assessed the pilot's ability to switch attention between these domains. Unexpected events also occurred once (per subject) in each domain. The results revealed that flight path control and attention switching to the instrumnet display was better supported by the HUD, while this advantage disappeared for attention switching to the environment, and for detection of unexpected events. The results are discussed in terms of the attention strategies employed in sampling multiple information sources.

Wickens, Christopher D.↗
NASA NTRS2008

Synthetic Vision for Lunar and Planetary Landing Vehicles

The Crew Vehicle Interface (CVI) group of the Integrated Intelligent Flight Deck Technologies (IIFDT) has done extensive research in the area of Synthetic Vision (SV), and has shown that SV technology can substantially enhance flight crew situation awareness, reduce pilot workload, promote flight path control precision and improve aviation safety. SV technology is being extended to evaluate its utility for lunar and planetary exploration vehicles. SV may hold significant potential for many lunar and planetary missions since the SV presentation provides a computer-generated view of the terrain and other significant environment characteristics independent of the outside visibility conditions, window locations, or vehicle attributes. SV allows unconstrained control of the computer-generated scene lighting, terrain coloring, and virtual camera angles which may provide invaluable visual cues to pilots/astronauts and in addition, important vehicle state information may be conformally displayed on the view such as forward and down velocities, altitude, and fuel remaining to enhance trajectory control and vehicle system status. This paper discusses preliminary SV concepts for tactical and strategic displays for a lunar landing vehicle. The technical challenges and potential solutions to SV applications for the lunar landing mission are explored, including the requirements for high resolution terrain lunar maps and an accurate position and orientation of the vehicle that is essential in providing lunar Synthetic Vision System (SVS) cockpit displays. The paper also discusses the technical challenge of creating an accurate synthetic terrain portrayal using an ellipsoid lunar digital elevation model which eliminates projection errors and can be efficiently rendered in real-time.

Williams, Steven P.↗
NASA NTRS2016

MONTE: the Next Generation of Mission Design and Navigation Software

The Mission Analysis, Operations and Navigation Toolkit Environment (MONTE) is an astrodynamic toolkit produced by the Mission Design and Navigation Software Group at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory. It provides a single integrated environment for all phases of deep space and Earth orbiting missions. Capabilities include: trajectory optimization and analysis, operational orbit determination, flight path control, and 2D/3D visualization. MONTE is presented to the user as an importable Python language module. This allows a simple but powerful user interface via CLUI or script. In addition, the Python interface allows MONTE to be used seamlessly with other canonical scientific programming tools such as SciPy, NumPy, and Matplotlib. MONTE is the prime operational orbit determination software for all JPL navigated missions.

Optimization↗
NASA NTRS2016

MONTE Python for Deep Space Navigation

The Mission Analysis, Operations, and Navigation Toolkit Environment (MONTE) is the Jet Propulsion Laboratory’s (JPL) signature astrodynamic computing platform. It was built to support JPL’s deep space exploration program, and has been used to fly robotic spacecraft to Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Ceres, and many solar system small bodies. At its core, MONTE consists of low-level astrodynamic libraries that are written in C++ and presented to the end user as an importable Python language module. These libraries form the basis on which Python-language applications are built for specific astrodynamic applications, such as trajectory design and optimization, orbit determination, flight path control, and more. The first half of this paper gives context to the MONTE project by outlining its history, the field of deep space navigation and where MONTE fits into the current Python landscape. The second half gives an overview of the main MONTE libraries and provides a narrative example of how it can be used for astrodynamic analysis.

aerospace↗