Bringing a colored head-down display symbology heads up: Display fidelity review of a low-cost see-through HMD

Within the U.S.-German project agreement on advanced technology for rotorcraft (PA ATR) DLR conducts research on pilot aids for helicopter operations in DVE. For example, an HMD can provide visual cues to the pilot while flying eyes-out. With the HoloLens 2 as a low-budget device, we can rapidly prototype new symbology and make use of its full-color waveguide display. As a first step, this paper aims to investigate how the color of DLR's symbology needs to be adapted when shown on the HoloLens 2 and what kind of information is beneficial when presented on an HMD or should remain on a head-down display

Implementation of a mixed-reality flight simulator: blending real and virtual with a video-see-through head-mounted display

Conventional flight simulators usually include a complex and expensive outside vision projection system. Especially scenarios where the helicopter pilots look far to the side or through the windows near the pedals require a large projection dome to provide an image of the outside world. Additionally, simulators used for research need to be highly customizable: For rapid prototyping of new flight deck designs, the cockpit mockup must be adaptable enough to change the appearance and arrangement of its elements. The recent technological advancements of head-mounted displays (HMDs) offer many new ways to create a simulator that fulfills the stated requirements at moderate cost. A non-see-through HMD can immerse the pilots into a computer-generated cockpit with "unrestricted" virtual out-the-window view. The downwards view is even better than with dome projections. Such a fully virtual approach, however, requires complex finger-tracking and haptic feedback solutions to enable the user to interact with the cockpit. By contrast, a video-see-through HMD allows us to selectively combine a highly customizable virtual world with a video-stream of the real surroundings. One can, for instance, show the pilot's hands and relevant parts of the physical flight deck mockup, enriched with virtual elements and virtual out-the-window view. In such a mixed setup, the pilots can naturally and directly interact with conventional input devices in an otherwise virtual environment. The paper presents our implementation of a mixed reality simulator with the Varjo XR-3 video-see-through HMD. We assess different variants, discuss implementation details like real-to-virtual-world-alignment, and explain the major challenges of such setups

Entwicklung eines konfigurierbaren Flugtaxi-Simulators mit Hilfe einer kopfgetragenen Anzeige mit Video-Durchsicht - Ein Vergleich verschiedener Mixed-Reality-Ansätze

Um zukünftige Flugtaxi-Konzepte frühzeitig aus Passagiersicht bewerten zu können, wird ein immersiver und gleichzeitig konfigurierbarer Kabinensimulator benötigt. Dieser Vortrag zeigt wie moderne Mixed-Reality-Technologien bei der Umsetzung eines solchen Simulators helfen können. So kann zum Beispiel mit Hilfe einer Video-Durchsicht-Brille das reale Kabinenmockup flexibel um virtuelle Objekte erweitert werden. Die durchgeführte Probandenstudie zeigt die Vorteile und Grenzen solcher Ansätze

Experiencing Urban Air Mobility: How Passengers evaluate a simulated flight with an Air Taxi

For the successful development and implementation of novel concepts and technology, the acceptance of potential users is crucial. Therefore, within the project HorizonUAM, we investigated passengers' acceptance of air taxis. One challenge is that not many people have real experiences with urban air mobility (UAM) at the moment and thus requirements formulated by potential users refer to rather abstract concepts. To allow participants to gain realistic impressions of UAM concepts, a Mixed Reality Air Taxi Simulator was set up. It allows participants to experience an inner-city business shuttle flight. A study with 30 participants assessed the information needs and the influence of another person on board on wellbeing in nominal situations (experiment 1) as well as one non-nominal situation (experiment 2). For the latter, participants experienced a re-routing of the flight due to an unavailability of landing sites at the vertidrome. During and after the flights, participants answered questionnaires and extensive interviews were conducted. The study produced first empirical data on relevant factors regarding interaction, information needs and comfort within an air taxi. The findings show that passengers want to be informed about intentions of the vehicle. The presence of a steward on board is not necessary but can increase wellbeing especially during non-nominal situations.Comment: 16 pages, 12 figures, 8 table

Assessment of Air Taxi Passenger Acceptance – Implementation and Initial Evaluation of a Mixed Reality Simulator

Urban air mobility paves new ways for public transport modalities like air taxis. To shape the operational concepts and the design of these air taxis, the acceptance and requirements of future passengers should be considered even in early stages of the development process. Within the HorizonUAM project, it is of interest to understand the effects of social presence, e.g. through on-board service personnel, on perceived comfort. These results help to develop concepts, how fully or mainly autonomous operations can be achieved that are accepted by users. As part of HorizonUAM, an air taxi simulator was implemented to assess the aforementioned passenger acceptance with regard to defined key criteria like presence of on-board personnel or amount of presented information. To create an experience that is as close to a real air taxi flight as possible, recent advancements in head-mounted display technology facilitated the creation of a mixed reality simulation. Mixed reality combines advantages of full-flight simulators like human collaboration and use of analog instruments with those of virtual reality simulators that are cost-effective, highly immersive devices for rapid prototyping. This paper reports on the work conducted to define and design such a mixed reality simulation to investigate factors of passenger acceptance. First, functional requirements that were defined for a first study of passenger interaction and comfort are presented, as well as the technical requirements that were derived. Additionally, mixed reality technology should be used for the novel simulator to enable high flexibility. Second, as numerable different setups of mixed reality were possible with state-of-the-art technology, four different setups were compared in a pre-study against each other. The empirical results with regards to experienced immersion are presented. Finally, the conclusion from this study regarding the final setup for the mixed reality simulation are presented

Can Urban Air Mobility become reality? Opportunities, challenges and selected research results

Urban Air Mobility (UAM) is a new air transportation system for passengers and cargo in urban environments, enabled by new technologies and integrated into multimodal transportation systems. The vision of UAM comprises the mass use in urban and suburban environments, complementing existing transportation systems and contributing to the decarbonization of the transport sector. Initial attempts to create a market for urban air transportation in the last century failed due to lack of profitability and community acceptance. Technological advances in numerous fields over the past few decades have led to a renewed interest in urban air transportation. UAM is expected to benefit users and to also have a positive impact on the economy by creating new markets and employment opportunities for manufacturing and operation of UAM vehicles and the construction of related ground infrastructure. However, there are also concerns about noise, safety and security, privacy and environmental impacts. Therefore, the UAM system needs to be designed carefully to become safe, affordable, accessible, environmentally friendly, economically viable and thus sustainable. This paper provides an overview of selected key research topics related to UAM and how the German Aerospace Center (DLR) contributed to this research in the project "HorizonUAM - Urban Air Mobility Research at the German Aerospace Center (DLR)". Selected research results that support the realization of the UAM vision are briefly presented.Comment: 20 pages, 7 figures, project HorizonUA

Dynamikanalyse einer 6-DOF-Motion-Plattform und Integration in eine VR-Hubschrauber-Simulationsumgebung

Die Simulation von Flügen zu Trainingszwecken geht zurück auf das frühe 20. Jahrhundert und ist somit so alt wie die bemannte Luftfahrt selbst. Damals wie heute spielt die Bewegungssimulation eine entscheidende Rolle bei der Reproduktion realistischer Flugsituationen. Während die Bewegung in den Pioniertagen durch Luftkissen erzeugt wurde, werden heutzutage mit Aktuatoren oder Hydraulik getriebene Bewegungsplattformen verwendet, die sich deutlich in ihren Bewegungsräumen unterscheiden. Die vorliegende Arbeit präsentiert eine derartige Bewegungsplattform und dokumentiert die Einrichtung als einen Virtual-Reality-Helikoptersimulator, um die Leistungsfähigkeit moderner Helikopter-Pilotenassistenzsysteme, wie kopfgetragene Nicht-Durchsicht-Displays, unter dem zusätzlichen Bewegungseinfluss testen zu können. Neben der Einrichtung eines Pilotenarbeitsplatzes auf der Bewegungsplattform wurde auch die Bewegungsdynamik unter Berücksichtigung des Testalgorithmus der NATO AGARD untersucht. Die Auswertung der Messungen ergab, dass die Systemgrenzen keine Zertifizierung zum Einsatz als Full-Flight-Simulator ermöglichen. Die operationellen Grenzen des Systems zeigen, dass Bewegungen kleiner Amplituden (50 mm bzw. 5°) bis 1 Hz möglich sind und größere Amplituden (100 mm bzw. 10°) noch bei Frequenzen von 0,5 Hz abgebildet werden können. Der dynamische Schwellwert liegt im Bereich von 0,3 bis 0,7 Sekunden. Weiterhin wurde ein Algorithmus zur VR-Bewegungskompensation implementiert und dessen qualitative Fähigkeiten unter realen Nutzungsbedingungen untersucht. Die verschiedenen Geschwindigkeits- und Beschleunigungskompensationsmodi des Algorithmus zeigen Abweichungen von circa 4 mm in den translatorischen und 0,2° in den rotatischen Bewegungsrichtungen. Jedoch konnte kein signifikanter Unterschied in der Kompensationsleistung zwischen den vier getesteten Modi festgestellt werden. Eine tiefergehende Analyse der Bewegungskompensation wäre daher von Vorteil