Motion Fidelity Requirements for Helicopter-Ship Operations in Maritime Rotorcraft Flight Simulators

The research presented in this paper is part of a longer-term project to develop overall fidelity requirements for simulated helicopter shipboard operations to inform and support first-of-class flight trials. The paper reports the results of motion cueing assessment and optimization research, conducted in a six-degree-of-freedom motion flight simulator, to develop simulator motion drive laws capable of providing high-fidelity motion cueing for simulated shipboard operations. To do this, a novel objective technique, vestibular motion perception error (VMPE), has been developed. The technique was used to optimize the motion cues for simulated helicopter landings on a naval single-spot destroyer at different wind and sea-state conditions. New simulator motion tuning sets were derived offline and then tested experimentally to compare the objective VMPE predictions with subjective assessments from a test pilot. Results show the influence of different motion cues, airwake conditions, and ship motion states on the pilot's overall perception of self-motion, control strategy, task performance, and workload. It was found that high-fidelity motion cueing becomes more desirable for the pilot at higher wind conditions and sea states, for which an "Optimized" motion setting was obtained using the new technique. Moreover, the use of an "Optimized" motion setting generated by the VMPE methodology resulted in reduced pilot workload, leading to improved simulated maritime helicopter operational capability. The technique provides a rational methodology for motion tuning, which could be applied in training and engineering simulators.