Summary4

From EQUIS Lab Wiki

spatial disorientation contributes to the rate of fatal aviation accidents. SD occurs as a result of perceptial errors attributed in part to inefficient presentation of synthetic orientation cues when external visual conditions are poor

goal: explore several display concepts that may contribute to improved attitude display.

specifically: effectiveness of various display sizes, some that are used in current and some that are anticipated in future attitude displays that may incorporate Synthetic Vision Systems (SVS) concepts, was assessed. In addition, a concept known as an extended horizon line or Malcolm Horizon (MH) was applied and evaluated. Paired with the MH, the novel concept of a fixed reference line representing the central horizontal plane of the aircraft was also tested. Subjects’ performance on an attitude control task and secondary math workload task was measured across the various display sizes and conditions.

results: bigger is better. better performance with larger display sizes. the extended or MH seemed to equalize attitude performance across display sizes.

peripheral vision is the dominant and most efficient mode of spatial orientation problems occur when external conditions (such as clouds etc) hinder the peripheral vision

Spatial disorientation (SD) is defined as an "erroneous sense of one's position and motion relative to the plane of the earth's surface,"

The Malcolm Horizon is a line of light, projected onto the instrument panel, which extends the attitude indicator’s artificial horizon into the pilot’s periphery.

As a workload reduction device, the MH permits the pilot to perform better on other duties because peripheral vision detects movements of the extended MH even when the pilot’s attention is directed away from the attitude indicator