Predicting Pilot Performance, Workload and Handling Qualities using SCOPE
Publication Date
1-1-2023
Document Type
Conference Proceeding
Publication Title
2023 VFS Handling Qualities Technical Meeting
Abstract
The Cooper-Harper scale provides a structured approach to assessing handling qualities. It employs a decision tree structure usings various descriptors whose meaning and practical application could be misunderstood or overlooked. In this scale the term 'pilot compensation' is a key discriminator, but its definition, as offered by Cooper and Harper, is weakly defined and difficult to quantify. Previous research on estimating Handling Qualities Rating (HQR) from flight data typically focused on correlating pilot-vehicle performance measures with the HQR ratings. The approach presented in this work estimates workload and HQRs by establishing baseline workload levels for a given task using reference vehicle command dynamics. These baseline levels are generated by the Spare Capacity OPerator Estimator (SCOPE), which estimates workload with a model of pilot neuromuscular feedback, a cost function that captures pilot behavior, and the stick-to-disturbance sensitivity transfer function. Using the baseline workload levels and the original definitions found in the HQR scale, quantitative values from SCOPE are mapped to the HQR descriptors 'compensation' and 'controllability'. The proposed approach allows designers to predict task performance and provide diagnostic and prognostic workload and HQR capability. A piloted simulation study using two Future Vertical Lift-relevant rotorcraft configurations (a lift offset coaxial helicopter with a pusher propeller and a tiltrotor) was conducted. SCOPE's predictive performance and HQR estimates for the study's pitch attitude capture and hold task compared favorably with the actual pilot performance and ratings. SCOPE did not employ pilot data for calibrating its estimates.
Funding Sponsor
San José State University
Department
Research Foundation
Recommended Citation
Edward Bachelder, Bimal Aponso, and Tom Berger. "Predicting Pilot Performance, Workload and Handling Qualities using SCOPE" 2023 VFS Handling Qualities Technical Meeting (2023).
