Visual cueing for collision avoidance system

Abstract

The modern Traffic Alert and Collision Avoidance System (TCAS) used in airlines today is the TCAS II. It provides pilots with both Traffic Advisory (TA) and Resolution Advisory (RA) which in turn reduces the incidence of mid-air collisions. It was demonstrated that TCAS could provide safety and economy benefits for airlines nowadays. However, as the demand for commercial air travels increases, it exerted a considerable amount of strain on the current ‘traditional’ TCAS system. This is primarily due to the increase in competition for airspace. Trajectory-based TCAS systems have been proposed to overcome the emerging difficulties with collision avoidance. To date, TCAS systems only provide vertical 2D guidance for the aircraft, that is to say, that the pilot only receives a ‘Climb’ or ‘Descend’ indicator with minimalistic visual cues. The following thesis proposes a new visual cueing method which integrates 3D trajectory path planning for TCAS system. In general, Head-up Display (HUD) instrumentation provides the pilot with primary flight display, navigation and guidance information pertaining to the aircraft’s states. It is especially useful during the critical flight phases, such as approach, landing and manoeuvring. Furthermore, as the HUD is located in the direct front field of view, it allows the pilot to keep his her head up while performing special tasks. It has been demonstrated that the HUD adds a substantial safety benefit as well as mitigating pilot workload. Thus a conceptual HUD has been proposed and was used in this project, the developed TCAS manoeuvre display and conflict alerts were superimposed on HUD. A Boeing 747 aircraft model developed in the MATLAB Simulink environment has been integrated with a 3D trajectory-based TCAS system. Perspective projection techniques were addressed for TCAS resolution display and were developed in Java. The resolution display utilizes 3D tunnel-in-thesky concept as an advanced visual cue. TCAS traffic indications and aural announcements were implemented using Java and MATLAB respectively. The HUD concept was designed in the de-cluttered format in accordance with FAR 25.1321 SAE ARP5288 standards, and was also developed in Java language. It maximised compatibility with head down display. Finally, the impact of the developed visual cueing methods were discussed and assessed through scenario trials. This thesis presents an account of the work done within the scope. It underlines the main considerations of the design, how scenarios were implemented and their measurements. The research indicated that tunnel-in-the-sky was an appropriate display solution for trajectory-based collision avoidance. It has the advantage of presenting the predictive flight path in an intuitive and natural way.