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A rating scale for the subjective assessment of simulation fidelity

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  27 January 2016

P. Perfect*
Affiliation:
University of Liverpool, Liverpool, UK
E. Timson
Affiliation:
University of Liverpool, Liverpool, UK
M. D. White
Affiliation:
University of Liverpool, Liverpool, UK
G. D. Padfield
Affiliation:
University of Liverpool, Liverpool, UK
R. Erdos
Affiliation:
Flight Research Laboratory, National Research Council, Ottawa, Canada
A. W. Gubbels
Affiliation:
Flight Research Laboratory, National Research Council, Ottawa, Canada

Abstract

A new rating scale for capturing pilot subjective assessment of simulation fidelity is described in this paper. The scale has been developed through a series of flight and simulation trials using six test pilots from a variety of backgrounds, and is based on the methodology utilised with the Cooper-Harper Handling Qualities Rating scale and the concepts of transfer of training, comparative task performance and task strategy adaptation. The development of the new rating scale has been undertaken using simulations of rotary-wing aircraft on the University of Liverpool’s HELIFLIGHT-R research simulator, in conjunction with the Canadian Flight Research Laboratory’s Bell 412 ASRA in-flight simulator. The utility of the scale applied to locating fidelity boundaries for quantitative metrics is illustrated for an inter-axis coupling criterion. The work described in this paper is preliminary in nature, and research activities are on-going to continue the validation of the fidelity rating scale.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © Royal Aeronautical Society 2014 

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