VSAT

The objective of a training simulator is to teach the pilot the techniques and habit patterns that will needed for acceptable performance in the aircraft or to reinforce these techniques and habit patterns. For this reason, VSAT personnel have developed techniques for measuring simulator effectiveness based upon not only on how a pilot performs tasks in a simulator as compared to the aircraft, but also on how the behavioral techniques in performing these tasks compare to what is expected in the aircraft. This may include factors such as control performance and strategy, eye tracking, etc.

For at least two decades there has been efforts to measure transfer of training of flight simulators including subsystems such as cockpit motion and visual. Measuring transfer of training of a simulator is possible by comparing performance of individuals who are given simulator training with a those who were not given simulator training. The difficulty is that it is extremely difficult to determine how the performance of the different simulator subsystems contribute to the training both in a positive manner and in some cases in a negative way.

For any task, there is a unique set of critical cues a pilot uses to accomplish the task in the aircraft. These cues are highly task dependent and may even be aircraft type dependent in many cases. Also, for any such task, there are a great number of associated cues available to the pilot. Some are critical to task performance in the aircraft, some may reinforce these critical cues, while others may be redundant or even superfluous. Pilots are very adaptable creatures. If the cues in a simulator that they would normally use in the aircraft are not available, the pilot will find others in order to accomplish the task. This normally does not result in optimal performance and may even require different control strategies, but the job usually gets done. Obviously, this is also not optimal for training, since the pilot is simply learning to fly the simulator rather than the aircraft. Even so, some training may be provided, since some valid procedures and habit patterns may be learned and/or reinforced.

In 1998, VSAT personnel developed a method for evaluating the effectiveness of various force cueing devices in a flight simulator. The concept included measurement of pilot behavior, performance, physiology and subjective pilot opinion to evaluate system effectiveness. A trial force evaluation was conducted in a fighter simulator to validate the method including identifying which pilot behaviors could best be measured and how the data could be collected and analyzed. This effort was reported in ASC-TR-2000-5001 . entitled "Development and Validation of a Method of Evaluating the Effectiveness of Fighter Aircraft Simulation Force Cueing Devices."

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Last modified: September 27, 2006