Tactile Cueing for PIO Avoidance in Manned and Unmanner Air Vehicles

Flight test experience shows that for highly-agile controllers, pilots who do not -induced oscillations (PIOs) due to actuator rate limits and other system lags. The problem is further exacerbated in remotely-piloted vehicles where pilots lack the physical cues that assist in self-limiting. Recent research has developed techniques for anticipating and avoiding actuator saturation by limiting pilot commands. While automated command-limiting prevents multivariable integrator windup, it does not change the response perceived by the pilot and may not eliminate PIO. Recent piloted-simulation experiments conducted by the U.S. Army and BAI in the Verticle Motion Simulator at NASA Ames Laboratory, demonstrated that the combination of a computational means for anticipating limits and tactile pilot cueing via stick-force feedback or stick shaking resulted in pilots being able to accomplish difficult maneuvers more aggressively, with less pilot workload, and less time spent operating at limit conditions. In the proposed Phase I SBIR program, BAI shall investigate the extent to which automatically-computed command limits can be fed back to the pilot via force-reflecting input devices for the mitigation of saturation-induced PIO for both piloted and remotely-piloted vehicles.