Development and evaluation of a new airspeed information system utilizing airborne Doppler LIDAR

Abstract

We have developed a prototype of a new air speed information system leveraging the technological advance of a practical airborne Doppler Light Detection and Ranging (LIDAR). The proposed system uses the LIDAR to sense wind speeds up to several tens of seconds ahead of an aircraft in real time, and uses the data to provide predictive airspeed information called L-PSPD (LIDAR-based predicted airspeed indicator) and a target approach speed called a L-TSPD (LIDAR-based target airspeed indicator) to the pilot via a newly designed cockpit display and/or directly to the autothrottle system. A series of piloted evaluations was carried out by flight simulator and flight test to verify the effectiveness of the system. The results indicate that the proposed system improved airspeed control performance and reduced workload during approaches under windshear and turbulent conditions. We obtained the advantages and disadvantages of each proposed display from subjective evaluation data and objective workload data from visual secondary task performance, electroencephalogram (EEG), electrocardiogram (ECG) and eye recorder.