So You Want to Fly Remotely Operated Vehicles in Civil Approach Air Space

Abstract

A distributed simulation was conducted between the Flight Deck Display Research Laboratory (FDDRL) of NASA Ames Research Center and the Center for the Study of Advanced Aeronautic Technologies (CSAAT) at California State University, Long Beach to assess the feasibility of flying ROVs in busy terminal environments with commercial traffic. Pilots with glass cockpit experience were recruited to fly one or two ROVs in simulated airspace over water reservoirs near DFW airport, with the major goal of avoiding the approach traffic. Results showed that pilots had a difficult time patrolling the lake without losing separation from the approach traffic. However, their performance did improve with practice. The commercial pilots' performance in our study suggested that ROV operations in busy terminal airspace were feasible and that they would be comfortable operating in the airspace jointly with ROVs. Strategies for control of a single or multiple ROVs are discussed.