Education & Training Knowledge Mgmt & Discovery Planning & Scheduling Decision Support Computer Security & Reliability
 
OMIA: Simulation-based Training for Helicopter Cockpit Operations


Customer U.S. Navy
Users Helicopter crew members and their instructors at HSC-3 and HSM-41 at Naval Air Station North Island and HSC-2 at Norfolk.
Need The Common Cockpit design used by the Navy’s new MH-60S and MH-60R helicopters includes all the flight and mission instrumentation. It enables the pilot and co-pilot to share workload through dual flight and mission instrumentation; and to work with the Sensor Operator in the MH-60R. The Navy needed a flexible training system that could function as a part-task trainer for general functionality, simulate multiple seats in a helicopter as part of a Mission Avionics Subsystem Trainer, as well as be expandable to support in-depth training in particular subsystems.
Solution For more than eight years the US Navy's PMA-205 in conjunction with Stottler Henke has developed/deployed/updated a flexible, low-cost PC-hosted crew trainer for the Navy’s new MH-60S (Sierra) and MH-60R (Romeo) helicopters called the Operator Machine Interface Assistant (OMIA).

The core OMIA is a standalone Java program that operates under any standard Windows XP/Vista/7 or Linux computer that includes a Java Runtime Environment. The standalone OMIA is a part-task trainer for the Common Cockpit, including the Mission Display, Flight Display, Center Console’s Fixed Function and Programmable Keys, and the CMP & RCU units. A powerful naval environment symbol controls the platforms visible outside of the helicopter, configurable via a scenario authoring tool. OMIA also supports integration with flight simulator software to provide an optional ‘out the window’ view. The core OMIA supports three training configurations: Sierra Pilot, Romeo Pilot, and Romeo Sensor Operator.

There are two additional training areas currently supported by OMIA: FLIR and Acoustic. These areas add functionality to the core system described above.

The FLIR functionality allows OMIA to function as a FLIR trainer. The FLIR user mainly controls the FLIR operation via a Hand-Control Unit (HCU). OMIA can interface with a Navy-developed portable HCU that uses the actual helicopters HCU via USB, with a lower-cost HCU developed from simulator-grade components via USB, or with a software version of the HCU.

The Acoustic functionality supports in-depth acoustic systems training. In this configuration OMIA connects to the helicopters acoustic processor and realistically plays back recorded sonar data. Currently, this configuration is directed at the dipping sonar only, with sonobouy support planned in the near future.

Status OMIA is currently used in the Navy's fleet training program for MH-60R and MH-60S helicopter crews. In addition, it is used to familiarize maintenance crews with the new MH-60S cockpit. OMIA is available to all crewmembers at land and at sea.
Additional
information
Screenshots: simulated flight display, mission display, and key pad

Video demonstrations: Windows Media Video (WMV)

MH-60S and MH-60R - Flying with MS Flight Simulator 2MB, 1 min
Demonstration of MH-60R Sensor Operator Training 2MB, 3 mins
Demonstration of MH-60R Sensor Operator Intelligent Tutoring 5MB, 2 mins

Video demonstrations: AVI video with TSCC Codec


2007 IEEE Aerospace Conference paper: PC Rapid Modification Tool for Aircraft Experimentation & Training for the MH-60S/MH-60R Helicopters.

2006 International Conference on Cognitive Modeling paper: Comparing Helicopter Interfaces with CogTool.

AVSIM 2002 paper: Common Cockpit Helicopter Training Simulator.

I/ITSEC 2001 paper: A Common Cockpit Training System 





Copyright © 2002 Stottler Henke Associates, Inc. All rights reserved.