An interactive virtual environment for training map-readings skill in helicopter pilots
By: by Timothy D. McLean
Publisher: Naval Postgraduate School; Available from National Technical Information Service
Published: 1999
Place of publication: Monterey, Calif; Springfield, Va
Language: eng
Number of pages: 108
Description: Currently, Student Naval Aviators are trained to interpret 1:50,000 scale contour maps by watching VHS videotapes. These tapes show a helicopter moving about twice its normal speed over desert terrain. Primarily due to the lack of interactivity in these videos, students often make mistakes very early in the videotaped flight. The helicopter does not stop until the tape is over, hence, the training evolution quickly becomes useless because students usually make mistakes during the first minute of the tape and are unable to recover or to learn from those mistakes. Based on a previous study at the Naval Postgraduate School, a training system that utilizes virtual environment technology was developed that is compliant with the Information for the 21st Century (IT-21) initiative. The system was built using a Windows NT / Intel (Wintel) based computer along with three 24-inch monitors to train the tasks of map interpretation and terrain association. This desktop system was fielded at Helicopter Antisubmarine Squadron 10 (HS-10) for experimentation. Results of this experiment indicate that student pilots who received VE training performed the navigation task better in the helicopter than students who received only conventional training. Also, an IT-21 Wintel based computer is capable of rendering a graphically intensive multi-monitor application at frame rates suitable for training.
Notes: "September 1999".

Thesis advisor(s): Rudolph P. Darken.

Thesis (M.S. in Computer Science) Naval Postgraduate School, September 1999.

Includes bibliographical references (p. 87-89).

Approved for public release; distribution unlimited.

Also Available online.

Mode of access: World Wide Web.

System Requirements: Adobe Acrobat reader.

US Marine Corps (USMC) author.

dk/dk cc:9116 6/26/00