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CEAS EuroGNC 2022

VIGA - Virtual Instructor for General Aviation
Wolfgang Rüther-Kindel Prof. Dr.-Ing., Head of Department of Aeronautical Engineering at Technical University of Applied Sciences Wildau, 15745 Wildau, Germany.
Gábor Csapó Dipl. Ing., Csapo Engineering, Große Gosenstraße 21, 06114 Halle, Germany.
Robert Vilter M.Eng., Scientific Assistant, Department of Aeronautical Engineering at Technical University of Applied Sciences Wildau, 15745 Wildau, Germany.
Fabian Quaeck M.Eng., Scientific Assistant, Department of Aeronautical Engineering at Technical University of Applied Sciences Wildau, 15745 Wildau, Germany.
Nick Stuckert M.Eng., Scientific Assistant, Department of Aeronautical Engineering at Technical University of Applied Sciences Wildau, 15745 Wildau, Germany.
Abstract:
The most common cause of incidents and accidents in aviation is linked to the category "Loss of Control Inflight". Remarkably in consequence this means that aircraft without any technical defect or such with manageable defects according to certification requirements are involved. The research project "Virtual Instructor for General Aviation" (VIGA) was aimed to validate an idea that addresses this problem by an entirely different approach. The idea can be best described by looking at the way a flight instructor takes decisions to intervene. A human pilot has an expectation of the maneuvers and the corresponding trajectories that can be flown in the future based on the present flight conditions. Decision making is based on the analysis of the consequences of the expectations. This approach is one of the key principles of the project, and is completely different to any known AFCS system. Yet technical implementation requires considerable effort. Essentially it comprises a faster than real time simulation with an adequately accurate aerodynamic model of the particular aircraft in combination with a module to evaluate the results of the simulated exit trajectories. In consequence this idea requires an autopilot module capable of tracking the calculated three-dimensional trajectories which then resulted in the need to design and develop a completely new type of autopilot algorithm. The objective of this project was to test and demonstrate principle functionality thereby also finding pathways determining future developments as well as to analyze system behavior. Therefore, the project was deliberately designed to help the pilot by depicting the solutions on the PFD. Direct intervention of the system with aircraft flight controls did not take place. This also raised the question of how to design an effective visual human interface. Fortunately, all results proved to be very satisfying. The underlying idea could be validated and was demonstrated both in a simulation environment and in flight test. The path tracking algorithm was developed in a parallel project and also showed very satisfactory results, meeting all requirements.
Keywords: VIGA; Simulation; General Aviation; Human Interface; Path Tracking Algorithm; Loss of Control; UPRT; EGPWS.
 View PDF CEAS-GNC-2022-055


Wolfgang Rüther-Kindel, Gábor Csapó, Robert Vilter, Fabian Quaeck, Nick Stuckert: VIGA - Virtual Instructor for General Aviation. Proceedings of the 2022 CEAS EuroGNC conference. Berlin, Germany. May 2022. CEAS-GNC-2022-055.
BibTeX entry:

@Incollection{CEAS-GNC-2022-055,
    authors = {Rüther-Kindel, Wolfgang and Csapó, Gábor and Vilter, Robert and Quaeck, Fabian and Stuckert, Nick},
    title = {VIGA - Virtual Instructor for General Aviation},
    booktitle = {Proceedings of the 2022 {CEAS EuroGNC} conference},
    address = {Berlin, Germany},
    month = may,
    year = {2022},
    note = {CEAS-GNC-2022-055}
}