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NASA test aircraft
visits Wright Patterson AFB
base for flight test of new
Ascension helmet tracker.
By John Schutte,
AFRL/HE
WRIGHT-PATTERSON
AIR FORCE BASE, Ohio – September
12, 2005 - The Air
Force Research Laboratory’s
Helmet Mounted Sensory Technology
team hosted a visit here Thursday
showcasing NASA’s DHC-6 Twin
Otter test-bed aircraft.
The HMST team and the NASA
flight-test team are conducting
a series of test flights for
Ascension’s newest optical
head-tracker system being
evaluated by the HMST team.
HMST is part of the AFRL Human
Effectiveness Directorate.
While at Wright-Patterson,
the NASA crew hosted approximately
50 base personnel who toured
the aircraft and learned more
about Ascension’s phasorBIRD
and the services NASA offers
in test planning and in-flight
test support.
To conduct flight tests, the
HMST team specified the modifications
needed to the Twin Otter,
which included the replacement
of the left-side aft cargo
doors with a clear acrylic
panel that closely matches
the optical characteristics
of a cockpit windshield. The
panel was modified so that
flying the aircraft at 9,000
feet in bright sunshine would
mimic the exposure the system
would received at 40,000 in
a fighter cockpit.
“Working with the HMST team
from Wright-Patterson was
refreshing,” said Mr. Ernst.
“The close proximity allowed
us to turn their test requirements
into a reality very quickly.
They came up and articulated
what they needed on the aircraft
while our fabricators were
on hand to give their design
input. Trying to do this completely
via teleconferences and e-mail
would have added months to
this program.”
The NASA crew is supporting
the in-flight evaluation of
the phasorBIRD™ head tracker
system, which is under development
by Ascension Technology Corp.
of Burlington, VT,
The goal is to improve head-tracker
systems currently employed
on various aircraft, according
to Mike Sedillo, AFRL principal
investigator for the program.
The test flights will assess
the vulnerability of the optical
head-tracker system to environmental
conditions, such as ambient
light and vibrations experienced
in a dynamic flight environment,
said Mr. Sedillo.
Mr. Sedillo praised NASA and
Ascension’s contributions
to the optical head tracker
system testing, which included
helping with the test planning,
analyzing sun angles and determining
the optimum time of day for
conducting test flights.
AFRL test engineers were most
interested in replicating
a realistic fighter cockpit
environment for testing the
optical tracker, including
ambient light level, vibration,
atmospheric light diffusion
and sun angles. These were
essential considerations necessary
to fairly and accurately assess
the performance of the phasorBird™
system, Mr. Sedillo explained.
NASA engineers and technicians
played a key role in the calculations
and analysis that defined
the test setup.
Preliminary flight test data
demonstrates that phasorBIRD’s
accuracy and noise level are
unaffected when its detectors
are exposed to full sunlight
at altitude. A full flight
test report is in preparation.
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Mike Sedillo (left), principal
investigator for the Air
Force Research Lab’s optical
head-tracker system program,
and Vlad Kogan, senior
engineer with Ascension
Technology Corp, explain
the head-tracker test
configuration for Wright-Patterson
Air Force Base personnel
following a third successful
flight test.
(Photo by Chris Gulliford,
AFRL/HEOR) |
Contact: Jack Scully (802)
893-6657 or e-mail: jscully@ascension-tech.com
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