Exploring a Chromakeyed Augmented Virtual Environment for Viability as an Embedded Training System for Military Helicopters

Once the military helicopter pilot deploys aboard a naval vessel he leaves behind all training platforms, short of the actual aircraft, that present enough fidelity for him to maintain the highest levels of readiness. To that end, this thesis takes a preliminary step in creating a trainer that places the pilot in an immersive and familiar environment to exercise myriad piloting tasks as faithfully and as rigorously as in actual flight. The focus of this thesis it to assess the viability of an chromakeyed augmented virtual environment (ChrAVE) trainer embedded into a helicopter for use in maintaining certain perishable skills. Specifically this thesis will address the task of helicopter low-level land navigation. The ChrAVE was developed to substantiate the viability of having embedded trainers in helicopters. The ChrAVE is comprised of commercial off the shelf (COTS) equipment on a transportable cart. In determining whether a system such as the ChrAVE is viable as a laboratory for continued training in virtual environment, the opinion of actual pilots that were tasked with realistic workloads was used. Additionally, empirical data was collected and evaluated according to the subject pool's thresholds for acceptable low-level navigation performance.Naval Postgraduate School Monterey CA is the author of 'Exploring a Chromakeyed Augmented Virtual Environment for Viability as an Embedded Training System for Military Helicopters', published 2004 under ISBN 9781423518099 and ISBN 1423518098.