The Design of Pilot Cueing for the Degraded Visual Environment Mitigation (DVE-M) System for Rotorcraft

The Degraded Visual Environment Mitigation (DVE-M) program was initiated to develop and evaluate numerous technologies that would enable rotorcraft to intentionally operate in poor visibility conditions. The goal was to provide recommendations to the Future Vertical Lift program and to various upgrade programs of the existing fleet of military rotorcraft. The DVE-M program was implemented by the U.S. Army Combat Capabilities Development Command Aviation and Missile Center (DEVCOM AvMC). Technologies developed and evaluated fell into one of three categories: 1) sensors and sensor fusion, 2) pilot cueing, 3) flight control and guidance. These technologies were integrated to work together to enable the pilot to operate in DVE. This paper focuses on the design of the cueing system only. It discusses reasons for the design choices and lessons learned. This paper also provides an overview of the flight demonstrations and simulations conducted for background.