ONERA, through its Cognitive Engineering and Applied Neuroscience unit (ICNA), conducts cognitive engineering activities for the development of new Human/System Interaction (HSI) concepts for managing complex systems or operations.
The study of human-system interactions necessarily involves putting the human operator in realistic conditions. Therefore, these studies rely on the ability to simulate the real world, prototype innovative interaction modes, and characterize the impact of these new interaction modes on the performance of the human-machine couple.
Handling the most rigorous training requirements
To meet the requirements of these various studies, ONERA decided to install a flight simulator incorporating a research cockpit for large aircraft (such as the Airbus A320 or A350) to immerse the human operator in an environment as close as possible to the real thing.
The brand-new simulator – called SCHEMAX – includes a bespoke 5m long and 2.7m high cylindrical composite screen with a 220 x 45 degrees field-of-view (FOV). This is powered by three Barco FL40-4K projectors with 3D capabilities that are designed from the ground up to handle the simulation environment’s most rigorous training requirements, and which immerses the human operator in a realistic environment.
The team also selected auto-calibration blending and warping. Pilot and co-pilot have separate and dynamic point-of-views (POV), as well as head and hand-tracking. For night-time simulation, integrated optical blending, tracking, and active 3D glasses are used.
