EU-funded project to create smart autopilot

EU-funded project to create smart autopilot

Intelligent autopilot and cockpits designed by virtual reality could ease the burden on pilots and make flying safer for Europe’s airline passengers.

Figures show that 918 million passengers travelled by air in the EU in 2015. Flight safety is a key priority and researchers have now developed a digital co-pilot that can help to analyse risks and offer in-flight advice to pilots, while also monitoring their stress levels and workload.

A consortium of exerts from across the aerospace industry, including global giants Honeywell and the German Aerospace Centre (DLR), teamed up with research institutions on the EU-funded A-PiMod project to look at how sophisticated software could relieve stress in the cockpit.

The system makes recommendations based on the condition of the aircraft and the condition of the pilot.

By measuring eye movements, gestures and inputs from the pilot, A-PiMod draws conclusions about their stress levels, and offers suggestions to the pilot which are adapted to the situation.

The software cannot override the pilot’s decisions but can make suggestions about which tasks should be performed.

Dr Helmut Tobben of DLR said: “The pilots who tested the system were worried about the data the system collects about the performance of the pilots and whether it would be passed on to the airline,” but he is hopeful that those issues will be resolved.

Improved human-centred design is also at the heart of the EU-funded i-VISION project, which uses virtual reality technology to evaluate cockpit configuration.

The concept stemmed from European aircraft manufacturer Airbus’s wish to explore new flexible and low-cost tools for designing and evaluating aircraft cockpits.

Growing levels of new technology combined with new safety requirements and changing operational needs has meant the flight decks of airliners are becoming ever more complicated places for pilots.