Authors:
Khaled Fellah
and
Mohamed Guiatni
Affiliation:
Ecole Militaire Polytechnique and Bordj El Bahri, Algeria
Keyword(s):
Tactile Feedback, Fuzzy Logic Controller (FLC), Pilot’s Visual Channel Satuation, Inverse Dynamic, Flight Simulation, Xplane, Tactors.
Related
Ontology
Subjects/Areas/Topics:
Engineering Applications
;
Force and Tactile Sensors
;
Informatics in Control, Automation and Robotics
;
Intelligent Components for Control
;
Intelligent Control Systems and Optimization
;
Real-Time Systems Control
;
Robotics and Automation
;
Signal Processing, Sensors, Systems Modeling and Control
;
System Modeling
Abstract:
Visual channel dominates the design of the cockpit, and auditory channel is progressively being used as well.
However, tactile displays are almost abstract in the cockpit designs. Whereas, many research proved that
several applications exist where the tactile displays may become an important or even essential choice. This is
due to the fact that the visual feedback is not suitable, not adequate, or surcharged and that the visual attention
is usually limited to a simple entity. In this paper, we propose a design of a low-cost tactile feedback system
to provide the pilot with better insight in the flight path and prevent limitations during flight. In the first part
of the paper, we develop an effective control strategy based on inverse dynamic to solve the problems of use
of the low-cost tactors. The obtained results showed reduction of 48 % in settling time. The second part
describes the use of Fuzzy Logic Controllers (FLC) to compute a new form of tactile output of the translation
of
a pertinent flight data information and flight envelope to vibrotactile feedback signals. And in the last part,
we develop a wireless (and USB) vibrotactile feedback device consisting of 16 embedded tactors controlled
with an inverse dynamic strategy via an arm Cortex M3 architecture. Pilots equipped with the developed tactile
display were capable of successfully flying in a simulator. They confirm that tactile feedback is an interesting
way of feeding back information about the airplane’s state, in order to give a better understanding of what the
airplane is doing during controlled flight.
(More)