Image to right: The cockpit of NASA's Gulfstream GV aircraft with experimental Synthetic Vision Systems displays installed. Image credit: NASA Langley Research Center/Jeff Caplan

After several years of development, the Synthetic Vision Systems (SVS) Project shifted into flight testing. The Gulfstream-V research team flew 59 flights in a two-month period so that test pilots could use the innovative, computer-generated, sensor-derived cockpit display to fly in low visibility conditions. In FY 2005, the SVS was tested on a Boeing 757 commercial jet.

These flight tests—the first nationally successful demonstration of a highly integrated synthetic vision system—indicated that a pilot's flight technical error and situation awareness were improved by 150 percent with the use of the SVS. SVS gives pilots a clear, electronic three-dimensional perspective of conditions and objects outside the cockpit, no matter the weather or time of day. It combines GPS satellite signals with an on-board photo-realistic database to paint a picture of terrain for the crew.

Project partner Chelton Flight Systems has since developed the system for the commercial aviation market. SVS is flying in hundreds of small planes across the United States and abroad, and has received numerous certifications in FY 2005 from small aircraft manufacturers for use in their aircraft. It was used aboard the Virgin Atlantic Global Flyer during its record-breaking, non-stop flight around the world in late winter 2005. NASA and Chelton continue to refine the system for use on commercial airlines.

Synthetic Vision Systems Team
NASA Langley Research Center, Rockwell Collins, Ohio University, Jeppesen, Rannoch Corporation, American Airlines, United Airlines, University of Colorado, Gulfstream, The Boeing Company, FAA, BAE Systems, Nav3D Corporation, RTI, Chelton Flight Systems