Evaluation of Candidate Millimeter Wave Sensors for Synthetic Vision

The goal of the Synthetic Vision Technology Demonstration Program was to demonstrate and document the capabilities of current technologies to achieve safe aircraft landing, take off, and ground operation in very low visibility conditions. Two of the major thrusts of the program were (1) sensor evaluation in measured weather conditions on a tower overlooking an unused airfield and (2) flight testing of sensor and pilot performance via a prototype system. The presentation first briefly addresses the overall technology thrusts and goals of the program and provides a summary of MMW sensor tower-test and flight-test data collection efforts. Data analysis and calibration procedures for both the tower tests and flight tests are presented. The remainder of the presentation addresses the MMW sensor flight-test evaluation results, including the processing approach for determination of various performance metrics (e.g., contrast, sharpness, and variability). The variation of the very important contrast metric in adverse weather conditions is described. Design trade-off considerations for Synthetic Vision MMW sensors are presented.