Sensitivity of Pilot Biodynamic Feedthrough to Boundary Avoidance Tracking Task Complexity

Helicopters are employed in challenging operations that require close ground proximity, where simultaneous objectives for pilots include target tracking and obstacle avoidance, referred to as point tracking and boundary avoidance tasks. Vibrations further complicate these objectives. This study uses a simplified piloted simulation experiment on a vibration-capable platform to investigate point tracking and boundary avoidance tasks for helicopters. The effects of various task conditions, namely, boundary width and vibration direction, on the subjects’ tracking error and biodynamic feedthrough were analyzed. The findings indicate that the subjects exhibited lower tracking errors when operating within narrower boundaries, regardless of the presence of the vibration used for biodynamic feedthrough identification. Additionally, while different task difficulties did not significantly affect most parameters of the identified biodynamic feedthrough model, the gain parameter was notably impacted, with more challenging tasks involving narrower boundaries resulting in lower gains.