Overview

The Crew-Vehicle Systems Research Facility (CVSRF) is an unparalleled national resource that supports NASA, the FAA, and many industry research programs. Designed to provide researchers with an environment where they can study how and why aviation errors occur, CVSRF stands out in the area of human factors research. Our goal is to offer researchers a suite of simulation facilities and utilities that can be used to analyze flight crew performance and to develop and improve new simulation and training tools.

CVSRF houses several simulators capable of full-mission simulation. These simulators interact with each other (as well as with other SimLabs facilities) by means of a High Level Architecture (HLA), allowing for enormous flexibility and customization. Using CVSRF’s highly sophisticated simulators (the Boeing 747-400, the Advanced Concepts Flight Simulator, and the Air Traffic Control (ATC) Laboratory), researchers are able to study the effects of automation and advanced instrumentation on human performance.

CVSRF’s flight simulators have six-degree-of-freedom motion capability and built-in data collection capabilities – great benefit to researchers conducting real-time simulations.

An important focus at CVSRF includes the testing and evaluation of new flight systems and technologies. We have the capability to evaluate modern air traffic control procedures and define specialized criteria for the future of aviation using real-time and non-real-time full-mission simulation–with or without a human in the loop.

The ability to conduct high-fidelity, full-mission simulations transforms the experience for the pilot and flight crew from one of simply flying the aircraft on its own to a fully interactive process in which the crew can engage in “gate-to-gate” procedures and communications with a variety of ATC controllers and scenarios. CVSRF’s capacity to perform such high-fidelity simulations sets us apart from other testing facilities.

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