A New Multi-Channel Pilot Model Identification Method for Use in Assessment of Simulator Fidelity

For simulator fidelity research, insight into pilot control behaviour is an important tool. As pilots use multiple cues for the perception of self-motion, the control behaviour can be described with multi-channel pilot models. For identification of these models in the frequency domain a method using Fourier Coefficients is commonly used. In this paper an identification method using MISO ARX models is introduced and compared with the previous method using simulations. This method explicitly accounts for the remnant of the pilot, yielding continuous estimates of the pilot describing functions with lower variance. It is shown that this results in better estimates of the cross-over frequencies, phase margins and pilot model parameters. The forcing functions are subject to fewer constraints and are not required to be multi-sine signals commonly used in human operator research.