Mid-Air Haptics in Aviation -- creating the sensation of touch where there is nothing but thin air

TL;DR

This paper explores the potential of mid-air haptic technology to enhance pilot training and flight deck interfaces by providing touch sensations in mid-air, aiming to improve immersion, reduce reliance on physical controls, and enable flexible cockpit layouts.

Contribution

It introduces the application of mid-air haptics in aviation, proposing how gesture-based interfaces combined with haptic feedback can revolutionize pilot training and cockpit design.

Findings

Mid-air haptics can simulate tactile feedback without physical contact.

Gesture recognition combined with haptics enhances pilot interaction.

Potential for flexible, reprogrammable cockpit interfaces.

Abstract

The exciting new technology known as mid-air haptics has been adopted by several industries including Automotive and Entertainment, however it has yet to emerge in simulated pilot training or in real-life flight decks. Full-flight simulators are expensive to manufacture, maintain and operate. Not only that, each simulator is limited to one aircraft type, which is inefficient for the majority of airlines that have several in service. With the growing trend in touchscreen instrumentation, cockpit displays require the pilot's attention to be drawn away from their view out of the window. But by using gesture recognition interfaces combined with mid-air haptic feedback, we can mitigate this shortcoming while also adding another dimension to the existing technology for pilots already familiar with using legacy cockpits, complete with traditional instrumentation. Meanwhile, simulation environments using augmented and virtual reality technology offers quality immersive training to the extent that pilots can go from hundreds of hours of simulated training to being responsible for hundreds of lives on their very first flight. The software re-programmability and dynamic richness afforded by mid-air haptic technologies combined with a basic full-motion platform could allow for an interchange of instrumentation layouts thus enhancing simulation immersiveness and environments. Finally, by borrowing and exploring concepts within the automotive sector, this concept paper presents how flight deck design could evolve by adopting this technology. If pilot testimony suggests that they can adapt to virtual objects, can this replace physical controls?