Design and development of a Flight Deck Motion Display system

Shipboard launch and recovery of maritime helicopters is difficult and dangerous, particularly in elevated sea conditions. Typically, during the aircraft hover and landing phases, a Landing Signals Officer (LSO), among other responsibilities, monitors ship motions from a position close to the flight deck and communicates the state of deck quiescence to the pilot. This thesis presents the design and development of a Flight Deck Motion Display (FDMD) system that has been developed for use by navies to improve the safety and efficiency of helicopter/ship operations. It does this by displaying critical motion parameters using an ergonomically engineered user interface that has been designed to be compatible with data priorities of ship deck and helicopter operators. This user interface features a novel quiescent period indicator, which allows an operator to in one glance, determine the current state of the ship, which motions dominate that state, and combined with the operator's own experience, improve ability to determine whether the flight deck is tending towards or away from quiescence.;The FDMD hardware configuration has been designed to be a four-component system with two sensors and two computers providing operating redundancy and backup. It can also be reconfigured as a two-component system for demonstration and evaluation purposes, or expanded to any number of computers and sensors.;The FDMD software has been meticulously engineered to support multiple hardware and software configurations. Future expansion of the software has been facilitated by its modular design, and stability has been emphasized to ensure reliability at critical times.;A user interface evaluation took place with the cooperation of 12 Wing, Shearwater and the results provided valuable insight into the role the FDMD should play in helicopter operations, as well as the appearance and behaviour of the quiescent period indicator.