DLR's Flying Helicopter Simulator (ACT/FHS) is a modified EC135 helicopter that can simulate other aircraft in real flight. In myCopter it was used to investigate the flight dynamics and human-machine interface of a future PAV. The cockpit was equipped with a highway-in-the-sky display and a steering wheel for intuitive car-like control. This is the first helicopter to be flown with steering wheel.
 
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We combined a Highway-in-the-sky displays with a haptic shared control framework to assist a non-expert pilot with force guidance cues during a flight through a tunnel trajectory. We have shown that this combination provides an easy-to-use control interface for flying a PAV. Participant could experience this themselves in a fixed-base simulator.
 
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Automation of take-off and landing relies on accurate knowledge of variables, such as the position, velocity and orientation of the vehicle. While GPS is a popular sensor choice in open spaces, it suffers from accuracy issues in urban environments. We therefore use cameras to estimate both the state of the vehicle and its surrounding obstacles. The demo showed a Micro Aerial Vehicle (MAV) that solely uses a camera system for stabilization and navigation. It can be steered by an untrained pilot with a joystick, while it avoids crashing into obstacles.
 
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We performed a multi-MAV collision avoidance experiment. After takeoff, all MAV were placed on a colliding course. We showed the effect of our strategy where every MAV computes a collision-free trajectory by itself based only on locally available information.
 
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