Abstract

The visual glide slope indicator is a system of lights so arranged to provide visual descent guidance information during the approach to a runway. Now the precision approach path indicator(PAPI) is used in most airports as a visual glide slope indicator. The PAPI has little compatibility with the judgement of the above and the below due to horizontal arrangement. Therefore, it is difficult to judge intuitively the above and the below with the PAPI. To improve this weakness, we suggest a vertical-precision approach path indicator (V-PAPI), and try to evaluate if it is more efficient than the PAPI. In experiment 1, the stimuli of PAPI and V-PAPI were repeatedly presented to ordinary subjects, who didn`t have any experience of the PAPI. The subject responded with a vertical arranged button press to the stimuli, and event-related potentials(ERP) recordings obtained from Fz, Cz, and Pz. As a result of behaviroral response, there was no significant difference at a response time of button press between the PAPI and the V-PAPI, but response error of the V-PAPI were less than that of the PAPI. In the ERP analyses, there was no difference at the latency of P300 between the PAPI and the V-PAPI, but V-PAPI P300 amplitude was larger than the PAPI P300 over the all electrode sites. In experiment 2, 6 pilots employed as a subject and the experiment method was identical with that of the experiment 1. No differences found between two indicators at the latency and error of button press and the P300 latency, but V-PAPI P300 amplitude was larger than the PAPI, though the pilots were accustomed to the PAPI. The results suggest that the V-PAPI is more efficient than the PAPI in judgement of the glide slope due to a vertical arrangement which is correspondent with concept of the above and the below.