Abstract:
The original abstract was titled "Degraded Visual Environment Categories" and in the process of performing the work, it was determined that "Operational Level" was a more relevant term than "category", hence the title change. Degraded Visual Environment (DVE) is a complex topic and not all aircraft or rotorcraft have the same mission or same DVE requirements. While this paper is not assuming a clean sheet of paper approach to defining the problem, it attempts to provide a different view of the problem in the context of Army Attack and Reconnaissance aircraft. The intent is to create a frame work in which the problem can be broken up into smaller pieces using operational contexts that are defined within this paper as operational levels based on visibility and terrain flight levels for Attack aircraft operations under DVE conditions. The objective is to define the problem so that a worst-case problem does not have to be solved first. This is important, because for the near-term, identifying a practical worst-case solution would be unlikely, and without the complete operational context, it would not be as obvious what solutions could provide interim value.