Development of Virtual Reality Pilot Training for A320 Standard Operating Procedures in Unity/Pacelab WEAVR

This thesis focuses on the application of Virtual Reality (VR) technology to develop a pilot training program for the Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) of the Airbus A320 aircraft. The project is a collaboration between Politecnico di Torino and TXT e-solutions; this collaboration builds upon a history of several Master's degree theses conducted since 2020, where TXT/PACE (now one of its subsidiaries) provided Pacelab WEAVR, a software application add-on to Unity 3D created by PACE for the development of extended reality (XR) training applications at an industrial level. Thesis students of Politecnico di Torino used this asset to produce a procedural training experience for A320 pilots in an immersive virtual environment. The aim of this thesis is to improve upon the previous works by implementing six different training procedures in a more detailed and correctly scaled A320 cockpit provided by TXT. The aforementioned procedures are "FMGS Preparation", "Cockpit Preparation", "Before Start", "Engine Start - Automatic", "After Start" and "Taxi". Such procedures are either ones that were not previously implemented or procedures already developed for previous theses, which were reorganized in a more cohesive structure and updated to align with the early 2022 Airbus amendments to SOPs and the new cockpit. This document begins with an overview of VR technologies, covering general hardware, market size, and the limitations of applications for these technologies. It is followed by a review of VR training applications in various fields, such as aviation and healthcare. Furthermore, the document presents the results of an overview of scientific literature on the evaluation of VR training effectiveness compared to traditional methods, which showed no standardization but nevertheless provided a series of useful information on study design and data collected for these types of studies, mainly about performance and factors of the training that may affect performance, as well as on statistical analysis of the results. Subsequently, the thesis describes the hardware and software apparatus used for its stated main goal, with a specific focus on Unity and Pacelab WEAVR. It then provides details on the virtual training environment, specifically the A320 cockpit and its equipment. Additional information is provided on the preparation of the virtual training environment with Unity. Lastly, the document provides information on flight procedures and describes the procedures implemented for training within the virtual environment.