The successful operation of military aviation depends on effective pilot training. Current training capabilities of the United States Air Force might not be sufficient to meet the demand for new pilots. To help resolve this issue, this implementation study focused on developing an adaptive virtual reality (VR)-based training system for pilots. This prototype was built leveraging the three fundamental components for an adaptive training system including the trainee’s performance measures, adaptive logic, and adaptive variables. The prototype was based on the startup procedure for an F-16 cockpit and included adaptive feedback, display features, and various difficulty levels to help trainees maintain an optimal level of cognitive workload while completing their training. Implementation of adaptive VR training on a wide scale has the potential to reduce training time and cost. Future work is needed to validate the effectiveness of the approach. This prototype can assist in developing future adaptive VR-training systems.

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