<title>Low-cost day/night helmet-mounted displays (HMD) in airborne operations</title>

Abstract

Current doctrine dictates a requirement for conducting 24-hour operations on the modern battlefield either in a rural or urban environment. To date, Night Vision Goggles (NVGs) along with Infrared sensors provide the bulk of vision aids that allow crew members to engage in tactical operations at night and during periods of low and reduced visibility. Since operations employing these devices, as well as operational doctrine, require the crewmember to fly 'heads-out,' Heads-Up Displays (HUDs), enumerating flight parameters, engine and navigation information have come into existence, greatly reducing the workload on today's combat aviators. A fine example is the Marconi/Tracor ANVS-7. This device employs a symbol generator and CRT to project symbology of critical aircraft parameters into the Night Vision Goggle giving the aviator a HUD capability while engaged in NVG night operations. The system is limited to aided vision night operations employing NVGs. The same criteria that create a need for supplying critical flight information at night exist for day and night unaided vision operations. However, there is no system in production to answer this obvious need. There are several reasons for this: (1) Available technology that will offer a low-cost solution for days ops, (2) Ergonomic and Human factors Issues, (3) Competition with currently fielded systems (ANVS-7), (4) Cost. Highly sophisticated HMDs such as the Apache IHADSS and the Comanche HIDSS, which combine navigation, targeting as well as weapons and flight status for 24 hour, all-weather operations are far too expensive and, in many cases, inappropriate for the majority of Combat Support aircraft. Using internal R&D Kaiser Electronics has developed a low-cost HMD -- called Lite EyeTM HMD -- that is capable of being used in day and night operations that addresses the aforementioned issues. The solution, using recent advances in solid state display technology, maximizes the use of currently fielded equipment, with emphasis on logistics, maintainability, reliability and cost while meeting the performance requirements associated with tactical aviation. This paper will address the accomplishments of that development effort.© (1999) COPYRIGHT SPIE--The International Society for Optical Engineering. Downloading of the abstract is permitted for personal use only.