Visually Coupled Systems (VCS): The Virtual Panoramic Display (VPD) System
Abstract
This paper describes the development and impact of new visually-coupled system (VCS) equipment designed to support engineering and human factors research in the military aircraft cockpit environment. VCS represents an advanced man-machine interface (MMI). Its potential to improve aircrew situational awareness seems enormous, but its superiority over the conventional cockpit MMI has not been established in a conclusive and rigorous fashion. What has been missing is a "systems" approach to technology advancement that is comprehensive enough to produce conclusive results concerning the operational viability of the VCS concept and verify any risk factors that might be involved with its general use in the cockpit. The advanced VCS configuration described here, has been ruggedized for use in military aircraft environments and was dubbed the Virtual Panoramic Display (VPD). It was designed to answer the VCS portion of the "systems" problem, and is implemented as a modular system whose performance can be tailored to specific application requirements. The overall system concept and the design of the two most important electronic subsystems that support the helmet-mounted components -- a new militarized version of the magnetic helmet mounted sight and correspondingly similar helmet display electronics -- are discussed in detail. Significant emphasis is given to illustrating how particular design features in the hardware improve overall system performance and support research activities.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Jan 01, 1991
- Accession Number
- ADA434161
Entities
People
- Dean F. Kocian
Organizations
- Armstrong Laboratory