KEYWORDS: Goggles, Analog electronics, Light sources and illumination, Night vision goggles, Night vision, Sensors, Prototyping, Night vision systems, Eye, Molybdenum
Digital Night Vision sensor technology has the potential to provide significant new night vision capabilities for military aviators. Before new capabilities can fielded, however, the combined sensor-processor-display chain must achieve a level of night vision performance on-par with current-generation photo-multiplier tube (PMT) - based night vision goggles across the entire range of lighting conditions. This paper provides an overview of Rockwell Collins’s design of an ISIE-11 based Digital Night Vision Goggle (DNVG) intended to eventually replace traditional PMT goggles in a variety of military aviation and infantry applications. It also reports on an initial series of evaluations performed by Boeing aircrew in laboratory and flight environments. Laboratory lighting levels ranged from "overcast starlight" to "full moon", and airborne evaluations in a light aircraft were conducted under "starlight" and "half-moon" conditions at a realistic tactical altitude. Each evaluation provided a direct comparison between a modern PMT NVG and the DNVG prototype. Inputs from the flight evaluation were subsequently implemented in DNVG image processing software.
Military sensors and crewstation displays are all moving to digital-based technologies, an epochal shift from the previous world of analog interfaces throughout the video chain. It is no longer possible to specify a sensor and display to the same interface specification such as the venerable RS-170 and RS- 343 standards without paying an unacceptable resolution penalty. Consequently a new standard is required to allow sensor and display manufacturers to easily design system interfaces without relying on cumbersome, costly and unique interface control documents. This paper presents one possible hardware and protocol standard based on FibreChannel technology, and solicits inputs into the standards setting process which is now in progress.
To be successful, the implementation and mechanization of an infrared (IR) touchscreen display for military cockpit applications requires close attention to all aspects of integration, optics, display format design and system processing hardware and software. The F/A-18E/F program has incorporated a monochrome AMLCD touchscreen display into the cockpit to replace the mechanical pushbutton control panel. The new display provides the pilot with the versatility of a much more capable control panel and a new video display surface. This paper addresses the design considerations starting from concept development through integration and flight test, and finally to successful deployment of the Up- Front Control Display (UFCD) into production aircraft.
Active Matrix Liquid Crystal Displays (AMLCDs) are being called upon to operate in environments which are increasingly harsh. The displays studied in this paper were originally designed for an environment from -55 to +85 degree(s)C. Open (bubble canopy) cockpits expose the displays to extremely high solar loads in some environments. This paper presents a summary of modeling techniques used to predict maximum AMLCD temperatures under F/A-18E/F aircraft storage conditions. Results from testing of displays and polarizer lamination test samples in these predicted environments are also presented. The development test process resulted in significant improvements and the identification of other issues which need to be resolved before AMLCDs can be guaranteed to be truly durable in these environments.
This paper examines the role that advanced display technology has in the upgrade of the F/A- 18 Hornet to the E/F configuration. Application of Active-Matrix Liquid Crystal Display (AMLCD) technology improves display performance and reliability and enables increased display processing capability. The paper provides a system-level description of two of the new F/A-18E/F displays, the Multipurpose Color Display and the Touch-Sensitive Up-Front Control Display. A brief comparison of performance and capability to the CRT-based display technology that is being displaced is made in conjunction with a discussion of the key performance characteristics of the new display hardware and graphics generation circuitry. An overview of the challenges of incorporating AMLCD technology into an existing tactical fighter crewstation, including optical and thermal performance is provided, followed by a review of the testing that has been performed to validate AMLCD and Touch Sensing technology use in the F/A-18.
Conference Committee Involvement (4)
Display Technologies & Applications for Defense, Security, & Avionics
12 April 2007 | Orlando, Florida, United States
Defense, Security, and Cockpit Displays III
19 April 2006 | Orlando (Kissimmee), Florida, United States
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