TECHNOLOGY AREAS: Information Systems, Human Systems

ACQUISITION PROGRAM: F-35 - Joint Strike Fighter, ACAT I

OBJECTIVE: Develop innovative technology for large field-of-view, multi-viewer collimated displays with demonstrated significant cost and fidelity improvements.

DESCRIPTION: Innovation is sought for large-area, large field-of-view, multi-viewer (two or more), collimated displays used in flight simulators that require cross-cockpit viewing and in other applications requiring a large viewing volume for multiple viewers. Current systems are expensive and have a number of performance and quality deficiencies. Specific areas in which advancement is needed include:

a) Mechanical installation and alignment.
b) Ease of maintenance.
c) Distortion correction.
d) Brightness and contrast.
e) Color matching between display channels.
f) Shared field-of-view.

Significant cost and fidelity improvements are sought using new processes and materials. Proposed solutions should also leverage new PC based image generation and display technologies.

PHASE I: Develop innovative concepts for shared collimated display systems in training simulators and perform a feasibility analysis of the proposed concept.

PHASE II: Develop the proposed concept identified in Phase I and evaluate it in a demonstration display unit.

PHASE III: Integrate the new processes, software algorithms, hardware, and other developed technology into a commercially viable large-area multi-viewer collimated display system suitable for use in a high-fidelity military flight simulator.

PRIVATE SECTOR COMMERCIAL POTENTIAL/DUAL-USE APPLICATIONS: The developed technology can be applied in commercial flight simulators requiring pilot, co-pilot, crew, and instructor viewpoints. It is also applicable for multi-person visual display entertainment venues.

REFERENCES:
1. Dudfield, H.J.; Macklin, C.; Fearnley, R.; Simpson, A.; and Hall, P. (2001) "Big Is Better? Human Factors Issues Of Large Screen Displays With Military Command Teams," in Proc. of People in Control: 2nd International Conference on Human Interfaces in Control Rooms, Cockpits and Command Centres (PIC 2001), IEE Press, 304-309.

2. Moorabbin Flying Services: Visual Systems. Retrieved SEP 25, 2007 14:17, @ http://www.mfs.com.au/MFS_VisualSystems.htm.

3. Whyte, Ian and Zepf, A. W., "Wide-Angle, Multiviewer, Infinity Display System," DTIC Retrieved SEP 25, 2007 14:42 @ http://stinet.dtic.mil/oai/oai?&verb=getRecord&metadataPrefix=html&identifier=ADA116308.

4. "Wide Angle Infinity Display Equipment," Retrieved SEP 25, 2007 14:32 @ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wide-angle_Infinity_Display_Equipment.

5. Tan, D.S.; Gergle, D.; Scupelli, P.G.; and Pausch, R. "With Similar Visual Angles, Larger Displays Improve Performance On Spatial Tasks," in Proc. of the SIGCHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI ’03), ACM Press (2003), 217-224.

6. Patrick, E.; Cosgrove, D.; Slavkovic, A.; Rode, J.A.; Verratti, T.; and Chiselko, G., "Using A Large Projection Screen As An Alternative To Head-Mounted Displays For Virtual Environments," in Proc. of the SIGCHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI ’00), ACM Press (2000), 478-485.

KEYWORDS: Maintenance; Collimated; WIDE-Displays; Simulation; Displays; Trainer.

** TOPIC AUTHOR (TPOC) **

DoD Notice:   Between April 21 and May 18, 2008, you may talk directly with the Topic Author(s) to ask technical questions about the topics. Their contact information is listed above. For reasons of competitive fairness, direct communication between proposers and topic authors is not allowed starting May 19, 2008, when DoD begins accepting proposals for this solicitation.

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