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) **

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