Elbit supplying F-35 cockpit display replacement

[zerion]

Elbit supplying F-35 cockpit display replacement

June 6 (UPI) -- Elbit Systems of America is developing a cockpit display replacement unit for Lockheed Martin's F-35 Lightening II jet aircraft.

Elbit said the value of the award from Lockheed Martin was not in a material amount.

"Elbit Systems of America continues to demonstrate that we are a trusted and highly-capable partner for the F-35 program," Raanan Horowitz, president and chief executive officer of Elbit Systems of America said. "We are committed to ensuring the success of our customer and the pilots who depend on our equipment to accomplish their mission."

The length of the Technology Refresh 3, Panoramic Cockpit Display Unit contract was not detailed.

Elbit Systems of America's already provides power amplifiers, structures and sustainment work for the F-35. Together with Rockwell Collins, it also provides the F-35 Helmet Mounted Display System, through their joint venture Rockwell Collins ESA Vision Systems.

http://www.upi.com/Defense-News/2017/06 ... 496744175/

[popcorn]

I wonder if they'll be swapping out the dual 10 X 8-in displays with a single screen?

[spazsinbad]

It is sad that a UPI sub-editor is a spelling Fwit: "Lockheed Martin's F-35 Lightening II jet aircraft"

UPI CRETINS should do research / spellin' checkin' here: perhaps this is the update mentioned above?

viewtopic.php?f=62&t=16223&p=285459&hilit=contract#p285459 (page 36 of HMDS thread)

F-35 Display Improvement Air Force SBIR 2015.1 - Topic AF151-020
Opens: January 15, 2015 - Closes: February 25, 2015

"TECHNOLOGY AREAS: Air Platform AF151-020 F-35 Display Improvement
The technology within this topic is restricted under the International Traffic in Arms Regulation (ITAR), 22 CFR Parts 120-130, which controls the export and import of defense-related material and services, including export of sensitive technical data, or the Export Administration Regulation (EAR), 15 CFR Parts 730-774, which controls dual use items. Offerors must disclose any proposed use of foreign nationals (FNs), their country(ies) of origin, the type of visa or work permit possessed, and the statement of work (SOW) tasks intended for accomplishment by the FN(s) in accordance with section 5.4.c.(8) of the solicitation and within the AF Component-specific instructions. Offerors are advised foreign nationals proposed to perform on this topic may be restricted due to the technical data under US Export Control Laws. Please direct questions to the AF SBIR/STTR Contracting Officer, Ms. Gail Nyikon, gail.nyikon@us.af.mil.

OBJECTIVE: Develop displays for F-35 that have higher refresh rate, resolution, and brightness, with improved touch screens, optimized power/thermal management, and lower weight.

DESCRIPTION: Cockpit displays for fighters have performance requirements far beyond the commercial-state-of-the-art. Full sunlight readability and night vision compatibility are mandatory but not found in commercial offerings. Drive electronics to achieve a minimum 40:000:1 dimming range and ultra-high reliability under extreme environmental conditions are needed but unavailable in mass production products. The technical challenges include leveraging on-going revolutions in high-efficiency lighting and additive manufacturing to meet this combat cockpit need.

The goal of this F-35 Display Technology Improvement program is identify, develop, and integrate technologies to achieve a threshold (objective) 84 Hz (108 Hz) update rate, 8 Mpx (32 Mpx) image resolution, 600 fL (1200 fL) sustained day luminance, 0.01 fL (0.001 fL) night luminance with electro-optical emissions compatible with digital and analog helmet/cockpit-mounted cameras, advanced touch screens compatible with flight-gloved hands, 2X (4X) less net power via higher efficiency materials and energy re-cycling, advanced heat transfer and storage materials, lower weight substrates and structural housings. The main focus is on improvements for the 20x8-in. primary multifunction display that can demonstrate life-cycle cost (LCC) or warfighter effectiveness improvements that would justify switching the from the current circa 2004 AMLCD designs to incorporate manufacturing technology improvements available in circa 2016 components.

Teaming with prime contractors for transition analysis and support is encouraged. Affordability and availability should continue to be addressed by using commercial fabrication facilities to fabricate military-unique designs.

Flat panel technologies revolutionized cockpits during the 1990s and were the basis for an epochal shift from electromechanical and cathode-ray tube flight instruments to the avionics-grade sunlight-readable, reliable, active matrix liquid crystal displays (AMLCDs) that now dominate crew station design. Large-area AMLCDs have enabled the realization, in the F-35 cockpit, of the combat advantage demonstrated in the 1988-1992 AFRL ATD entitled Panoramic Cockpit Controls and Displays (PCCADS). PCCADS demonstrated that a large area, integrated main instrument panel display and a digital day/night vision/cueing system would increase combat effectiveness by 45 percent.

Current displays have limitations that have been accepted to affordably achieve threshold levels of pilot-vehicle interfaces. Technology obsolescence problems and improved performance opportunities require new innovations.

Improvements in power-hungry AMLCD technologies are possible for both the main panel (currently dominated by a 20x8-in. AMLCD driven as two 1280x1024 pixel windows) and the helmet system. The see-through helmet-mounted display (HMD) design uses miniature AMLCDs reflected off the visor using classical optics. Significant advances have been made, since the time of F-35 cockpit design freeze, for both the large-area direct-view 20x8-in. display and the miniature flat panels in the HMD. The 20x8-in display and the HMD are now both over 4X less resolution compared to the current state of the art. Higher pixel densities with the same or less power are possible to provide more detailed situational awareness displays. Substrates are lighter yet stronger. And new flat panel technologies, such as active matrix organic emitting diode (AMOLED) and electrophoretic, are on the verge of becoming competitive with AMLCD for avionics cockpit applications. Other HMD component technology improvements are emerging from DoD programs like the AFRL Alternative Night/Day Imaging Technologies (ANIT) program.

PHASE I: Design displays in form-factors for F-35 that weigh less, incorporate improved touch/gesture control interface, optimize power/thermal management, and have higher refresh rate, resolution, luminance. Perform LCC and pilot-effectiveness analyses to determine value of improvements. Develop roadmap for feature introduction and initial technology transition plan.

PHASE II: Fabricate and test prototype displays in the form-factor required by F-35 that weighs less, incorporates a improved touch/gesture control interface, optimizes power/thermal management, and has higher refresh rate, resolution, and luminance. Assess production and reliable sourcing issues throughout the vendor chain involved (AMLCD fabs, system integration facilities, labs for testing to combat avionics performance requirements). Update transition plan and life cycle cost analysis.

PHASE III: Assess DoD market for F-35 new/replacement displays and for other aircraft. Develop a detailed Air Force Human System Integration Plan. Refine design from Phase II prototype into a production design. Establish reliable supply chain and supply chain management system. Fabricate production displays.

REFERENCES:
1. Darrel G. Hopper, "Display science and technology for defense and security," SPIE 5214, 1-10 (2004) 10p.

2. Darrel G. Hopper, "The 1000X difference between current displays and the capability of the human visual system," SPIE 4022, 378-389 (2000) 12p.

3. Daniel D. Desjardins and Darrel G. Hopper, "Military display market segment: avionics," SPIE Vol. 5801, 161-172 (2005).

4. L-3 Wins F-35 JSF Panoramic Cockpit Display Contract Worth up to 200M, Defense Industry Daily, Nov. 22, 2005."

Source: http://www.zyn.com/sbir/sbres/sbir/dod/af/af151-020.htm

[count_to_10]

I wonder if they'll be swapping out the dual 10 X 8-in displays with a single screen?

The two screen approach offers redundancy, so that one failure can't bring the whole display down.

[steve2267]

I thought a company in Turkey was manufacturing the current panoramic display? Does this mean - with the new display - work is being pulled from Turkey and given to Israel (or an Israeli (parent) company)?

[spazsinbad]

IIRC 'we' decided Turkey was just assembling bits made elsewhere?

[Dragon029]

Probably, but these decisions are made via a vote by partner nations.

[hornetfinn]

The goal of this F-35 Display Technology Improvement program is identify, develop, and integrate technologies to achieve a threshold (objective) 84 Hz (108 Hz) update rate, 8 Mpx (32 Mpx) image resolution, 600 fL (1200 fL) sustained day luminance, 0.01 fL (0.001 fL) night luminance with electro-optical emissions compatible with digital and analog helmet/cockpit-mounted cameras, advanced touch screens compatible with flight-gloved hands, 2X (4X) less net power via higher efficiency materials and energy re-cycling, advanced heat transfer and storage materials, lower weight substrates and structural housings. The main focus is on improvements for the 20x8-in. primary multifunction display that can demonstrate life-cycle cost (LCC) or warfighter effectiveness improvements that would justify switching the from the current circa 2004 AMLCD designs to incorporate manufacturing technology improvements available in circa 2016 components.

Pretty damn tough requirements for cockpit screen. That'd mean either 8K Ultra HD (objective) or 4K Ultra HD (threshold) resolution with very high update rate. Those specs are pretty amazing for a 20x8 inch screen. It would give pixel density about similar to what high end mobile phones currently have in much smaller screens. Most 8K monitors are currently 27 inches or above although smaller ones have been demonstrated and I'm sure it can be done technically. Even 4K resolution would be pretty impressive though. Both would give a lot of new options in displaying information to pilot.

[juretrn]

Some kind of OLED maybe?

[hornetfinn]

Some kind of OLED maybe?

I think it's either some AMOLED variant or IPS technology. Both can have very high resolution (both 8K and 4K possible) and refresh rates. There have been prototypes using both technologies that achieve most of the requirements. Don't know how much problems fighter cockpit environment would create though. Of course next problem would be the graphics processors that draw the screens. Going from 1K display to 4K or 8K display means huge increase in required GPU horse power to take advantage of the new display technology and not make things worse.

[Dragon029]

For what they're doing on these screens, I don't think there'll be too much processing trouble; it doesn't take too much more processing power to render vector imagery on a 4K display, or scale & play video at that resolution.

[hornetfinn]

For what they're doing on these screens, I don't think there'll be too much processing trouble; it doesn't take too much more processing power to render vector imagery on a 4K display, or scale & play video at that resolution.

That depends on what kind of vector graphics we are talking about. If we are talking about more complex vector graphics with more details and for example zoom function, then it can take a lot of processing power to do. Simple vector graphics is pretty easy, but such a large screen means graphics system needs to have very large and very fast memory and very fast memory bandwidth to allow drawing the pictures smoothly no matter how simple the graphics or video is especially with those refresh rates. Just take a look at 4K and 8K capable GPUs and they are all high end systems. Of course lower resolution imagery can be scaled from low resolution in GPU to high resolution in display, but then the advantages of higher resolution are mostly lost except it looks better.

[neurotech]

Some kind of OLED maybe?

I think it's either some AMOLED variant or IPS technology.

Probably IPS. Don't think anyone has made a production AMOLED that large, suitable for rugged/cockpit use.

[Dragon029]

Just take a look at 4K and 8K capable GPUs and they are all high end systems. Of course lower resolution imagery can be scaled from low resolution in GPU to high resolution in display, but then the advantages of higher resolution are mostly lost except it looks better.

I get what you're saying, and with all the military / aerospace constraints it will require a high-end product, all I'm saying is that I for example have a computer that was high-end 4 years ago, yet manages to run Windows across 3 displays with a combined total of 12.7MP, at 48-60Hz, without much difficulty at all.

Again, I know they can't just grab a consumer graphics card and slap it into the jet, but given that they're currently running a 2.6MP display using (decade old? Does TR2 affect the display processor units?) hardware, I don't see them having too much of an issue meeting the threshold requirements, assuming the F-35's cockpit display pages / symbology aren't getting a Windows Vista treatment.

[SpudmanWP]

You don't need a high end CPU to do this. Any Nvidia/AMD GPU that is less than 2 years old could handle it.