Helmet-mounted displays

Cockpit, radar, helmet-mounted display, and other avionics
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by spazsinbad » 04 Feb 2012, 01:36

Probably too blurry but a zoom from: http://www.navy.mil/management/photodb/ ... 37-524.jpg
from this thread: First Deck Landing F-35B / USS Wasp
http://www.f-16.net/f-16_forum_viewtopi ... rt-75.html

on same thread as above there is this one:
http://www.f-16.net/attachments/aw_6_fi ... l2_139.png
also probably the worst white helmet photo in this mix:
http://www.f-16.net/attachments/f_35bhm ... ot_139.jpg
and of course this one also repeated above (but youse knew that):
http://www.f-16.net/attachments/rusnok_ ... 4b_919.jpg
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FredsWhiteHelmetHMDSII.jpg


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by spazsinbad » 23 Feb 2012, 23:44

This bit about DAS fix is repeated elsewhere but added here for archive purposes:
http://www.f-16.net/index.php?name=PNph ... 587#217587

Lockheed Martin Releases F-35 Testing Records 23 Feb 2012 by Tamir Eshel

http://defense-update.com/20120223_f35_ ... +Update%29

"...Performance issues associated with DAS have limited the use of the F-35 unique helmet display and sight, developed for the program by VSI. The sight was designed to use DAS live image feeds to display the outside view for the pilot, alleviating the need for night vision goggles for night flight. BAE Systems and VSI were asked to work on temporary solutions using NVG, to provide a near-term solution. However, using NVG on top of the standard helmet will limit the use of the sophisticated display and information fusion capabilities that make the F-35 unique. Therefore, it is anticipated that the objective helmet will be reinstated once DAS will deliver imaging within the required spec. Among the fix being considered are fixed camera mounted in the cockpit, and another, coupled to the helmet, both reducing the latency of night imagery imported from the DAS...."


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by spazsinbad » 24 Feb 2012, 00:00

A long informative article here but only the last few paragraphs are excerpted because the issues have been canvassed already but please go read the article if interested. Thanks.

BAE Drives Dual Approach To Fixing F-35 Helmet Display Issues Singapore Air Show » February 15, 2012

http://www.ainonline.com/node/102293

"...Should VSI resolve development problems with its Gen II HMDS, BAE’s alternate system likely would be terminated, said Cooke, adding, “I don’t believe it’s anybody’s intent to fly indefinitely with a night-vision goggle based solution.” But achieving the same night-vision acuity with digital inputs now possible with analog NVGs may still be years away, he said.

“The fact of the matter is, the digital input devices to visor-projected helmets, the kind of solution that allows you to eliminate night-vision goggles, the number of pixels are not equivalent to the picture you get on an analog night-vision goggle today,” Cooke said. “They will be at some point. But the bottom line is the pilots are not willing to trade that visual acuity and the clarity of the picture they get on a night-vision goggle for what the digital input devices can deliver today.

“The real limiting factor is not the VSI helmet, I think it’s really the digital input devices that generate the picture,” he said. “Until they’re equivalent or better than the analog, I think that you’re going to see night-vision goggles remain part of the equation.”

Preliminary design review of the alternate helmet display is scheduled for early this year. BAE said it will begin delivering test assets in 2012 to support F-35 integration laboratories, flight simulators and flight-test platforms.”

Caption: "BAE Systems’ alternate helmet-mounted display system for the F-35, below, would combine Q-Sight display in front of the eye with pull-down night-vision goggles."

http://www.ainonline.com/sites/ainonlin ... isplay.jpg
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helmetmounteddisplay.jpg


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by spazsinbad » 11 Mar 2012, 06:18

Big Week for JSF Jan 20, 2012 By Jay Friess | Editor

http://lexleader.net/dote-report-f35-jsf/

“...The [DOTE 2011] report specifically called out the aircraft’s new helmet, which integrates sensor input and the jet’s displays into a single field of vision for the pilot. The report noted the plane’s “poor performance in the human systems integration (e.g. helmet-mounted display, night vision capability)” as a factor that needs to be addressed to pass its operational assessment.

“We get what some pilots call jitter,” Norman admitted at the Lockheed press event, referring to test pilot reports of the helmet lagging and getting out of sync. But he said the problem is overblown and is being addressed. He said press reports of the helmet under-performing is “not the full picture of what’s going on with the helmet.”

Bill Gigliotti, a Lockheed test pilot stationed at Pax River, stated that engineers are adding micro intertial measurement units to the helmet to help its reaction time and stability. “We love the helmet, and we’d rather have the helmet,” Gigliotti claimed, stating that the helmet is intuitive to use and displays information in a better way than traditional displays....”


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by neptune » 11 Mar 2012, 19:40

spazsinbad wrote:[..........Bill Gigliotti, a Lockheed test pilot ...stability. “We love the helmet, and we’d rather have the helmet,” ..the helmet is intuitive to use and displays information in a better way than traditional displays......”


It is interesting that the F-35 helmet problem solutions willl further enhance the helmet display industry and lead to better helmets for both planes and helos. I'm relieved to hear the progression of development in the "night vision" is total integration without some "kluge" of existing limited goggles. Star Lite technology was from my teenage years, googles are for civilians, and us "old timers". :lol:


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by archeman » 12 Mar 2012, 17:07

spazsinbad wrote:Caption: "BAE Systems’ alternate helmet-mounted display system for the F-35, below, would combine Q-Sight display in front of the eye with pull-down night-vision goggles."

http://www.ainonline.com/sites/ainonlin ... isplay.jpg


Hey Spaz, it looks like that helmet mounted display is coming apart already!
I can't belive that the pin is falling out for the publicity photo
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ScreenHunter_03 Mar. 12 08.52.jpg
oops


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by SpudmanWP » 12 Mar 2012, 17:32

I can't believe the inserted the pin from the bottom instead from the top.

But yeah, LMAO. :)
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by spazsinbad » 13 Mar 2012, 22:03

Lockheed Martin Awaits U.K. F-35 Decision Mar 13, 2012 By Robert Wall

http://www.aviationweek.com/aw/generic/ ... e=Lockheed Martin Awaits U.K. F-35 Decision

"...O’Bryan notes that progress also is being made on fixing helmet problems, although work on an alternative helmet display will continue until there is certainty the existing issues are worked out.

Vibration problems that led to jitter are being addressed through the introduction of inertial measurement units to cancel out the vibration, while a new infrared camera as part of the distributed aperture system ahead of the cockpit is being eyed to aid landing of the F-35B aboard ships in lights-out conditions...."


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by spazsinbad » 26 Mar 2012, 22:16

PARLIAMENTARY JOINT COMMITTEE ON FOREIGN AFFAIRS, DEFENCE AND TRADE
Department of Defence annual report 2010-11 (Public)
FRIDAY, 16 MARCH 2012

http://parlinfo.aph.gov.au/parlInfo/dow ... 8e/0000%22 (.8Mb)

Starting from Page 62 seems relevant: [I guess we have to ginore teh spullin from Oz {Australia}] :-)

"...Air Vice Marshal Osley: It is the first aeroplane that has three things, basically, in it. It has no head-up displays, so it has the ability to display aircraft data so you can fly the aeroplane in instrument met conditions. Also it has a sight so that you can drop bombs through the helmut—and that has been on other helmuts before. But, most importantly, it also displays all your sensor information, so basically as you look around the environment around you—360 degrees around the aeroplane—even at night or in poor conditions, you will basically see a representation of the Earth around you. Superimposed over that are threats and friendly forces out there. So it is quite an incredible amount of information coming through the helmut.

The issue with that is that by the time you put all that information through the helmut you end up with a delay—a latency in the helmut. They have now demonstrated that that latency is not impacting the ability of the pilot to do normal tasks out there. They have had pilots, with that delay in the helmut, landing on simulated LHDs, doing tasks such as low-level flight and strafe, and so far that has been good. The only occasion on which there has been a problem whereby the latency became an issue was night air refuelling against a tanker using the probe and the basket with the lights out on the tanker. We do not do that, and I do not think the United States Air Force would regularly do that either. It would only be done if you were trying to do night refuelling in a hostile area at relatively low altitude. So the latency does not really appear to be an issue with the helmut.

The second thing that came up was jitter. Because the seat moves when you are pulling a lot of G, the helmut display is not compensated for, so you get some jitter, and it makes it hard to read at high angles of attack when you are pulling G. They have put an accelerometer on the seat to measure that and then compensated for it in the helmut, and that appears to be working. Either way, they have an alternate path that the United States military is going to fund. So we are not funding it, but it is all being done as part of the SDD phase—the development phase. They are taking some of the sensor data away and putting night vision goggles on the outside of one of the helmuts, and everything else remains the same. That is there as a risk mitigator. They will keep doing both paths until they get to a decision point, which will probably be the end of next year, and they will probably make a decision to cancel the alternate path and just proceed with the other path. So that is the current status of it. But so far it is showing quite good promise with the things they have done with it...."


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by count_to_10 » 26 Mar 2012, 23:53

So, when do we get a video game accessory that can do this?
Einstein got it backward: one cannot prevent a war without preparing for it.

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by popcorn » 27 Mar 2012, 01:32

Aside from the night refuelling scenario, it would appear that the display system is adequate for "normal tasks" i.e. Navigation, landing, even strafing ground targets. My concern would be how the latency performance issues previously identified affect pilot awareness and performance in a more demanding scenario e.g. WVR 1V1, 1V2 etc. No doubt such tests to stress the system are in the cards.


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by spazsinbad » 27 Mar 2012, 01:37

These improvements with further testing have been mentioned on this thread but how far along not stated. On a similar note and probably not worthy of the OBOGS thread here is a snipped of news about research on jitter but not just for F-35....

AF-Navy collaborate to find answers on hypoxia | Units are working to solve a ‘common issue’ for military pilots. By Barrie Barber, March 25, 2012

http://www.daytondailynews.com/news/day ... 49794.html

"...The Navy brought one-of-a-kind machines that mimic conditions in flight to test human limits. An Air Force Institute of Technology researcher, for example, will use the Navy’s 12-foot-tall Vertical Linear Accelerator on base to test more effective ways to keep an image stable, such as on a Heads Up Display during vibration in an aircraft, Simmons said.

A Heads Up Display beams flight data, such as speed and altitude, on a windscreen in front of a pilot. Vibration during flight can be a particular problem in helicopters, said Simmons, a physiologist and an aviator...."


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by spazsinbad » 29 Mar 2012, 21:15

PARLIAMENTARY JOINT COMMITTEE ON FOREIGN AFFAIRS, DEFENCE AND TRADE
Department of Defence annual report 2010-11 (Public) FRIDAY, 20 MARCH 2012 (0.5Mb PDF)

http://parlinfo.aph.gov.au/parlInfo/dow ... 70/0000%22

"...Mr Burbage:...The helmet itself is an element of the mission system. It is new technology that allows the sensors on the airplane to pull up information and project that on the pilot's visor. The helmet has been flying on the airplane since 2007. Only seven of the 1,800 flights that we have had were without the helmet—all the others have had a helmet. The pilots like the helmet and say it is performing quite well. The question in front of the group today is whether, when we get into night flying, the acuity of the images that are pulled in from the sensors on the outside of the airplane are accurate enough to do an all lights-out landing on a small ship in a rough sea state, or to do tanking behind an airplane that has not lights on. Those are the two high gain tests.

Today, there are night vision goggles in use but this is a 5th-gen airplane and we do not want to have night vision goggles if we can avoid them. We are currently looking at an alternative path that, if those sensors are deemed not adequate for those two tasks, there is a possibility to use some night vision goggles. But the helmet is tracking. You saw the pilot wearing it in the movie and that is the actual helmet he wears in the airplane. All of these are part of the development program and the helmet is part of the mission system. It no longer just protects the cranium of the pilot.

Mr McCoy: Mal Norman, the chief test pilot, told me that the visual out of this thing is very significantly different compared to night vision goggles, when you look through a tube. He said that the flight literally turns night into day—it is incredible...."
_____________

...Mr Burbage: We have just started flying the aeroplane at night, just now. We have not done a refuelling at night [at this time]. You may be referring to the tasks that were done in the simulator with the helmet. It is a high-gain task. We are not tanking on a blacked-out aeroplane right now, but one of the tasks in the future would be to be able to tank behind an aeroplane that has no lights on and see whether or not the helmet gives a pilot enough visual acuity to maintain station while he is being refuelled. So that is all in simulation now. We are not actually doing it in flight tests. All of the aeroplanes, all three versions, have been fully qualified behind the tankers, and there is no problem tanking the aeroplanes themselves. It is a matter of whether the pilot can maintain his station using the sensors on the aeroplane that are displayed on his helmet...."


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by spazsinbad » 30 Mar 2012, 00:12

http://www.gao.gov/assets/590/589695.pdf (13.6Mb)
OR
http://www.f-16.net/f-16_forum_download-id-15765.html (0.3Mb) 2 page PDF

Assessments of Selected Weapon Programs GAO-12-400SP, Mar 29, 2012
F-35 Lightning II (Joint Strike Fighter)
Program Office Comments

"...In reference to the helmet, officials explained that due to the need to demonstrate at the milestone B recertification that all technologies had been demonstrated in at least a relevant environment, the program is adding a second helmet as a risk-reduction effort while continuing to improve the first helmet. The program has a plan to mitigate development risks for the original helmet through developmental testing. DOD also provided technical comments, which were incorporated as appropriate."


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by spazsinbad » 31 Mar 2012, 06:24

Lockheed Martin Awaits UK F-35 Decision Aviation Week's DTI | Robert Wall | March 13, 2012
This article first appeared in Aerospace Daily & Defense Report.

http://www.military.com/features/0,15240,242692,00.html

"...O'Bryan notes that progress also is being made on fixing helmet problems, although work on an alternative helmet display will continue until there is certainty the existing issues are worked out.

Vibration problems that led to jitter are being addressed through the introduction of inertial measurement units to cancel out the vibration, while a new infrared camera as part of the distributed aperture system ahead of the cockpit is being eyed to aid landing of the F-35B aboard ships in lights-out conditions...."


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