Helmet-mounted displays

[spazsinbad]

Joint Helmet Mounted Cueing System JHMCS:

http://www.boeing.com/defense-space/mil ... erview.pdf

[spazsinbad]

Q-Sight Brochure PDF (164Kb): http://baesystems.com/BAEProd/groups/pu ... -sight.pdf

More detail Q-sight ( 200Kb): http://www.eis.na.baesystems.com/media_ ... g_ausa.pdf

[spazsinbad]

F-35 Pilots’ New Helmet

http://defensetech.org/2011/10/13/f-35- ... ew-helmet/

"...for F-35, BAE will remove the Typhoon’s display system — housed in the giant forward part of the helmet — and will replace it with a pair of night vision goggles and a single eyepiece showing Heads-Up Display-style info (shown below)....

...Pilots “want the good picture that comes with the goggles that they’re used to seeing, that they’re comfortable with, that they’ve been flying with forever,” Paul Cooke, BAE’s director of business development for defense avionics told DT at the Association of the U.S. Army’s annual conference in Washington. “What we did for Joint Strike Fighter was, we took the same two part helmet [as the Typhoon’s], the same optical tracker, we took out all the electronics and the visor projection system — just gutted that out — put a goggle bracket on the front and we take this quantum sight and hang it down in front of the right eye. So, in daytime the goggles are off and you have a HUD and nighttime you put them on the helmet, flip the goggles down and because it sits between the eye and the back of the goggle tube, you get the symbology and you also have” night vision.

“If you want an even bigger field of view you can have one” quantum sight in front of each eye, added Cooke.

“What we need today is the night vision goggles until the digital stuff catches up on the visual acuity side,” said Cooke....

http://images.defensetech.org/wp-conten ... elmet1.jpg
http://images.defensetech.org/wp-conten ... elmet2.jpg
http://images.defensetech.org/wp-conten ... elmet3.jpg

[spazsinbad]

And here is something prepared earlier: (from above OK?)

[spazsinbad]

Lockheed: F-35's Major Problems Whittled To 1 (NAVY TIMES 10 OCT 11) ... Dave Majumdar

http://hrana.org/news.asp#Lockheed

"F-35 maker Lockheed Martin said it has a handle on all of the plane's remaining technical problems except the insufficiently sharp night-vision display in the pilot's helmet.

The jet draws imagery from six infrared cameras distributed around the aircraft, and displays the fused image on the helmet visor. Tom Burbage, Lockheed's program manager, said that although the display is good enough for the Navy and Air Force, the Marine Corps may not deem the image acute enough for some "very tightly coupled tasks," such as landing on an amphibious assault ship at night.

"Is it safe or not to use the [distributed aperture system] to do that maneuver? That is the whole crux of the argument," Burbage said. The helmet has a backup low-light camera called the ICE-11, and a second camera will be added to the front of the cockpit to improve forward visibility, he said.

"Eventually, this airplane will have the same level of acuity as night-vision goggles," he said. "It doesn't have it today."[/b]

Burbage said other problems have been fixed or are well on their way to solutions. Software changes have calmed jittery images in the helmet, while design modifications have made it fit better.

"If you talk to the pilots, they'll say they are pretty damn happy with the helmet," he said. "I think we've been able to resolve all the different issues with the helmet except one."...

Different topic starts at the jump URL... BELOW we see skidmark evidence from a fumbly night SRVL attempt - landing rong way hosay - with HMDS! [properpic/explaino here:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/lockheedma ... otostream/]

[spazsinbad]

Olde Worlde Problemos with HMDs PDF (1992):

PILOT ERRORS INVOLVING HEAD-UP DISPLAYS (HUDs), HELMET-MOUNTED DISPLAYS (HMDs), AND NIGHT VISION GOGGLES (NVGs)

http://www.dtic.mil/cgi-bin/GetTRDoc?Lo ... =ADA250719 (7Mb)

[cola]

http://www.tactical-life.com/online/tactical-weapons/combat-co-pilot-q-sight/

"Q-Sights can be used day or night and are easily used with night-vision goggles, which snap down into position in front of them. They also have been integrated into FLIR (forward-looking infrared) sources to give pilots the heads-up, real-world information needed as they carry out their mission."

"As the Q-Sight moves toward full-scale production, Nix foresees endless possibilities for it. For instance, door and tail-gunners can hook into their weapon’s thermal-imaging sights with the Q-Sight for uninterrupted sight pictures—in contrast to firing weapons with night-vision goggles that cut out when detecting bright muzzle flashes."

It's rather inconclusive whether a QSight can do this right now (2009 article), but if it can, what's the point in having heavy and complex HMD like VSI's F35 Gen II?

[SpudmanWP]

The Q-Sight is too small to replace the HUD (as it is only 1 sq in) and cannot display enough information.



In order to replace the NVGs, the display has to cover a majority of the pilots forward field of view. There is also the issue of image clarity and latency that the Q-Sight cannot handle either.

[cola]

The Q-Sight is too small to replace the HUD (as it is only 1 sq in) and cannot display enough information.
In order to replace the NVGs, the display has to cover a majority of the pilots forward field of view.

Here's the brochure from 2007:
http://www.filefactory.com/file/ce6ea4f/n/qsight.pdf
From picture on the first page, it seems the HUD fits.
On the last page you'll find some technical data, one of which is FOV, which is 30° wide, similar to HUD.
I think the pictures displayed in brochures refer only to the portion that is visible from greater distance (the one the photo was taken from).
Besides, there are binocular versions as well.

There is also the issue of image clarity and latency that the Q-Sight cannot handle either.

Any reference on that, or this is just your opinion?

[SpudmanWP]

The VSI helmet has over a 50 degree FOV, so no, a 30 degree one will not cut it.

Latency has to do with the shipboard computers and image generators and the clarity has to do with the pixel count of the image projectors. The smaller the unit, the lower the clarity due to lower umber of pixels.

[pushoksti]

PILOT ERRORS INVOLVING HEAD-UP DISPLAYS (HUDs), HELMET-MOUNTED DISPLAYS (HMDs), AND NIGHT VISION GOGGLES (NVGs)

http://www.airforce.forces.gc.ca/dfs-ds ... p?id=11977

The single seat CF188 was flying as the second aircraft in a two-aircraft formation on a Night Vision Goggles (NVG) training mission. The prevailing weather was instrument meteorological conditions (IMC) and the accident occurred at night. During a radar trail instrument approach to runway 13L at Cold Lake, Lead called for the landing gear to be selected down. Upon selection of the landing gear, the wingman was almost immediately disoriented by the sudden rush of falling snow as it was illuminated by his landing light, which also reflected enough light through his Head Up Display (HUD) to washout the instrument references he used to control the aircraft. As a result of the visual inputs, the pilot perceived that he had entered a steep descent. In response, the pilot made an aft stick input and pulled the aircraft into a nose-high attitude. Still feeling that he was in a dive and thinking he was rapidly approaching the ground below, but unable to confirm his attitude using outside references or his HUD, the pilot decided to eject.

[cola]

The VSI helmet has over a 50 degree FOV, so no, a 30 degree one will not cut it.

Well there's this picture from a 2010 brochure (http://www.filefactory.com/file/ce6017e/n/BAE-Systems-Q-Sight-GRSS.pdf) and it's pretty clear the HUD fits.
Also, one can adjust sight's distance between 15mm (sunglasses) and 50mm (NVGs) allowing him from a complete to partial cover of FOV, so I don't think FOV coverage is an issue here.



Then there's this doc (http://www.filefactory.com/file/ce60139/n/bae_pdf_eis_tws.pdf) claiming BAe's TWS features 640x480 resolution and in 2010 brochure it's claimed GRSS' QSight has up to 4 times resolution of the TWS.
What's GEN II res (couldn't find it)?

Also, in 2010 brochure, BAe is quite clear that video streaming works:
"GRSS takes a “line-out” signal from a thermal weapon sight (TWS) and displays it on the Q-Sight display directly in the gunner’s line of sight, relieving him of having to look directly through the TWS viewfinder — like watching a camera on a remote-mounted screen."

So, let me rephrase...can the VSI's GEN II do something else, apart from projecting video stream and HUD symbology (what the GRSS can do too)?
I mean, QSight looks like a way more intelligent (higher tech) solution...

Latency has to do with the shipboard computers and image generators and the clarity has to do with the pixel count of the image projectors. The smaller the unit, the lower the clarity due to lower umber of pixels.

Already noted.
However, QSight seems to be operational in GRSS system and apparently works fine, so do you base your concerns on something solid, or just a hunch?

[spazsinbad]

Let us hope that via this report seen above things get fixed pronto: (yeah I know the grass is always greener elsewhere as in the alternate ejection seat [after MB won]). Youse yanks really know how to hold a competition.

Lockheed: F-35's Major Problems Whittled To 1 (NAVY TIMES 10 OCT 11) ... Dave Majumdar

http://hrana.org/news.asp#Lockheed

"F-35 maker Lockheed Martin said it has a handle on all of the plane's remaining technical problems except the insufficiently sharp night-vision display in the pilot's helmet...."

[fang]

I noticed the pilots of BF-02 and BF-04 onboard USS Wasp got white helmets.
Are they different from the blacks?

[spazsinbad]

If you open the .JPG in your browser and zoom you will see:
[2nd photo contrast changed to show helmet gubbins better]
[3rd photo zoomed to second distant chap] Looks like HMDS to me.
[Last photo: http://www.vsi-hmcs.com/images/Products ... 5GENII.jpg]

http://www.navy.mil/management/photodb/ ... 34-508.jpg

"111015-N-UM734-508 ATLANTIC OCEAN (Oct 15, 2011) BF-02, front, and BF-04, two Marine Corps variants of the F-35B Lighting II Joint Strike Fighter, are secured on the flight deck of the amphibious assault ship USS Wasp (LHD 1) during sea trials. The F-35B is capable of short takeoffs and vertical landings for use on amphibious ships or expeditionary airfields to provide air power to the Marine Air Ground Task Force. (U.S. Navy photo By Mass Communication Specialist 1st Class Tommy Lamkin/Released)"