Access to digital information is critical to modern defense missions. Sophisticated sensor systems are capable of acquiring and analyzing significant data, but ultimately this information must be presented to the user in a clear and convenient manner. Head-Worn Displays (HWDs) offer one means of providing this digital information. Unfortunately, conventional HWDs occupy significant volume and have serious performance limitations. To truly offer a seamless man/machine interface, the display must be able to provide a wide array of information in a manner that enhances situation awareness without interfering with normal vision. Providing information anywhere in the eye's field of view at resolutions comparable to normal vision is critical to providing meaningful information and alerts. Furthermore, the HWD must not be bulky, heavy, or consume significant power. Achieving these goals of the ideal wearable display has eluded optical designers for decades. This paper discusses the novel approach being developed under DARPA's SCENICC program to create a high resolution HWD based on using advanced contact lenses. This approach exploits the radically different concept of enhancing the eye's normal focus accommodation function to enable direct viewing of high resolution, wide field of view transparent image surfaces placed directly in front of the eye. Integrating optical components into contact lenses eliminates all of the bulky imaging optics from the HWD itself creating a high performance wearable display in a standard protective eyewear form factor. The resulting quantum advance in HWD performance will enable HWD's to expand well beyond their current limited rolls.

Gentex Corporation is nearing completion of the developmental and operational test phase of the Helmet Mounted Integrated Targeting (HMIT) contract with the Air National Guard and Air Force Reserve. The HMIT program involves qualification and installation of the Scorpion Helmet Mounted Cueing System (HMCS) Color Helmet Mounted Display (HMD) in both the A-10C and F-16C Block 30 aircraft. This paper discusses the program status and results.

Gentex Corporation, under contract to Naval Air Systems Command (AIR 4.0T), designed the Advanced Helmet Vision System to provide aircrew with 24-hour, visor-projected binocular night vision and HMD capability. AHVS integrates numerous key technologies, including high brightness Light Emitting Diode (LED)-based digital light engines, advanced lightweight optical materials and manufacturing processes, and innovations in graphics processing software. This paper reviews the current status of miniaturization and integration with the latest two-part Gentex modular helmet, highlights the lessons learned from previous AHVS phases, and discusses plans for qualification and flight testing.

This paper describes the development and demonstration of a soldier-worn augmented reality system testbed that provides intuitive 'heads-up' visualization of tactically-relevant geo-registered icons. Our system combines a robust soldier pose estimation capability with a helmet mounted see-through display to accurately overlay geo-registered iconography (i.e., navigation waypoints, blue forces, aircraft) on the soldier's view of reality. Applied Research Associates (ARA), in partnership with BAE Systems and the University of North Carolina - Chapel Hill (UNC-CH), has developed this testbed system in Phase 2 of the DARPA ULTRA-Vis (Urban Leader Tactical, Response, Awareness, and Visualization) program. The ULTRA-Vis testbed system functions in unprepared outdoor environments and is robust to numerous magnetic disturbances. We achieve accurate and robust pose estimation through fusion of inertial, magnetic, GPS, and computer vision data acquired from helmet kit sensors. Icons are rendered on a high-brightness, 40°×30° field of view see-through display. The system incorporates an information management engine to convert CoT (Cursor-on-Target) external data feeds into mil-standard icons for visualization. The user interface provides intuitive information display to support soldier navigation and situational awareness of mission-critical tactical information.

Helmet mounted displays have not been supported with adequate methods and materials to validate and verify the performance of the underlying tracking systems when tested in a simulated or operational environment. Like most electronic systems on aircraft, HMDs evolve over the lifecycle of the system due to requirements changes or diminishing manufacturing sources. Hardware and software bugs are often introduced as the design evolves and it is necessary to revalidate a systems performance attributes over the course of these design changes. An on-aircraft test has been developed and refined to address this testing gap for the Joint Helmet Mounted Cueing System (JHMCS) on F-16 aircraft. This test can be readily ported to other aircraft systems which employ the JHMCS, and has already been ported to the F-18. Additionally, this test method could provide an added value in the testing of any HMD that requires accurate cueing, whether used on fixed or rotary wing aircraft.

As we near the ability in microdisplay technology development to surpass the resolution of the human eye, it is worth reviewing this remarkable sensor to better understand where future needs may be. In this paper we review the human eye and then compare current and future trending applications for helmet mounted displays. We aim to show best practices for development of new and innovative displays that work with the human rather than against the human.

Today, warfighters are burdened by a web of cables linking technologies that span the head and torso regions of the body. These cables help to provide interoperability between helmet-worn peripherals such as head mounted displays (HMDs), cameras, and communication equipment with chest-worn computers and radios. Although promoting enhanced capabilities, this cabling also poses snag hazards and makes it difficult for the warfighter to extricate himself from his kit when necessary. A newly developed wireless personal area network (WPAN), one that uses optical transceivers, may prove to be an acceptable alternative to traditional cabling. Researchers at the Air Force Research Laboratory's 711th Human Performance Wing are exploring how best to mount the WPAN transceivers to the body in order to facilitate unimpeded data transfer while also maintaining the operator's natural range of motion. This report describes the two-step research process used to identify the performance limitations and usability of a body-worn optical wireless system. Firstly, researchers characterized the field of view for the current generation of optical WPAN transceivers. Then, this field of view was compared with anthropometric data describing the range of motion of the cervical vertebrae to see if the data link would be lost at the extremes of an operator's head movement. Finally, this report includes an additional discussion of other possible military applications for an optical WPAN.

The desire to augment human performance with additional information and sensing capabilities remains great and is perhaps becoming even more desirable as witnessed by the recent initiation of a few large technology development programs. Considerable advances have been made recently on focal planes that could possibly be used in bodymounted sensing. Advances in optical technology yielded the potential for lighter and smaller objective and eyepiece lenses. However, the systems engineering implications of these new focal planes, optics, displays, and performance augmentation technologies have not been adequately considered. This paper will examine engineering trades in body-mounted sensing. Issues such as sensor resolution, the use of color, body supported loads, power, processing and computational power, along with offensive and defensive capabilities will be considered. A case for the replacement of traditional, piece-wise system development with integrated body-mounted system development will also be presented.

We developed a 0.61'' diagonal OLED microdisplay dedicated to electronic viewfinders for digital vision systems, e.g. for security or other professional applications. The microdisplay has a very high resolution of 5.4 million subpixels and combines excellent image quality with low power consumption and a 10bit per color digital input. Subpixel pitch is 4.7x4.7μm². Thanks to the versatile architecture of the underlying ASIC circuit, the device can be easily adapted to different applications and image formats: In the standard full color version, the resulting resolution is 1300 by 1044 pixels (SXGA). In a monochrome version, the resolution is 2600 by 2088 independent pixels, enabling e.g. digital night vision at full 2K by 2K resolution. In addition to this, we developed two- and three color versions of the display that allow to merge high resolution monochrome images e.g.in 2K by 2K resolution with lower resolution images e.g., from an infrared sensor for image fusion or for adding colored graphical overlays.

The US Army and eMagin Corporation established a Cooperative Research and Development Agreement (CRADA) to characterize the ongoing improvements in the lifetime of OLED displays. This CRADA also called for the evaluation of OLED performance as the need arises, especially when new products are developed or when a previously untested parameter needs to be understood. In 2006, eMagin Corporation developed long-life OLED-XL devices for use in their AMOLED microdisplays for head-worn applications. Through Research and Development programs from 2007 to 2011 with the US Government, eMagin made additional improvements in OLED life and developed the first SXGA (1280 X 1024 triad pixels) and WUXGA (1920 X 1200) OLED microdisplays. US Army RDECOM CERDEC NVESD conducted life and performance tests on these displays, publishing results at the 2011, 2010, 2009, 2008, and 2007 SPIE Defense, Security and Sensing Symposia1,2,3,4,5. Life and performance tests have continued through 2012, and this data will be presented along with a recap of previous data. This should result in a better understanding of the applicability of AMOLEDs in military and commercial head mounted systems by determining where good fits are made and where further development might be desirable.

Currently, the topics about HUD systems are strongly going inside on the automobile industries; consequently, there have been proposed new ways to understand and apply this technology in an economically viable way. To contribute to this situation, this paper presents a case study which sets out key parameters that should be considered on the design of an HUD, how can be configured these parameters, and how they are related. Finally, it is presented an optical design alternative that meets the main requirements of an HUD system applied to mid-range automobiles. There are several ways to cover the development and construction of HUD systems, the method here proposed is raised to provide and to understand the factors involved in this technology and the popularization of it on the automobile industry.

Applying optical waveguide technology to head mounted display (HMD) solutions has the key goal of providing the user with improved tactical situational awareness by providing information and imagery in an easy to use form which also maintains compatibility with current night vision devices and also enables the integration of future night vision devices. The benefits of waveguide technology in HMDs have seen a number of alternative waveguide display technologies and configurations emerge for Head mounted Display applications. BAE System's presented one such technology in 2009 [1] and this is now in production for a range of Helmet Mounted Display products. This paper outlines the key design drivers for aviators Helmet Mounted Displays, provides an update of holographic Optical Waveguide Technology and its maturation into compact, lightweight Helmet Mounted Displays products for aviation and non-aviation applications. Waveguide displays have proved too be a radical enabling technology which allows higher performance display devices solutions to be created in a revolutionary way. It has also provided the user with see through daylight readable displays, offering the combination of very large eye box and excellent real world transmission in a compact format. Holographic Optical Waveguide is an optical technology which reduces size and mass whilst liberating the designer from many of the constraints inherent in conventional optical solutions. This technology is basically a way of moving light without the need for a complex arrangement of conventional lenses. BAE Systems has exploited this technology in the Q-Sight^TM family of scalable Helmet Mounted Displays; allowing the addition of capability as it is required in a flexible, low-cost way The basic monocular Q-Sight^TM architecture has been extended to offer wide field of view, monochrome and full colour HMD solution for rotary wing, fast jet and solider system applications. In its basic form Q-Sight^TM now offers plug-and-play solutions into any cockpit with either Analogue (stroke) or Digital Video Interface (DVI) connections. This offers a significant upgrade opportunity to those users currently struggling with cumbersome legacy CRT using conventional glass optical lenses.

Helmet-Mounted Displays have been shown to be powerful tools that can unlock the pilot from the interior of the cockpit or the forward line of sight of the Head-Up Display. Imagery that is presented in one of three reference frames can enable the pilots to do their job more effectively while simultaneously decreasing workload. This paper will review key attributes of Situation Awareness, the Observe/Orient/Decide/Act (OODA) Loop and Sensemaking and how HMDs can aid the pilot in achieving these ideal cognitive states.

Military helicopter operations encounter degraded visual environments (DVE) on a regular basis. A DVE exists when conditions of low visibility, including those caused by rotor downwash in sand/dust ("brown-out"), snow ("whiteout"/ snowball) or water, obscure both horizon and terrain features. DVE conditions have contributed to the loss of numerous helicopter crews and vehicles in desert operations, including a CH-146 crash during take-off. In Canadian helicopter operations over the past 25 years, "snowball" related events (2 accidents and 54 incidents) outnumbered brown-out related events. A NATO Task Group suggested that specific landing symbology systems could provide an immediate short-term solution that will improve situation awareness and reduce the occurrence of mishaps. This paper describes two symbology systems that were developed and the planned evaluation of these under the Degraded Visual Environment Solution for TacHel (DVEST) Program.

There has been significant research completed attempting to optimize the portrayal of ownship attitude information (OAI) via the Helmet-Mounted Display and, there has simultaneously been resistance by the user community regarding the inclusion of OAI. The stated reason is usually because they find it unnecessary. This paper includes a review of both sides of this discussion and attempts to make the case that, similar to the evolution of the Head-Up Display as a primary flight reference, there are likely operational performance and safety-of-flight reasons to justify off-axis OAI within even limited field-of-view applications.

In order to optimize system performance and minimize cost for a system to fill capability gaps, an improvement to rapid insertion of innovative display and peripheral technology is required to take advantage of human-machine intersections. Current approaches to testing and integration impedes successful rapid insertion of innovative technology for new systems and incremental upgrades. Considerations to innovative displays and peripherals must occur further to the left of the lifecycle to be successful and key integration areas must be address for success.

A commercially available 15-inch active-matrix organic light-emitting diode (AMOLED) television was modified to include a sunlight-readable resistive touch panel for technical evaluation with regard to a variety of rugged military and aerospace applications. By removing the circular polarizer (CP) from the AMOLED and relying on the touch panel's CP, the authors were able to minimize change in display luminance while adding touch capability and reducing reflectance.

The introduction of the Next Generation Air Transportation System (NextGen) initiative by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) will impose new requirements for cockpit avionics. A similar program is also taking place in Europe by the European Organisation for the Safety of Air Navigation (Eurocontrol) called the Single European Sky Air Traffic Management Research (SESAR) initiative. NextGen will require aircraft to utilize Automatic Dependent Surveillance-Broadcast (ADS-B) in/out technology, requiring substantial changes to existing cockpit display systems. There are two ways that aircraft operators can upgrade their aircraft in order to utilize ADS-B technology. The first is to replace existing primary flight displays with new displays that are ADS-B compatible. The second, less costly approach is to install an advanced Class 3 Electronic Flight Bag (EFB) system. The installation of Class 3 EFBs in the cockpit will allow aircraft operators to utilize ADS-B technology in a lesser amount of time with a decreased cost of implementation and will provide additional benefits to the operator. This paper describes a Class 3 EFB, the Nexis^TM Flight-Intelligence System, which has been designed to allow users a direct interface with NextGen avionics sensors while additionally providing the pilot with all the necessary information to meet NextGen requirements.

In many cockpits, control display units (CDUs) are vital input and information devices. In order to improve the usability of these devices, Barco, in cooperation with TU-Delft, created a touch screen control unit (TSCU), consisting of a high-quality multi-touch screen. The unit fits in the standard dimensions of a conventional CDU and is thus suitable for both retrofit and new installations. The TSCU offers two major advantages. First, the interface can be reconfigured to enable consecutive execution of several tasks on the same display area, allowing for a more efficient usage of the limited display real-estate as well as a potential reduction of cost. Secondly, advanced graphical interface design, in combination with multi-touch gestures, can improve human-machine interaction. To demonstrate the capabilities of this concept, a graphical software application was developed to perform the same operations as a conventional CDU, but now using a direct manipulation interface (DMI) of the displayed graphics. The TSCU can still be used in a legacy CDU mode, displaying a virtual keyboard operated with the touch interface. In addition, the TSCU could be used for a variety of other cockpit functions. The paper concludes with a report of pilot and non-pilot feedback.

As focal plane array technologies advance and imagers increase in resolution, display technology must outpace the imaging improvements in order to adequately represent the complete data collection. Typical display devices tend to have an aspect ratio similar to 4:3 or 16:9, however a breed of Wide Field of View (WFOV) imaging devices exist that skew from the norm with aspect ratios as high as 5:1. This particular quality, when coupled with a high spatial resolution, presents a unique challenge for display devices. Standard display devices must choose between resizing the image data to fit the display and displaying the image data in native resolution and truncating potentially important information. The problem compounds when considering the applications; WFOV high-situationalawareness imagers are sought for space-limited military vehicles. Tradeoffs between these issues are assessed to the image quality of the WFOV sensor.

NASA is developing a new generation of audio system for astronauts. The idea is to use directional speakers and microphone arrays. However, since the helmet environment is very reverberant, the inbound signals in the directional speaker may still enter the outbound path (microphone array), resulting in an annoying positive feedback loop. To improve the communication quality between astronauts, it is necessary to develop a digital filtering system to minimize the interactions between inbound and outbound signals. In this paper, we will present the following results. First, we set up experiments under three scenarios: office, bowl, and helmet. Experiments were then performed. Second, 3 adaptive filters known as normalized least mean square (NLMS), affine projection (AP), and recursive least square (RLS) were applied to the experimental data. We also developed a new frequency domain adaptive filter called FDAFSS (frequency domain adaptive filter (FDAF) with spectral subtraction (SS)), which is a combination of FDAF and SS. FDAFSS was compared with LMS, AP, RLS, FDAF, and SS filters and FDAFSS yielded better performance in terms of perceptual speech quality (PESQ). Moreover, FDAFSS is fast and can yield uniform convergence across different frequency bands.

Biocular vehicle display optics is a fast collimating lens (f / # < 0.9) that presents the image of the display at infinity to both eyes of the viewer. Each eye captures the scene independently and the brain merges the two images into one through the overlapping portions of the images. With the recent conversion from analog CRT based displays to lighter, more compact active-matrix organic light-emitting diodes (AMOLED) digital image sources, display optical designs have evolved to take advantage of the higher resolution AMOLED image sources. To maximize the field of view of the display optics and fully resolve the smaller pixels, the digital image source is pre-magnified by relay optics or a coherent taper fiber optics plate. Coherent taper fiber optics plates are used extensively to: 1. Convert plano focal planes to spherical focal planes in order to eliminate Petzval field curvature. This elimination enables faster lens speed and/or larger field of view of eye pieces, display optics. 2. Provide pre-magnification to lighten the work load of the optics to further increase the numerical aperture and/or field of view. 3. Improve light flux collection efficiency and field of view by collecting all the light emitted by the image source and guiding imaging light bundles toward the lens aperture stop. 4. Reduce complexity of the optical design and overall packaging volume by replacing pre-magnification optics with a compact taper fiber optics plate. This paper will review and compare the performance of biocular vehicle display designs without and with taper fiber optics plate.

While initial AM OLED products have been introduced in the market about a decade ago, truly successful commercialization of OLEDs has started only a couple of years ago, by Samsung Mobile Display (SMD), with small high performance displays for smart phone applications. This success by Samsung has catalyzed significant interest in AM OLED technology advancement and commercialization by other display manufacturers. Currently, significant manufacturing capacity for AM OLED displays is being established by the industry to serve the growing demand for these displays. The current development in the AM OLED industry are now focused on the development and commercialization of medium size (~10") AM OLED panels for Tablet PC applications and large size (~55") panels for TV applications. This significant progress in commercialization of AM OLED technology is enabled by major advances in various enabling technologies that include TFT backplanes, OLED materials and device structures and manufacturing know-how. In this paper we will discuss these recent advances, particularly as they relate to supporting high performance applications such as aerospace and military systems, and then discuss the results of the OLED testing for aerospace applications.

As part of its continuing effort to improve both the resolution and optical performance of AMOLED microdisplays, eMagin has recently developed an SXGA (1280×3×1024) microdisplay under a US Army RDECOM CERDEC NVESD contract that combines the world's smallest OLED pixel pitch with an ultra-high brightness green OLED emitter. This development is aimed at next-generation HMD systems with "see-through" and daylight imaging requirements. The OLED pixel array is built on a 0.18-micron CMOS backplane and contains over 4 million individually addressable pixels with a pixel pitch of 2.7 × 8.1 microns, resulting in an active area of 0.52 inches diagonal. Using both spatial and temporal enhancement, the display can provide over 10-bits of gray-level control for high dynamic range applications. The new pixel design also enables the future implementation of a full-color QSXGA (2560 × RGB × 2048) microdisplay in an active area of only 1.05 inch diagonal. A low-power serialized low-voltage-differential-signaling (LVDS) interface is integrated into the display for use as a remote video link for tethered systems. The new SXGA backplane has been combined with the high-brightness green OLED device developed by eMagin under an NVESD contract. This OLED device has produced an output brightness of more than 8000fL with all pixels on; lifetime measurements are currently underway and will presented at the meeting. This paper will describe the operational features and first optical and electrical test results of the new SXGA demonstrator microdisplay.

In hybrid vehicles, electric motors are used on each wheel to not only propel the car but also to decelerate the car by acting as generators. In the case of the human body, muscles spend about half of their time acting as a brake, absorbing energy, or doing what is known as negative work. Using dielectric elastomers it is possible to use the "braking" phases of walking to generate power without restricting or fatiguing the Warfighter. Infoscitex and SRI have developed and demonstrated methods for using electroactive polymers (EAPs) to tap into the negative work generated at the knee during the deceleration phase of the human gait cycle and convert it into electrical power that can be used to support wearable information systems, including display and communication technologies. The specific class of EAP that has been selected for these applications is termed dielectric elastomers. Because dielectric elastomers dissipate very little mechanical energy into heat, greater amounts of energy can be converted into electricity than by any other method. The long term vision of this concept is to have EAP energy harvesting cells located in components of the Warfighter ensemble, such as the boot uppers, knee pads and eventually even the clothing itself. By properly locating EAPs at these sites it will be possible to not only harvest power from the negative work phase but to actually reduce the amount of work done by the Warfighter's muscles during this phase, thereby reducing fatigue and minimizing the forces transmitted to the joints.

Modern crisis management requires that users with different roles and computer environments have to deal with a high volume of various data from different sources. For this purpose, Fraunhofer IOSB has developed a geographic information system (GIS) which supports the user depending on available data and the task he has to solve. The system provides merging and visualization of spatial data from various civilian and military sources. It supports the most common spatial data standards (OGC, STANAG) as well as some proprietary interfaces, regardless if these are filebased or database-based. To set the visualization rules generic Styled Layer Descriptors (SLDs) are used, which are an Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC) standard. SLDs allow specifying which data are shown, when and how. The defined SLDs consider the users' roles and task requirements. In addition it is possible to use different displays and the visualization also adapts to the individual resolution of the display. Too high or low information density is avoided. Also, our system enables users with different roles to work together simultaneously using the same data base. Every user is provided with the appropriate and coherent spatial data depending on his current task. These so refined spatial data are served via the OGC services Web Map Service (WMS: server-side rendered raster maps), or the Web Map Tile Service - (WMTS: pre-rendered and cached raster maps).

The retrofitting of a cockpit with a Head-Up-Display (HUD) raises potential accommodation and perceptual issues for pilots that must be addressed. For maximum optical efficiency, the goal is to be able to place every pilot's eye into the HUD Eye Motion Box (EMB) given a seat adjustment range. Initially, the Eye Reference Point (ERP) of the EMB should theoretically be located on the aircraft's original cockpit Design Eye Point (DEP), but human postures vary, and HUD systems may not be optimally placed. In reality, there is a distribution of pilot eyes around the DEP (which is dominant eye dependent); therefore, this must be accounted for in order to obtain appropriate visibility of all of the symbology based on photonic characteristics of the HUD. Pilot size and postural variation need to be taken into consideration when positioning the HUD system to ensure proper vision of all HUD symbology in addition to meeting the basic physical accommodation requirements of the cockpit. The innovative process and data collection methods for maximizing accommodation and pilot perception on a new "tactical airlift" platform are discussed as well as the related neurocognitive factors and the effects of information display design on cognitive phenomena.

This work reviews the human factors-related literature on the task performance implications of stereoscopic 3D displays, in order to point out the specific performance benefits (or lack thereof) one might reasonably expect to observe when utilizing these displays. What exactly is 3D good for? Relative to traditional 2D displays, stereoscopic displays have been shown to enhance performance on a variety of depth-related tasks. These tasks include judging absolute and relative distances, finding and identifying objects (by breaking camouflage and eliciting perceptual "pop-out"), performing spatial manipulations of objects (object positioning, orienting, and tracking), and navigating. More cognitively, stereoscopic displays can improve the spatial understanding of 3D scenes or objects, improve memory/recall of scenes or objects, and improve learning of spatial relationships and environments. However, for tasks that are relatively simple, that do not strictly require depth information for good performance, where other strong cues to depth can be utilized, or for depth tasks that lie outside the effective viewing volume of the display, the purported performance benefits of 3D may be small or altogether absent. Stereoscopic 3D displays come with a host of unique human factors problems including the simulator-sickness-type symptoms of eyestrain, headache, fatigue, disorientation, nausea, and malaise, which appear to effect large numbers of viewers (perhaps as many as 25% to 50% of the general population). Thus, 3D technology should be wielded delicately and applied carefully; and perhaps used only as is necessary to ensure good performance.

Polaris Sensor Technologies has developed numerous 3D display systems using a US Army patented approach. These displays have been developed as prototypes for handheld controllers for robotic systems and closed hatch driving, and as part of a TALON robot upgrade for 3D vision, providing depth perception for the operator for improved manipulation and hazard avoidance. In this paper we discuss the prototype rugged 3D laptop computer and its applications to defense missions. The prototype 3D laptop combines full temporal and spatial resolution display with the rugged Amrel laptop computer. The display is viewed through protective passive polarized eyewear, and allows combined 2D and 3D content. Uses include robot tele-operation with live 3D video or synthetically rendered scenery, mission planning and rehearsal, enhanced 3D data interpretation, and simulation.

CoaXPress is a new standard for high-speed video over coax cabling developed for the machine vision industry. CoaXPress includes both a physical layer and a video protocol. The physical layer has desirable features for aerospace and defense applications: it allows 3Gbps (up to 6Gbps) communication, includes 21Mbps return path allowing for bidirectional communication, and provides up to 13W of power, all over a single coax connection. ARINC 818, titled "Avionics Digital Video Bus" is a protocol standard developed specifically for high speed, mission critical aerospace video systems. ARINC 818 is being widely adopted for new military and commercial display and sensor applications. The ARINC 818 protocol combined with the CoaXPress physical layer provide desirable characteristics for many aerospace systems. This paper presents the results of a technology demonstration program to marry the physical layer from CoaXPress with the ARINC 818 protocol. ARINC 818 is a protocol, not a physical layer. Typically, ARINC 818 is implemented over fiber or copper for speeds of 1 to 2Gbps, but beyond 2Gbps, it has been implemented exclusively over fiber optic links. In many rugged applications, a copper interface is still desired, by implementing ARINC 818 over the CoaXPress physical layer, it provides a path to 3 and 6 Gbps copper interfaces for ARINC 818. Results of the successful technology demonstration dubbed ARINC 818 Express are presented showing 3Gbps communication while powering a remote module over a single coax cable. The paper concludes with suggested next steps for bring this technology to production readiness.

The military display market is analyzed in terms of four of its segments: avionics, vetronics, dismounted soldier, and command and control. Requirements are summarized for a number of technology-driving parameters, to include luminance, night vision imaging system compatibility, gray levels, resolution, dimming range, viewing angle, video capability, altitude, temperature, shock and vibration, etc., for direct-view and virtual-view displays in cockpits and crew stations. Technical specifications are discussed for selected programs.

This PDF file contains the front matter associated with SPIE Proceedings Volume 8383, including the Title Page, Copyright information, Table of Contents, Introduction, and Conference Committee listing.