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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-SightTM 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-SightTM 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-SightTM 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.
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