Pilot cueing is a valuable use of Head Mounted Displays (HMDs) as it greatly helps the user to visually locate electronically identified targets. It is well known that a target which is hard to spot in the sky can be easily tracked and studied after it has been visually located. Transients, including sun glint, can reveal much about distant targets as they are visually studied. This is implicit in the "Visual Rules of Engagement". The term "Virtual Beyond Visual Range" has been coined to reflect the fact that optimized HMD cueing can extend visual identification to ranges previously covered only by radar data. The visual acquisition range can drop by a factor of three, however, when HMD image correlation errors expand the uncertainty zone a pilot must visually search. We have demonstrated that system errors, tolerable for off axis missile targeting, can produce this large drop in operational effectiveness. Studies using the Spectron SE1430 HMD analysis system have shown that errors of this magnitude can develop in current HMD models, and that these errors were neither identified by "ready room" tests nor were they correctable in the cockpit. The focus of this study was to develop affordable techniques to quantify the relationship of combat effectiveness to HMD defects for this and other advanced operating modes. When combined with field monitoring of HMD degradation, this makes economic optimization of the HMD supply/maintenance model possible while fulfilling operational mission requirements.
Automatic test and calibration has become a valuable feature in many consumer products--ranging from antilock braking systems to auto-tune TVs. This paper discusses HMDs (Helmet Mounted Displays) and how similar techniques can reduce life cycle costs and increase sustainable performance if they are integrated into a program early enough. Optical ATE (Automatic Test Equipment) is already zeroing distortion in the HMDs and thereby making binocular displays a practical reality. A suitcase sized, field portable optical ATE unit could re-zero these errors in the Ready Room to cancel the effects of aging, minor damage and component replacement. Planning on this would yield large savings through relaxed component specifications and reduced logistic costs. Yet, the sustained performance would far exceed that attained with fixed calibration strategies. Major tactical benefits can come from reducing display errors, particularly in information fusion modules and virtual `beyond visual range' operations. Some versions of the ATE described are in production and examples of high resolution optical test data will be discussed.
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