Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Computing/2014 September 26

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September 26

Augmented reality to make instrument flights visual?

Are any aircraft equipped with augmented reality systems that can project 3D models of the terrain or landing site onto the windshield, using instrument measurements of the craft's position and bearing, in case the pilot has to use instrument flight rules unexpectedly or without full training in IFR? NeonMerlin 18:12, 26 September 2014 (UTC)

Not that I know of. VFR pilots should carefully avoid being out alone in IFR conditions. IFR pilots create their own reality with GPS, compass and artificial horizon. --Mark viking (talk) 18:54, 26 September 2014 (UTC)

I recall such things being mentioned in a military context. This showed such things as threat 'envelopes', allowing the pilot to select a route to avoid detection and weapons. In those cases the image was projected onto a Helmet-mounted display not a windshield or Head-up display. I suppose such things usually originate with military aircraft, before moving into the civilian sector. The idea may have been usurped by the more frequent use of Drones and Unmanned combat aerial vehicles (UCAV). Helmet-mounted display may have more relevant information.

• It seems the Eurofighter Typhoon had something like your query designed for it, but it doesn't seem to be mentioned on the jets WP page as being in service, see BBC story from September 2012

• I found a website about the entire augmented reality topic [1] which may be of interest. And a leading company in this area is/was VSI Vision Systems International, mentioned in the BBC link above. Also see the abstract at "Augmented Reality in the Battlefield", unfortunately you have to buy the full report.

• Frequent ref. desk contributor @SteveBaker: may know more about this topic. ₪ 220 of ^Borg 00:07, 27 September 2014 (UTC)

Augmented_reality#Navigation has some specific information. It seems such systems have been tested by NASA on the NASA X-38, a Crew Return Vehicle. See abstract at "Delgado, F., Altman, S., Abernathy, M., White, J. Virtual Cockpit Window for the X-38, SPIE Enhanced and Synthetic Vision 2000, Orlando Florida, Proceedings of the SPIE, Vol. 4023, pages 63-70. doi:10.1117/12.389361 (subscription required) ¤ 220 of ^Borg 00:32, 27 September 2014 (UTC)

A friend of mine has a G500 with SVT that pretty much does what you're thinking. This stuff is cheap and available on the general aviation market! But having such instrumentation doesn't mean that it's acceptable to fly in to instrument meteorological conditions unless you're current and legal. Nimur (talk) 00:50, 27 September 2014 (UTC)

Quite a few military aircraft use Augmented Reality (AR) of one kind or another. The Apache helicopter projects infrared images into a monocular display. (See: Boeing_AH-64_Apache#Avionics_and_targeting) As the pilot turns his head, the camera swivels around to track where he's looking. This is used for targetting - so (in essence), the pilot looks at what he wants to shoot, and pulls the trigger...that's a pretty old system.

The F-35 has a system where the output of cameras are projected into the helmet to allow the pilot to look 'through' the structure of the airplane - it's also overlaid with symbology indicating where other aircraft are. Most of that stuff is classified though - so I don't know any details.

I'm not aware of any systems that project synthetic terrain or landing information onto the helmet...although many aircraft contain enough electronics and data to make that possible. In general, pilots feel happier about seeing the real world though sensors (radar, night-vision, infra-red, etc) than viewing synthetic information, which could (and often does) contain errors.

But there are systems that require that degree of confidence - there are is a variant of the F16 (used by the Dutch Airforce) that uses synthetic terrain information to drive the "terrain following" feature of the aircraft that allows it to fly close to the speed of sound 100 feet above the ground. They do that with synthetic data to avoid broadcasting their presence with active radar. It's kinda risky though - one error in the data and they could end up flying into a mountain. (When I was working on the simulation of this, I always joked that only the Dutch (with their notoriously flat country) would go for a system like that!)

SteveBaker (talk) 02:47, 27 September 2014 (UTC)