Wireless Communication Technology as applied to Head Mounted Display for a Tactical Fighter Pilot

摘要

The use of Helmet-Mounted Display/Tracker (HMD/Ts) is becoming widespread for air-to-air, within visual range target acquisition for a tactical fighter pilot. HMD/Ts provide the aircrew with a significant amount of information on the helmet, which reduces the burden of the aircrew from having to continually look down in the cockpit to receive information. HMD/Ts allow the aircrew to receive flight and targeting information regardless of line-of-sight, which should increase the aircrew's situation awareness and mission effectiveness. Current technology requires that a pilot wearing a Helmet Mounted Display/Tracker be connected to the aircraft with a cable. The design of this cable is complex, costly, and its use can decrease system reliability. Most of the problems associated with the use of cable can be alleviated by using wireless transmission for all signals. This will significantly reduce or eliminate the requirements of the interconnect cable/connector reducing system complexity, and cost, and enhancing system safety. A number of wireless communication technologies have been discussed in this paper and the rationale for selecting one particular technology for this application has been shown. The problems with this implementation and the direction of the future effort are outlined.