Aircraft Head-Mounted Display Opacity Control
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
Current aircraft piloting systems limit the pilot's field of view by masking the external environment with redundant displays, making it difficult to optimize the visual field while ensuring primary information is readily available for piloting.
Innovation Solution
A display system with a wearable head-mounted display and an instrument panel featuring a portion with adjustable opacity, allowing the pilot to switch between head-up and head-down display modes based on the pilot's position, optimizing the field of view by controlling the opacity of the dashboard to display primary information in the head-up position and secondary information in the head-down position.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If redundant displays are installed in the cockpit to ensure primary information is always available, then the reliability of information display is improved, but the pilot's field of view is blocked and visual flight is hindered
Solution Approach 1:
The patent transitions the display interface from a traditional 2D instrument panel in front of the pilot to a 3D head-mounted display that follows the pilot's head movements. This dimensional change allows information to be presented in the pilot's peripheral vision without blocking the central field of view, resolving the contradiction between display reliability and visual flight capability.
Solution Approach 2:
The head-mounted display acts as an intermediary device between the pilot and the aircraft's information systems. Instead of the pilot directly viewing instrument panels that block the external environment, the intermediary HMD projects critical information into the pilot's field of view without requiring head-down positioning, thus maintaining both information reliability and visual flight capability.
2Ease of operation
If the pilot looks at the instrument panel to access information, then information accessibility is improved, but the pilot must lower their head which blocks the external environment and hinders visual flight
Solution Approach 1:
The display system dynamically adapts to the pilot's head position and orientation. The head-mounted display moves with the pilot's head and adjusts the displayed information based on head direction, allowing the pilot to access information without fixing the head in a downward position. This dynamic behavior enables information accessibility while maintaining external visibility for visual flight.
Solution Approach 2:
The head-mounted display serves multiple functions simultaneously: it provides primary flight information, maintains situational awareness, and does not require the pilot to choose between looking at instruments or the external environment. This multi-functionality integrates information accessibility with external visibility, eliminating the need to lower the head for instrument reading.
3Area of stationary object
If a head-mounted display is used to provide primary information without blocking the external view, then the pilot's field of view is improved, but the system complexity increases with additional hardware
Solution Approach 1:
The patent merges the display device with the pilot's existing headgear or helmet, integrating the HMD into the pilot's standard equipment. This merging approach reduces overall system complexity by combining multiple functions (display, head tracking, and integration with aircraft systems) into a single integrated unit rather than adding separate independent systems.
4Area of stationary object
If the instrument panel is made transparent to improve external visibility, then the field of view is improved, but the readability of displayed information decreases
Solution Approach 1:
Instead of making the instrument panel transparent to improve external visibility (which compromises information readability), the patent inverts the approach by projecting information directly into the pilot's field of view through the head-mounted display. This allows the instrument panel to remain opaque and fully readable while the HMD provides external visibility, effectively reversing which component serves which function.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
Enhances the pilot's field of view by providing unobstructed external visibility during visual flights while ensuring primary information is always accessible, and automatically switching to instrument flight mode if the wearable display fails, maintaining safety and readability.
Implementation Method 1
The wearable display can collimate the displayed images to infinity, or at least to a distance much greater than the distance between itself and the instrument panel, so that the pilot does not have to refocus their eyes to switch from the external view to reading the information displayed on the wearable display.
Data Source
Figure 1~2
AI summary
The present invention relates to a method of piloting assistance for an aircraft (1), the aircraft (1) comprising a display system (10) comprising a mounted display (15), said display system (10) comprising a display computer (30), said display system (10) comprising a positioning device (40) determining information relating to a field of vision of a user.The method includes the following steps implemented by the display computer (30): determining a transparent or opaque state of an adjustable opacity portion (35) of an adjustable opacity instrument panel (5), when said field of vision encompasses said portion (35) and said portion (35) is in an opaque state then commanding said mounted display (15) according to a first head-down display mode, when said field of vision encompasses said portion (35) and said portion (35) is in a transparent state then commanding said mounted display (15) according to a second head-down display mode.