Enhanced Vision System Virtual Sphere for Crew Situational Awareness
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current enhanced vision systems for flight crews lack effective sharing of visual information among crew members and fail to maintain situational awareness of multiple targets, particularly in complex and dynamic environments, such as military operations, where rapid communication and broad area coverage are critical.
Innovation Solution
The integration of a virtual sphere within the enhanced vision system that includes synthetic imagery and sensor imagery, allowing multiple common view windows to be mapped within the synthetic imagery, enabling multiple users to independently monitor different views and share visual information, with virtual users and intelligent agents assisting human operators in tracking targets and detecting obstacles.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of operation
If a single turreted sensor system is used to follow the pilot's line of sight, then the pilot can see imagery in his line of sight, but all users can only see imagery in the pilot's line of sight and cannot independently monitor views in different directions
Solution Approach 1:
The system divides the single sensor resource into multiple virtual sensor systems, each assigned to different users. The sensor data is segmented and distributed to multiple workstations, allowing each user to have an independent view while sharing the same physical sensor resource.
Solution Approach 2:
A central image processor acts as an intermediary between the physical sensor and multiple users. This intermediary processes sensor data and distributes it to multiple workstations, enabling independent monitoring by different users without requiring separate physical sensors for each user.
2Reliability
If the entire turret rotates to follow the pilot's line of sight, then the pilot can continuously see imagery in his line of sight, but operator aides such as obstacle detection systems can only view imagery in that direction and cannot independently monitor other areas
Solution Approach 1:
The system segments the sensor's field of view and distributes different portions to different users. While the physical sensor remains stationary, the image processor divides the imagery so the pilot receives the view corresponding to his line of sight, while operator aides receive imagery from other directional sectors.
Solution Approach 2:
The system adds a virtual dimension to the physical sensor system by creating multiple virtual sensor viewpoints from a single physical sensor. This allows operator aides to monitor different directional sectors simultaneously without the physical turret rotating, maintaining continuous pilot view while enabling independent auxiliary monitoring.
3Area of stationary object
If multiple sensors are combined to provide broad area coverage, then the system can cover more area, but the complexity of stitching imagery together and fusing data from different modalities increases
Solution Approach 1:
The system creates a universal coordinate system that can handle multiple sensor modalities and viewpoints. This common reference frame allows imagery from different sensors and perspectives to be automatically registered and displayed without complex stitching, as all data is transformed into the unified virtual sphere coordinate system.
Solution Approach 2:
Instead of physically stitching together sensor imagery, the system creates a virtual copy of the scene in a spherical coordinate system. Multiple sensor inputs are mapped to this virtual representation, avoiding the need for complex real-time stitching while achieving seamless broad area coverage.
4Measurement precision
If a weapon operator focuses on a single target, then detailed target analysis is possible, but the operator cannot maintain situational awareness of multiple targets and may miss other targets moving under cover
Solution Approach 1:
The system segments the monitoring task by assigning different targets to different virtual sensor viewpoints. The weapon operator can switch between these virtual viewpoints to monitor multiple targets simultaneously, while maintaining detailed analysis capability on any individual target by focusing the appropriate virtual sensor on it.
Data Source
AI summary
A virtual sphere provided by an enhanced vision system includes synthetic imagery filling said virtual sphere and a common view window mapped to a dedicated position within the synthetic imagery. Imagery of the line of sight of a user is displayed in the common view window. By providing the common view window, visual communication between all users may be possible. By connecting a virtual user to the enhanced vision system and by displaying the imagery for the line of sight of the virtual user in the common view window, the workload of a human operator may be reduced and the time line of actions may be shortened. The enhanced vision system of the present invention may be used, but is not limited to, in a military aircraft to enhance the situational awareness of the flight crew.