External Vision System Picture-in-Picture for Military Vehicles
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current external vision and weapon aiming systems for military vehicles face challenges in quickly detecting and identifying potential threats due to limited screen size and difficulty in switching between different sensor images, particularly in hostile environments.
Innovation Solution
An external vision and weapon aiming system equipped with two sensors capturing images in different spectral bands, an electronic processing unit implementing image enhancement and picture-in-picture functionalities, and a user interface that displays enhanced video streams to facilitate rapid threat detection and identification by overlaying processed sub-images without obstructing the aiming reticle.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Area of stationary object
If the screen size is increased to improve threat detection and identification, then the viewing quality and information display are improved, but the space available in the crew compartment is limited
Solution Approach 1:
The system transitions from a single-plane display to a multi-layered information presentation. The picture-in-picture functionality creates nested display layers where enhanced sub-images are embedded within the main video stream, effectively adding a temporal and spatial dimension to the limited screen real estate without requiring physical screen expansion.
Solution Approach 2:
The display information is segmented into hierarchical components: the main video stream provides overall situational awareness, while picture-in-picture sub-images provide detailed enhanced views of specific regions. This segmentation allows multiple information layers to coexist on the same screen area, effectively increasing information density without expanding physical screen size.
2Loss of information
If multiple sensor images are displayed simultaneously to improve threat detection, then the information availability is improved, but the difficulty of switching between images and processing complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The system performs preliminary processing of sensor images by pre-defining regions of interest and pre-generating enhanced sub-images before they are needed for display. The electronic processing unit continuously processes and stores enhanced versions of critical image regions, so when a user needs detailed information about a specific area, the enhanced sub-image is already prepared and can be immediately displayed without real-time processing delays.
Solution Approach 2:
The system extracts only the most relevant portions of the full sensor images for detailed display. Instead of processing and displaying entire high-resolution images from multiple sensors, the electronic processing unit identifies and extracts specific regions of interest (defined by aiming reticles or user selection) and generates enhanced sub-images only for those extracted portions, significantly reducing processing complexity while maintaining information availability.
3Measurement precision
If the screen displays enhanced sub-images to improve threat identification, then the detection capability is improved, but the aiming reticle viewing may be obstructed
Solution Approach 1:
The display system applies local quality enhancement by placing picture-in-picture sub-images in specific peripheral regions of the screen rather than distributing information uniformly. The enhanced sub-images are positioned in corners or edges where they provide detailed threat identification information without interfering with the central aiming reticle display. This local placement strategy ensures that critical aiming information remains unobstructed while still providing enhanced detail where it is most needed for threat assessment.
Data Source
AI summary
The invention regards an external vision and/or weapon aiming system (1) for a military land vehicle and/or a military naval unit. The system comprises: two sensors (11, 12) configured to capture video streams of a same external scene, each in a respective spectral band; an electronic processing unit (13) configured to insert a respective aiming reticle in the images of each captured video stream, thereby generating a corresponding pre-processed video stream, and to process the two pre-processed video streams; and a user interface (14) configured to display a video stream received from the electronic processing unit (13). The system is characterized in that the electronic processing unit (13) is configured to process the two pre-processed video streams by means of image enhancement and picture-in-picture functionalities, thereby generating first and second enhanced video streams.