Smart Glasses....the next gen HUD?

[Guptar]

Could PFD data, engine, systems, terrain be incorporated in this?

Thoughts anyone.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bnfwClgheF0&t=303s

[Jimbo2Papa]

I suppose it could but why would you? With the trend towards increasingly large acreages of glass on the panel slightly more than a foot away in front of you.

I suppose they could be used in some capacity for the walkaround, inspection of hardware by engineers able to call up data, etc

[KayPam]

Actually it's currently in development and being used :
You are being redirected... (http://elbitsystems.com/pr-new/elbit-systems-skylens-wearable-hud-begins-flying-final-configuration-onboard-atr-7242-aircraft/)

It's a bit ridiculous and doesn't work very well, though.

[KRviator]

This mob (https://glass.aero/) have been developing a GA version for the last few years. The new video isn't as flash as their earlier one, but AR certainly has a place in aviation, IMHO.

[EEngr]

Actually it's currently in development and being usedI think what you are seeing there is a synthetic vision system Where the image has to track the users head movement and direction of gaze. So as to overlay a video image over the 'real world'. Tough to do, bulky and expensive.

The simpler HUD display being developed by Intel could display some of the interesting glass cockpit information without the need to overlay it on the outside scenery. But then how much use is repeating that info up into someone's field of view when it's already right there on the instrument panel already?

[ZFT]

I have some insight to the ATR system and the major ongoing expense will be with the database to support the system.

Unless you operate in an environment where this system is going to allow you more sectors, I can't see the economics

[Denti]

Virtual reality headsets have been tested in flight a very long way ago already, the DLR used a Do 27 with a (back then) high performance silicon graphics setup to fly low level based on a VR headset, of course with a safety pilot. That system, if memory serves right, integrated a very detailed database and live data from millimeter radar sensors.

I guess nowadays the focus is more on augmented reality, digital information as correctly positioned overlay to the outside world. Including, but not limited, the normal information on a HUD, just without any, or at least much wider, viewing angle restrictions. And the possibility to integrate systems like EVS, synthetic vision, airspace structure and intruder position. However, current systems are still in the ver early stages and are not really practical, that could change though. But then change is extremely slow in commercial aviation.

[RudderTrimZero]

I suppose it could but why would you? With the trend towards increasingly large acreages of glass on the panel slightly more than a foot away in front of you.Simply not happening in commercial aviation to the degree it should be. Airbus just launched the A319/20/21 NEO with screens from the year 2005 and symbol generators from 1986 and what Boeing is producing now has been on GA and BizJets for 10 years already. This invention has the capability to show us a myriad of information without a single modification of the avionics systems which can cost billions to get approval for.

[GlobalNav]

If the head worn display is meant to perform tasks that today's HUD's do, a highly accurate and low latency head tracking system is needed, as someone else mentioned, to keep the position and motion of spatially-referenced items properly scaled and aligned to the outside view. Not trivial.

Also not trivial is the design of display modes to cope with on-axis and off-axis viewing angles, the dynamics of the same, while not contributing to pilot confusion and/or distraction.

The possibilities are very attractive, once the human factors are properly sorted. For every cool thing you can do, there is typically a good reason not to, or at least not to do without very careful testing.

[Jimbo2Papa]

This invention has the capability to show us a myriad of information without a single modification of the avionics systems which can cost billions to get approval for.

If you're not making modifications to the avionics then what are the glasses going to be able to show you that you can't already see on the panel at the end of your nose?

[RudderTrimZero]

All the other stuff! (look at the link to glass.aero)

[Denti]

If you're not making modifications to the avionics then what are the glasses going to be able to show you that you can't already see on the panel at the end of your nose?

One-way out information of the FMC(G) is already used for several applications, from passenger information systems to EFB installations, so that information is actually available without further modification to the avionics. Quite a lot of other stuff could be kept outside the certified avionics suite and therefore updated much more frequently and fed into the glasses.

Yes, most stuff is already displayed on the panels, same as it is on HUD equipped airplanes. Still there is apparently a big case for their use and some OEMs have elected to make them mandatory equipment on their planes, while many airlines use the customer option on other planes for apparently good reasons. However, HUD installations are quite expensive, software updates are slow and expensive as well as they are part of of the aircraft certification process. As with EFBs that could happen much faster on external systems like an add-on head mounted display unit.

[Jimbo2Papa]

Ummm,

"...80 Knots...V1....Rota...Wait a minute, just got to read this Tweet..."

KISS

[esscee]

But why? Not needed, just a "nice to have".

[GlobalNav]

Denti

The picture makes it look like an “add-on” that wouldn’t need certification like a HUD does. That would be a huge mistake if we care about safety.

[Jimbo2Papa]

esscee

Don't know what you have in front of you in the cockpit when you fly - or indeed, what cockpit you fly in, but for me; the less, the better. I just want what's in front of me to tell the story accurately.
Everything else is a distraction - and therefore a hazard.
The aircraft designers have carefully designed the instruments in front of me to precisely deliver the situational awareness that I require. Anything else is a distraction and a potential snag.

[GlobalNav]

Whatever you display to the pilots is going to affect their decision making and their mental attention. Nothing belongs in the pilot's attention except that which is necessary to safe and effective task performance. Any display or displayed information added to the pilot's view is going to affect pilot behavior - so it D*(^n well better be right.