Helicopter-obstacle warning presentation in an HMS/D including 3D-stereoscopy

An Obstacle Warning System (OWS) based on a Laser-scanning Technology has been installed and flight tested on a BK117 Helicopter. An assessment was done in a low level flight test area Nap of the Earth (NOE) and under real conditions in a normal landscape. The Field of View (FOV) of the OWS is 32 degrees by 32 degrees and the image has the following resolution: 200 lines and 96 samples. The image refreshing rate is 2 Hz. The OWS front end with sensories and processing is working satisfactory. The major field of investigation is now the Man Machine Interface (MMI). Laser transmitter wavelength is 1.54 mu m for eye-safety. The obstacle-information must be presented with no additional workload to the pilot in real time. The OWS-data were used in a simulation laboratory and presented to a binocular Helmet Mounted Sight/Display (HMS/D) with different kinds of presentation formats: Line of Safety (LOS), a grid-model, a tunnel-vector-presentation, real 3D-presentation and black and white and colored information. A Silicon Graphics "ONYX" calculates the independent eye information by 2 x 30 Hz x 3 colors (180 Hz) and presents the stereoscopic video to the FS5 helmet made by Virtual Research. It has two colored Cathode Ray Tubes (CRT) with 480 x 640 pixels. The results with several test persons are discussed in the paper.