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A helmet display that has the ability to present imageiy from both NVGand FLIR sensors provides the best visual performance under a wide range of operating conditions from daylight to total darkness, because it combines the complementary advantages of the two different types of sensor. The pilot can select his sensor and operating mode to maintain imagery during natural conditions such as high humidity, thermal gradients or total darkness that would otherwise result in poor or unuseable display contrast. Design requirements for a multi image source helmet mounted display needed for this approach are severe, since aircrew expect no compromises in image quality or physiological protection, despite the extra hardware compared with a simpler HMD or NVG. The system advantages are significant however, and a new helmet display that presents both intensifier and CRT imagery is being designed for both fixed and rotary wing applications.

Helmet mounted displays are exercising the ingenuity of optical and mechanical designers more than any other type of display in attempting to meet essential criteria with currently available technology. The inevitable result is that a wide range of design options and attendant compromises are available to the crew station designer. This paper offers some guidelines on the implications of selecting key helmet display parameters, and describes a unique solution to the problem.© (1990) COPYRIGHT SPIE--The International Society for Optical Engineering. Downloading of the abstract is permitted for personal use only.