BAE Systems has taken the wraps off its lightweight LiteWave Head-Up Display (HUD) system that is designed to be easy to install in the cockpits of a wide variety of military and civilian aircraft and be more comfortable to use.
Though they seem like an exotic augmented reality device, HUDs date back to the Second World War when the RAF came up with a way to project radar displays on a fighter pilot's reflector gun sight so they wouldn't have to look back and forth from the aircraft's instrument panel.
Over the past eight decades, these displays have become increasingly sophisticated as more capabilities were added. Along with this, such displays have become smaller and less expensive, moving from being the exclusive domain of military pilots into the commercial and even private aircraft fields.
LiteWave is a 15-lb (6.8-kg) laptop-sized electronics package that can be installed in under 20 hours even in cockpits with very limited space and is 70 percent smaller in both size and weight than comparable devices. From this package extends a 1365 x 1024-pixel transparent display unit that provides a 30° x 20° field of view while providing the pilot with critical information, including bearing, altitude, and speed.
According to BAE, LiteWave and its waveguide technology can digitally display data to the pilot over a wide range of sitting positions even at night and in poor weather, which the company says makes the system much more comfortable to use as the pilots move freely in their seats, especially on long flights.
"LiteWave can be fitted into virtually any cockpit in the world," said Lee Tomlinson, director of HUD products at BAE Systems’ Electronic Systems business. "Our engineers have created a digital display that is smaller, lighter and uses less power than any other Head-Up Display. It has the potential to revolutionize the market and make HUD technology far more accessible."
LiteWave is currently available for trials with commercial and military customers.
Source: BAE Systems