A Visually-Coupled Airborne Systems Simulator (VCASS) - An Approach to Visual Simulation

Abstract : This paper describes a new approach to solving the visual presentation problems of aircraft simulators by using visually coupled systems (VCS). For many years it has been the mission of this laboratory to optimize the visual interface of crew members to advanced weapon systems. This mission has been primarily pursued in two areas: (1) the establishment of control/display engineering criteria; and (2) the prototyping of advanced concepts for control and display interface. An important part of fulfilling this mission has been the development of VCS components which includes head position sensing systems or helmet mounted sights (HMS), eye position sensing systems (EPS) and helmet mounted displays (HMD). The author believes that the unique capabilities of a visually-coupled system (VCS - combination of a helmet-mounted sight and helmet- mounted display) can meet the simulation requirements as well as improve upon existing ground based simulation techniques.