AVIATOR NIGHT VISION AUGMENTED DISPLAY Team 18030
PROJECT GOAL To design a head-up primary flight display for integration with the pilot’s night vision goggles. Safety in military aviation depends heavily on the pilot’s ability to see and avoid traffic, obstacles and terrain. Night vision goggles are used by pilots to perform operations in low light conditions and are essential to the safety and performance of the aircraft. However, pilots are unable to view key aircraft performance parameters often shown on instrument displays, which are too bright for the goggles. The design subtly introduces critical flight information within the pilot’s field of view with an augmented display system, an avionics software package, a nonintrusive mounting unit, and a power system. A lightweight optical housing was developed and is mounted to the pilot’s helmet, allowing easy connection to vehicle power systems without introducing discomfort for the user. The software package was developed for easy implementation on a readily available lightweight computer, while human factors considerations were at the heart of each graphical design choice. System requirements were validated based on testing and modeling, to military specifications, for vibration, heat, acceleration, data transfer and electromagnetic interference.
TEAM MEMBERS Jason Thomas Craft Electrical & Computer Engineering Alexander Stanley Mazanek Mechanical Engineering Jonathan Randall Watson Electrical & Computer Engineering Robert Daniel Yersavich Optical Sciences & Engineering Michael Nathanson Aerospace Engineering, Mechanical Engineering Katherine Ariel Rudnitsky Engineering Management COLLEGE MENTOR Michael Jelinek SPONSOR MENTOR Andrew Dotson
VEHICLE BIOCULAR DIGITAL DISPLAY VIEWER Team 18031
PROJECT GOAL To design a digital display and optical interface for comfortable two-eye viewing in the confined space of an armored vehicle. The window of an armored vehicle is the weakest point on the vehicle’s exterior. Eliminating the window would improve occupant safety, while allowing other vital information to be overlaid on top of the video feed. The vehicle biocular digital display viewing system receives a single video source input and displays the information to both eyes of the operator. The visual information sent to the operator is meant to mimic what they would see when looking out the front window of a vehicle. The design incorporates a custom optical design that uses achromatic doublet lenses, flat mirrors, and high-definition displays. The system is mounted in a custom housing consisting of a microcontroller, an adjustable interpupillary distance compensator, custom flexures, and custom lens mounts. The design uses custom software to correct for the inherent distortion of the optical system in real time. The viewing system effectively improves vehicle safety while providing the operator visual data on the environment around the vehicle with relevant vehicle metrics overlaid on the video.
TEAM MEMBERS Ethan Bambauer Mechanical Engineering Azahel Cordova Arvizu Electrical & Computer Engineering Ofer Greenberg Engineering Management Benjamin Jeremy Hall Mechanical Engineering Brian Kellermeyer Materials Science & Engineering, Optical Sciences & Engineering Cody Tyler Jones Industrial Engineering COLLEGE MENTOR Mike Nofziger SPONSOR MENTOR Andrew Dotson
PROJECT DESCRIPTIONS
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