Honeywell and the US Army have completed flight testing of a magnetic head-tracker in the Boeing AH-64 attack helicopter. The company says that its advanced metal-tolerant tracker (AMTT) exceeded the performance of the electro-optical sensor now used in the AH-64 to slave the gun and pilot's night-vision sensor to crew head movement.
During testing, the AMTT demonstrated a head-tracking accuracy of 3.2 milliradians, compared with a requirement of 10mR. Movement of the night-vision system, when commanded by pilot's head movement, was "smooth and responsive, with no jerkiness or latency", Honeywell says.
The current sensor for the AH-64 helmet-mounted-display system tracks head motion electro-optically, using light-emitting diodes on the crew helmets. Magnetic head-trackers have typically been difficult to install because of the metal content in cockpits.
Honeywell says that the AMTT operated successfully in the relatively high metal-content environment of the AH-64's rear cockpit, and that performance was unaffected when metal, "such as survival equipment, a pistol, chemical mask with electrical blower and night-vision goggles were introduced into the cockpit".
The US company's Minneapolis-based Sensor and Guidance Products division says that the magnetic head-tracker requires less power and is smaller and lighter than the existing electro-optical system.
The AMTT is in production for use in Royal Air Force Sepecat Jaguars and is under evaluation by the Royal Netherlands Air Force for its Lockheed Martin F-16 mid-life update.
Source: Flight International
