Rockwell Collins subsidiary Kaiser Aerospace and Electronics is to provide the single large projection display that forms the main instrument panel on the Lockheed Martin F-35 Joint Strike Fighter.
The 510x205mm (20x8in) colour sunlight-readable display incorporates a touchscreen graphical user interface. The back-projection display "is the largest that can fit in the cockpit", says Kaiser Electronics vice-president John Borghese. The unit uses liquid-crystal-on-silicon projector technology being developed commercially for high- definition televisions, he says.
"Projection technology allows a very-large-screen display which can be interacted with via a touchscreen," says Borghese. Two separate projector systems behind the screen provide redundancy with a single display, he says.
The projector used provides very high resolution, says Borghese, and allows the technology to match the resolution of current active-matrix liquid-crystal displays (AMLCDs), but with a larger screen area. Kaiser is producing smaller projection displays to replace AMLCDs in the Boeing F/A-18E/F and Lockheed Martin/Boeing F-22.
Kaiser will also provide the helmet-mounted display (HMD) for the F-35 through its Vision Systems International (VSI) joint venture with Elbit. The HMD is an evolution of the Joint Helmet-Mounted Cueing System (JHMCS) produced by VSI, with a binocular, wide field-of-view display system allowing presentation of sensor video for night pilotage.
As the F-35 will lack a head-up display for weapon aiming, a significant increase in HMD pointing accuracy is required, says Borghese. VSI parent Elbit is providing the head-tracking system, an evolution of the magnetic tracker developed for the JHMCS.
Source: Flight International
