*BAE Systems unveiled its lightweight litewave head up display (HUD) system, which is designed to be easily installed in the cockpit of various military and civil aircraft * and more comfortable to use.
Although HUD looks like a strange augmented reality device, it dates back to World War II, when the Royal Air Force came up with a way to project radar displays onto fighter pilots' reflex gun sights so that they don't have to look back and forth on the aircraft's dashboard.
In the past 80 years, with the increase of more functions, these displays have become more and more complex. At the same time, the display has also become smaller and cheaper, moving from the exclusive field of military pilots to the field of commercial and even private aircraft.
Litewave is a 15 pound (6.8 kg) laptop sized electronic package that can be installed in 20 hours even in a very limited cockpit. Its size and weight are 70% smaller than similar devices. BAE Systems extends a 1365 x 1024 pixel transparent display unit from this electronic package to provide a 30 ° x 20 ° field of view and provide key information to the pilot, including azimuth, altitude and speed.
According to BAE, litewave and its waveguide technology can digitally display data to pilots in a wide range of sitting positions, even at night and in bad weather. The company said that due to the free movement of pilots in their seats, especially in long-distance flights, this makes the use of the system more comfortable.
"Litewave can be installed in almost any cockpit in the world," said Lee Tomlinson, HUD product director of electronic systems business department of BAE Systems. "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 more accessible."
Litewave is currently available for commercial and military customer testing.