Quote:
Originally Posted by out2kayak
Pappy,
Even if the flat glass looked like "round dials"? Or is three dimensional, mechanical the better look and feel?
Your feedback as far as a HUD is interesting. One of the guys I know produces: http://www.virtualhud.com/virtualhud/default.aspx
It's a HUD that projects on the propeller.
More than stability, would you also do forward looking RADAR for collision avoidance? What about lane departure warning?
I was thinking of putting together a modular sensor package and having it displayed on the dash or HUD. So, augment the forward view with a FLIR / RADAR or both up to somewhere around 450 ft.
Just trying to get an understanding of where that edge of what would interest folks is verses going overboard.
Thoughts?
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Joe,
I guess I would catagorize the inputs I need as performance and informational. For performance (such as running a road course), you need your head and eyes up -- the vehicle is going to go where you are looking. Performance information that you need at this point needs to allow you to keep your focal length out front of the vehicle (infinity), rather than shifting it to a shorter distance to focus on gages or panels. A good hud (or helmet mounted sight) does this. That information needs to be clear and uncluttered. High performance aircraft often augment the visual with audio -- tones of increasing frequency or volume as you approach a critical performance parameter such as g-limit or angle of attack. This might be mechanized to tell you how deep you are into stability control augmentation or how close you are to a critical yaw angle, for example. Additionally, a verbal warning (we called her "bitching Betty") is transmitted when you exceed an operating parameter such as impending ground collision, engine fire, etc. -- could be oil or water temperature/pressure for a car. You would then shift your prioity to checking other instruments for the offending cause.
As I said before, I prefer round gages with prominate needles that I can monitor in my periferal vision (or a quick glance) for engine operating parameters. The military tried "strip gages" (vertical tapes) on rudimentary flat panels in the 60s, but quickly abandoned them. The most valuable information to me on the MFDs (flat panels) involved improving situational awareness; things like a moving map display, displays of things/threats (other aircraft) around me, or supplemental information regarding other operating parameters that might require my attention. In a car, this might involve a GPS nav panel, a course route of travel for large tracks or open road events, radar or flir depiction of obstacles, or directional inputs of police radars (clock position). As a side note, advanced aircraft systems take the radar or flir information and project a target designator (TD) "box" on the hud or helmet display to take your eyes to the object of interest.
I was an "old school" (too old to re-train?), eyes out of the cockpit guy. When under pressure, I didn't want things that would draw my focal length inside, yet I wanted to be able to monitor critical parameters either aurally or through periferal vision. The other information on the MFDs needed to be easy to interpret, and any function buttons user friendly. Finally, it was nice to have any required switch actions readily at hand (aircraft -- HOTAS = hands on stick and throttle) so you don't have to look inside to change functions. Hope this helps.
Pappy