A digital-to-video converter for airborne television displays
Abstract
This report covers the design and fabrication of a digital to video converter which accepts data from a digital computer and converts it to a standard 525 line television display. The system was developed for low level nap-of-the-earth helicopter flight studies and will be flight tested in the Experimental Vehicle for Avionics Research (EVAR) Which is a CH-53 helicopter instrumented for Avionics R and D programs. Operation of Army aircraft during day and night conditions at or below tree top level requires the pilot to be aware of the upcoming terrain characteristics. At present, low level operations are performed with the pilot dedicated to the task of piloting the vehicle. The copilot verbally informs the pilot of upcoming terrain from hand-held maps. At night, this is extremely difficult. Improving the method of informing the pilot of approaching terrain, thus reducing the hazards of low level night flight, are the desired goals of this project. The design goal was to develop a general purpose computer driven display whose information content was entirely determined by the computer software. However, contour maps and various aircraft symbology were the two main items to be displayed.
- Publication:
-
NASA STI/Recon Technical Report N
- Pub Date:
- July 1977
- Bibcode:
- 1977STIN...7732362K
- Keywords:
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- Computer Graphics;
- Digital To Analog Converters;
- Flight Instruments;
- Cathode Ray Tubes;
- Helicopters;
- Human Factors Engineering;
- Communications and Radar