ABSTRACT
This chapter relates performance, safety, and utility attributes of the retinal scanning display as employed in a helmet-mounted pilot-vehicle interface, and by association, in panel-mounted head up display and head down display applications. The Retinal Scanning Display (RSD) offers distinct advantages over other display technologies because image quality and color gamut are maintained at high luminances limited only by eye-safety considerations. The light-concentrating aspect of the diffraction-limited laser beam can routinely produce source luminances that exceed that of the solar disc. Inappropriate mounting of fixed fold mirrors in the projection path led to the accumulation of several wavelengths of wave-front error and resultant image blurring. An effort of 30 years has only scratched the surface of the head mounted display’s pilot vehicle interfacing potential. It is expected that the RSD will open new avenues of pilot-in-the-loop research and enable safer, more effective air and ground operations.
