Low Cost Cockpit Head Tracking and Gestural Recognition

As a developer of Unmanned Aerial System Ground Control Stations, the U.S. Army"s Bi-Directional Remote Video Transceiver (BDRVT), and several other manned-aircraft technologies, Kutta is keenly aware of human machine interface (HMI) issues inside military cockpits. Based on an extensive Phase I hardware analysis that tested multiple Commercial off the Shelf (COTS) laser-based technologies similar to Microsoft"s Kinect, Kutta discovered some major deficiencies that must be overcome to integrate these COTS technologies into a military cockpit. Our researchers also analyzed multiple proprietary and open-source head tracking and gesture recognition software applications. Lastly, we utilized the information gleaned from the Phase I research to quickly prototype a head-tracking and gesture recognition system and tied it into our existing manned/unmanned teaming cockpit simulator. The Phase I research allowed us to confidently develop a plan to modify existing COTs technology in an innovative fashion to overcome the limitations of the current state-of-the-art and bring accurate head tracking and gesture recognition to current and future Department of Defense air vehicles. The proposed Phase II effort culminates with the integration of a rugged gesture recognition system within an aircraft cockpit and proof of concept test flight with several prestigious Phase II partners.