Low Cost Cockpit head tracking and gestural recognition

Army pilots are presented with a wide variety of information from head down displays and sensor pods, and need to steer weapons and sensors based on head position. Current tracker systems are very expensive. New low cost head mounted displays (HMDs) require a low cost tracker. For all cockpits (and in the cargo/crew area) it would be very beneficial to have a way to sense gestures by pilots and crew members. This gestural control can aid the pilot, for example, by allowing them to control displays (panning, zooming and display selection) by using gestures while leaving their hands on, or near the controls. For crewmembers, a gesture recognition system can aid communications that are hard to do in a noisy environment, like the signaling between the loadmaster and the pilot in a heavy-lift helicopter. A low-cost head tracking and gesture recognition system would dramatically improve the interaction between pilots, crewman and the rotorcraft. Companies like Microsoft and ASUS have invested significantly in developing body and gesture tracking systems for Natural User Interfaces (NUIs). Leveraging this investment, SA Photonics proposes modifying an existing commercial tracking system for use in a rotorcraft cockpit and crew area.