Heads-Up Display for Control of Unmanned Ground Vehicles

The US military uses unattended ground sensors (UGS) to provide situational awareness for remote battlefield applications. Teleoperation is the most reliable method of operating a UGV. The principal limitations of the current technology are: a) the operator is losing situational awareness while immersed in a heads-down display, and b) current technology requires operator to give up their weapon in exchange for a control device. Trex proposes a novel Heads-Up Display (HUD) for control of UGVs based on advanced retinal scanning display (RSD) technology and an unconventional and robust eye tracker. In the proposed concept, a curved primary mirror in front of the eye, in a form of safety goggles, is used to display high resolution (1.3 Megapixel) video from the camera on UGV. Inputs from the eye tracker are used to control the HUD display and the UGV. In the Phase I program, we will develop an initial system design, investigate and test system components, perform analyses of human factors and develop recommended command sets, demonstrate a novel unconventional eye tracker, demonstrate new approaches for controlling the display and the UGS, and develop an initial design of the Phase II prototype.