Head Mounting Device for Advanced Night Vision Goggle (NVG) Systems

The current flight helmet provides impact protection while enabling communications and serving as a platform to mount helmet mounted devices (HMD) such as night vision goggles (NVG). However, aircrew flying air mobility and air refueling aircraft do not wear flight helmets although they must be able to use these HMDs during their missions. Similarly, ground crews, such as regulars, maintainers, bomb loaders, and aeromedical evacuation personnel operating at night use a head harness to mount their NVGs in lieu of a helmet, as do ground troops driving or navigating in a terrain vehicle. The platform needs to fit correctly and accommodate the targeted anthropometric range of heads so it is comfortable and stable while NVGs are in use. Factors such as NVG weight, distribution of weight, and system center of gravity are important to aircrew fatigue, neck strain, injury due to egress, and the system’s effectiveness. Infoscitex proposes a solution which addresses the most important issues when using a non-helmet mounted HMD/NVG by adapting a component of a system that has been successfully in use for decades. In Phase I, Infoscitex will design the overall system, fabricate prototypes, and perform a detailed simulation of the device under realistic operating conditions.