Untethered Datalinks for Use in Simulation Environments

Accurate simulation of portable visual devices, such as binoculars, hand held sensors and displays, and helmet mounted displays have been greatly limited by the necessity for cabled solutions to support the bandwidth required to provide high resolution video. As such, tethers on such systems have created unrealistic constraints, not there in real world operation. Such constraints can lead to decreased training value. The combination of high definition television (HDTV) development, combined with computer data networking's ever increased demand for increased bandwidth provides for mechanisms to be leveraged to solve the tethered portable device issues in simulation. Selecting the proper technologies for simulation, adapting them for optimization of simulation effectiveness, and creating a flexible platform to support designs of both today and future enhancements is essential to solving the tethered problem. This proposal outlines the tasks required to analyze the available consumer technologies and leverage current SBIR developments to enhance their performance to meet the rigorous demands to be imposed by high fidelity training systems.