Automatic HMD Alignment Device

The Navy uses helmet mounted displays (HMDs) in both training and operational situations. For pilots, HMDs are used to provide additional feedback such as target designation, heading, etc. In training scenarios, HMDs can also serve as the entire visualization display. While HMDs provide a mechanism for providing information to the wearer, they suffer from a few well-known problems. One of the major issues is keeping the exit pupil of the HMD aligned with the pupil of the wearer. If these become misaligned, the wearer may experience clipped images, unstable images, misaligned images, or other artifacts. These tend to increase eye strain and decrease usability of the HMD. Cybernet proposes to develop a system for automatically aligning the HMD to the wearer’s head. The system will track features of the wearer’s head and use this information to move the HMD in response to any misalignment. This will greatly improve the performance of HMDs in both training and operational roles.