Wireless Link for Helmet Mounted Display/Tracker

Pilots flying modern fighter or bomber aircraft can receive increased amounts of combat critical information through a Helmet Mounted Display (HMD). Current technology requires that a pilot wearing a Helmet Mounted Display/Tracker (HMDT) be connected to the aircraft with a cable. The design of this cable is complex, costly, and can decrease system reliability. We propose to develop a high-speed secure wireless link between the HMDT system and its host aircraft. Communication between HMD and aircraft will be carried out through a bi-directional Ultra Wideband (UWB) wireless link, which can transmit three channels of high resolution videos/stroke symbology feeds from the aircraft to the HMDT and one channel of high resolution video plus the tracker data from the HMDT to the aircraft. During Phase I, IAI has demonstrated the feasibility of our concept through experiments using existing UWB radios. Up to four channels of live video were transmitted through a UWB wireless link. The raw data rate of Phase I system is 10Mbps and its effective data rate is 3Mbps. We plan to develop a Phase II prototype system that is optimized data rate, small and light enough to be mounted on a helmet, and powered by batteries.