VEHICLE INSTRUMENT PANELS

THE REQUIREMENT FOR A TRACKED VEHICLE AND A WHEELED VEHICLE INSTRUMENT PANEL (ALLOWING VARIATIONS FOR EACH) WILL BE MET, OPTIMALLY, WITH A SINGLE FLAT-PANEL DISPLAY DEVICE, MICROCONTROLLER AND SPECIFIC FIRMWARE FOR EACH CLASS OF APPLICATION OR INSTRUMENT. UTILIZING THE MOST APPROPRIATE DISPLAY TECHNOLOGY, SENSOR INPUTS WILL BE PROCESSED BY THE MICROCONTROLLER TO PROVIDE THE DESIRED DISPLAY OUTPUT. REPEAT OUT-OF-RANGE READINGS (BASED ON PROGRAMMED VALUES) WILL FLASH THE AFFECT ELEMENT OF THE DISPLAY AND ELIMINATE THE NEED FOR EXTRA WARNING INDICATORS. THE ACTUAL NUMBER, SIZE, SHAPE, AND SCALE OF THE GAUGE IMAGE WILL BE PROGRAMMED IN FIRMWARE ON A ROM. AN INTEGRAL PART OF THE PROJECT WILL BE THE REQUIRED FORMAT BUILDER PROGRAM, HOSTED ON AN IBM PC-AT, WHICH WILL PROVIDE A SIMPLE GAUGE FORMATTING PROCEDURE FOR CREATING THE REQUIRED ROM FIRMWARE. PHASE I OF THIS EFFORT WILL CONSIST OF A DETAILED DESIGN AND SCHEMATICS OF INSTRUMENT PANELS, ONE FOR A TRACKED VEHICLE AND ONE FOR A WHEELED VEHICLE. PHASE II OF THIS EFFORT WILL BE COMPRISED OF THE FABRICATION AND INSTALLATION OF THE VERSATILE INSTRUMENT PANEL ON THESE TWO TYPES OF VEHICLES. BASED ON THE CONSTRUCTED PROTOTYPE, PRODUCTION COSTS WOULD BE CALCULATED IN DETAIL AND THE INSTRUMENT WILL BE LABORATORY AND FIELD-TESTED.