INNOVATIVE LOW-COST MANNED MULTI-BOGIE AIR COMBAT SIMULATION

DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE PROCUREMENT AGENCIES HAVE MADE IT CLEAR THAT THEY EXPECT FUTURE COMBAT AIRCRAFT CONTRACTORS TO BE ABLE TO SIMULATE DESIGN PERFORMANCE IN HIGHLY COMPLEX AND REALISTIC BATTLE ENVIRONMENTS. TODAY SIMULATIONS OF THIS ENVIRONMENT ARE EXPENSIVE TO PROCURE AND OPERATE. AS A RESULT, CURRENT SIMULATORS ARE LIMITED TO A FEW PLAYERS INHIBITING THE SCENARIO SIZE AND OPERATIONAL MEANINGFULNESS OF RESULTS. FORTUNATELY, THE RAPIDLY ADVANCING FIELDS OF MICROPROCESSORS AND VISUAL DISPLAYS OFFER TECHNOLOGICAL OPPORTUNITIES TO BUILD A HYBRID SIMULATOR WITH SUFFICIENT SCENARIO SIZE (E.G. 4V8) TO MEET THE NEEDS AT AFFORDABLE COSTS. RESEARCH AT EIDETICS HAS RESULTED IN AN INNOVATIVE OUT-THE-COCKPIT, GRAPHICS DISPLAY (CALLED AN EXPANDED FIELD OF VIEW - EFOV) THAT PROVIDES SUFFICIENT SITUATIONALAWARENESS ON A SINGLE CRT TO ALLOW THE PLAYER TO BE A "CREDIBLE" OPPONENT IN CLOSE-IN, MANEUVERING AIR COMBAT. THIS RESEARCH ALLOWS THE DEVELOPMENT AND TEST OF AN AIR COMBAT STATION (ACS0 AND THE SUPPORTING SOFTWARE TO PROVIDE A LOW-COST, MULTIPLE AIRCRAFT AIR COMBAT SIMULATION. THE OBJECTIVE OF THIS SBIR IS TO INTEGRATE HARDWARE, SOFTWARE AND DISPLAY CONCEPTS TO CREATE A LOW COST AIR COMBAT STATION THAT ALLOWS CREDIBLE BEYOND VISUAL RANGE (BVR) AND WITHIN VISUAL RANGE (WVR) AIR COMBAT FOR TECHNOLOGY EVALUATION, TACTICS DEVELOPMENT AND PILOT TRAINING. ???????????