Expanding Helicopter Pilots’ Field of View with a Wide Field of View Night Vision System (WNVS)

SA Photonics has developed a Wide Field of View Night Vision System ("WNVS2"), a new class of wide field of view day/night head mounted display (HMD) with digital night vision. High brightness microdisplays provide daylight-readable color symbology over a wide field of view, and next-generation digital night vision sensors provide for low light level imagery that can be enhanced, recorded, overlaid with symbology and offloaded for viewing by others. This HMD represents a breakthrough in display systems for rotary wing aircraft in that it provides full 24/7 operation without needing to change hardware between a day and a night module. The wide field of view display optics allow for the display of symbology to aid in operating in degraded visual environments (DVEs). The eyepieces provide high resolution imagery and symbology with almost no peripheral obscuration, ensuring pilots have an unobscured view both inside and outside the cockpit.