Equipe Simulation

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Equipe Simulation Visualising Your Imagination
Achieving FAA / JAA Level D with current, low
cost digital projection technology
Contact sales_at_equipe-simulation.com
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Equipe Simulation Visualising Your Imagination
Objectives

• To discuss the objectives of visual simulation
• To explain the need for Raster Calligraphic
  replacement
• To explain why this replacement is challenging
• To provide a summary of the competing
  technologies

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Equipe Simulation Visualising Your Imagination
Visual Fidelity

• It Feels inherently right that the higher the
  visual
• fidelity (resolution etc), the higher the
  pilot training value
• Where do we draw the line in terms of cost /
  performance ?
• The FAA / JAA criteria provide the metric which
  must be
• adhered to
• Exceeding these criteria is possible but
  expensive
• What is the Actual value of doing so ?

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Equipe Simulation Visualising Your Imagination
JAA / FAA Standards

• Specifically focus on the requirements for
• Visual Characteristics ACJ STD 1A.030 2.3
• Touch upon the requirements for
• Latency - ACJ STD 1A.030 2.1.r (2)

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Equipe Simulation Visualising Your Imagination
Visual Characteristics

• Specific requirements
• Field of View 1800 x 400 Collimated
• Resolution 2 Arc-minutes
• Light point size 5 Arc-minutes
• Surface contrast 51
• Brightness 6 foot-lamberts
• Light point contrast 101 (day)
• 251 (night)
• Total light points 6000 (day 60Hz)
• 15000 (night 40Hz)

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Equipe Simulation Visualising Your Imagination
Visual Characteristics

• In the vast majority of existing Level C / D
  simulators,
• these criteria are met by Raster /
  Calligraphic CRT
• projectors
• Operationally unique
• High intensity Calligraphic light points

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Equipe Simulation Visualising Your Imagination
Calligraphic Light Points Whats the big deal ?
Highly intense light points !!
1 frame (16ms at 60Hz)
Raster complete, before next scan light points
are drawn.
Since only 2000 light points are drawn (at 60hz),
each point may be focused on for an extended
period allowing for very high point intensity
Scan is continuous, each pixel is illuminated for
an equal amount of time (10 ns at 1280 1024)
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Equipe Simulation Visualising Your Imagination
Light Point Generation

• Light point generation is problematic, due to
  fundamental
• differences in the projection devices.
• Light points drawn calligraphically in CRT
  projection
• Competing technology is Raster only

This clearly results in the need to draw light
points within the raster itself for non CRT
based projectors.
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Equipe Simulation Visualising Your Imagination
Why Replace CRTs ?

• The desire to move away from Raster Calligraphic
• CRT projectors is largely cost driven
• High initial cost
• CRT Tube lifespan
• Require highly skilled maintenance
• Require hundreds of hours PA on maintenance
  alignment
• But also..
• Obsolescence concerns
• Prone to expensive failure
• Very heavy potential logistical problems

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Equipe Simulation Visualising Your Imagination
Whats Required ?

• In order to match CRT in terms of level D
  criteria, the projector must
• Have a high resolution
• Produce an Artefact free image
• Have uniform colour between projectors
• Be able to produce light points within the
  raster
• Very high brightness
• Very high contrast

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Equipe Simulation Visualising Your Imagination
About Resolution

• The Level D Criteria specify 2 Arc Minutes per
  pixel
• Therefore 30 pixels per degree
• For a 180 x 40 display, 3 channels are an ideal
• 180 degrees 3 channels 60 degrees per
  channel
• 30 pixels x 60 1800 pixels wide
• 30 pixels x 40 1200 pixels high
• Therefore we can see that to achieve Level D in 3
  projectors we need a resolution of at least 1800
  x 1200

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Equipe Simulation Visualising Your Imagination
Alternative Technologies

• Light Valve projectors
• LCD - Liquid Crystal Display
• LCoS - Liquid Crystal on Silicon
• DLP - Digital Light Processor

• Others
• Laser
• Emerging, developmental technology.

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Equipe Simulation Visualising Your Imagination
Laser

• Emerging technology
• Potential for extremely high resolution
• Potential for extremely high brightness and
  contrast
• More efficient use of power
• Very high cost
• Prone to Speckling and other artefacts
• Unproven in the field

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Equipe Simulation Visualising Your Imagination
LCoS
Image is produced by passing light through an LCD
substrate, and reflecting it from an underlying
mirror Typically utilise 3 LCoS panels to
produce colour
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Equipe Simulation Visualising Your Imagination
LCoS

• A relatively young technology
• Reflective technology
• Very High Resolution up to native QXGA (2048 x
  1536)
• High Brightness
• Potentially High Contrast in high end units
• No Frame Delay
• Requires analogue control over LCD substrate
• Complex
• High Cost

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Equipe Simulation Visualising Your Imagination
DLP (single chip)
Image is produced by an array of Micro Mirrors,
one for each pixel. Colour is created via a
rotating colour wheel
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Equipe Simulation Visualising Your Imagination
DLP

• A highly mature technology
• Reflective technology
• High Resolution up to native 1080p and
  beyond..
• High Brightness
• High Contrast
• Low Cost
• Pure, digital technology
• Rainbow effect caused by colour wheel now
  countered
• 1 frame delay (16ms at 60hz)

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Equipe Simulation Visualising Your Imagination
Latency

• ACJ STD 1A.030 2.1.r (2) specifies an over all
  latency of 150ms
• Specifically the time between a Pilot control
  input and the
• Simulator responding both visual and motion
• Motion base must respond before the visual
  therefore some
• latency is desirable !!
• 1 Frame delay introduced by DLP (16ms) is in no
  way problematic
• In fact is equivalent to Raster Calligraphic
  projectors, since these
• Scan 1 pixel at a time giving a 1 frame delay
  between pilot
• Input and display of a Complete frame

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Equipe Simulation Visualising Your Imagination
DLP vs. LCoS

• LCoS offers
• Very high resolution and potentially very high
  contrast
• DLP offers
• Very high resolution and high contrast
• Both LCoS and DLP offer resolutions high enough
  to meet the Level D surface resolution
  requirement (2 arc minutes per pixel), and both
  offer contrast ratios that potentially enable the
  generation of compliant light points, directly
  within the raster.

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Equipe Simulation Visualising Your Imagination
Cost Benefits

With Civil airlines under increasing economic
pressure, the underpinning goal should be to
provide compliant systems at the lowest price
point. While both LCoS and DLP are able to meet
the Level D criteria, DLP is a more mature
technology that offers significant cost benefits
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Equipe Simulation Visualising Your Imagination
Level D with DLP

Equipe Simulation has successfully designed and
installed a number of Collimated DLP systems,
both military and civil, compliant with both JAA
and FAA Level D criteria. In these systems the
use of DLP has enabled a cost reduction of up to
50 compared to competing technologies.
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Equipe Simulation Visualising Your Imagination
TM
Equipe TXGA Patent Pending

• TXGA is a new resolution specifically designed to
  meet Level D requirements !!
• Based on Proven DLP technology
• Low Cost
• Stable colour
• Very high brightness
• Very high contrast
• 1920 x 1400 resolution
• Enables JAA / FAA Level D for fixed and rotary
  wing aircraft within a very low channel
  count

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Equipe Simulation Visualising Your
Imagination Thank You