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PAPER
Dual Redundant Display in Bubble Canopy Applications
Abstract
Today's cockpit integrator, whether for state of the art military fast jet, or piston powered general aviation,
is striving to utilize all available panel space for AMLCD based displays to enhance situational awareness
and increase safety. The benefits of a glass cockpit have been well studied and documented. The
technology used to create these glass cockpits, however, is driven by commercial AMLCD demand which
far outstrips the combined worldwide avionics requirements. In order to satisfy the wide variety of human
factors and environmental requirements, large area displays have been developed to maximize the usable
display area while also providing necessary redundancy in case of failure. The AMLCD has been optimized
for extremely wide viewing angles driven by the flat panel TV market. In some cockpit applications, wide
viewing cones are desired. In bubble-canopy cockpits, however, narrow viewing cones are desired to
reduce canopy reflections. Mercury Systems has developed AMLCD displays that maximize viewing
area, provide redundancy, while also providing a very narrow viewing cone. This paper investigates both
the large area display architecture with several available options to solve redundancy as well as beam
steering techniques to also limit canopy reflections.
Keywords: AMLCD; rugged AMLCD; custom AMLCD.
KEN MAHDI, JIM NIEMCZYK, P.E.
JANUARY 2020