World's largest collimated display - on motion!
ABSTRACT As flight simulators increase in fidelity and performance, more training tasks can be transferred to the simulator, freeing up aircraft time for other tasks. For some training missions, there are tasks that can currently only be performed in the aircraft due to limitations in the simulator Field of View (FOV), such as visually checking if under-wing landing gear has been lowered or if a propeller is spinning or feathered during engine out scenarios. For one customer who flies the HC-144 aircraft, checking the engine nacelle required having 140º horizontal field of view from each pilot eye point outboard. Since Mylar displays are not typically able to extend beyond 110º azimuth from each eye point, the customer would have to add supplemental real image or collimated displays located outboard of the Mylar mirror plenum, resulting in a large discontinuity in the image. A better option is to use glass mirrors for the Out the Window collimated display, extending the primary display by adding glass mirror segments as required to achieve the desired horizontal FOV. However, the use of glass mirrors on such a wide FOV display has its own challenges, including accounting for the additional weight of the mirrors, manufacturing a single piece Back Projection Screen (BPS) to cover the full FOV, designing a projector turret that locates the array of projectors across the top of the BPS, and fitting the cockpit and Instructor Operating Station within the wedge-shaped gap left between the ends of the mirrors and/or BPS. All of this on a commercially available motion system designed to meet industry standard motion frequency and load cases. This paper will focus on the unique challenges our team overcame to build the largest collimated system ever designed, and to put it on motion for the US Coast Guard HC-144 aircraft program.

VITA Justin Knaplund is the Chief Engineer at FlightSafety International Displays in Austin, TX. Mr. Knaplund graduated from the U.S. Air Force Academy with a BS in Astronautical Engineering, served eight years in the US Air Force as a Pilot and Instructor Pilot in the F-4E Phantom before separating to pursue a Master’s of Science in Aerospace Engineering from the University of Texas in Austin. After a period of employment with the Advanced Programs Office at the NASA Johnson Space Center in Houston, he was hired by Glass Mountain Optics and became the Director of Engineering, responsible for developing the designs for their WAC windows, cross-cockpit collimated Mylar and glass mirror displays, and their direct view (WASP) systems. Glass Mountain was acquired by FlightSafety International in 2009, and Mr. Knaplund was promoted from Director of Engineering to Chief Engineer in 2012.