It’s a Good Thing the F-35’s $400K AR HMD Helmet Is Stupid Cool
Lt. Col. Christine Mau, 33rd Operations Group deputy commander, puts on her helmet before taking her first flight in the F-35A on Eglin Air Force Base, Fla., May 5, 2015. Mau, who previously flew F-15E Strike Eagles, made history as the first female F-35 pilot in the program. (U.S. Air Force photo/Staff Sgt. Marleah Robertson)
The pilot can see through the base and walls of the aircraft, thanks to six cameras mounted outside the F-35. The “Distributed Aperture System” provides a 360-degree view of the plane’s surroundings, stitching together feeds from the corresponding external cameras based on where the pilot’s looking. It labels objects in her field of view with distance, bearing, speed, and altitude.
If the pilot feels that something she sees should be hit by a missile, or just wants a closer look, all she has to do it look at it to lock on, then flip a switch to zoom in, or fire away. Even when she’s looking elsewhere, the plane’s sensors are constantly looking for threats and keeping track of nearby wingmen, projecting relevant info onto the inside of the helmet’s visor.
...helmet-mounted displays since the 1980s. The key difference with this dome protector is the way it collates and visualizes info from all the plane’s systems.
See the full story here: https://www.wired.com/2016/06/course-f-35-comes-400000-augmented-reality-helmet/