Holographic And Classical Head Up Display Technology For Commercial And Fighter Aircraft

Robert B. Wood; Michael J. Hayford

doi:10.1117/12.944123

Translator Disclaimer

12 April 1988 Holographic And Classical Head Up Display Technology For Commercial And Fighter Aircraft

Robert B. Wood; Michael J. Hayford

Author Affiliations +

Proceedings Volume 0883, Holographic Optics: Design and Applications; (1988) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.944123
Event: 1988 Los Angeles Symposium: O-E/LASE '88, 1988, Los Angeles, CA, United States

Abstract

One of the first Holographic Head Up Display (HHUD) systems developed at Flight Dynamics, Inc. (FDI) was for the Boeing 727 class commercial transport. It has been certified by the FAA for landing operations under Category IIIa conditions and for windshear detection and recovery guidance. The combiner of a prototype exhibited a phenomenon called flare. Flare is most apparent when viewing bright objects in a dark surround, e.g. landing lights at night. It is caused by using Holographic Optical Elements (HOEs) with diffractive power and by HOE construction setups in which the formation of parasitic holograms is not controlled. The problem was solved by using a conformal reflection HOE constructed in a single beam configuration (U.S. Patent 4,582,389). Other HHUD systems have been developed by Flight Dynamics, Inc. for fighter cockpit geometries. Because no structure can protrude past the ejection line, the optical path must be folded forward to clear this area. Since the combiner element must work at substantial (>55°) off-axis angles which introduce large aberrations, a holographic fold element formed using aspheric wavefronts is used to introduce partially compensating aberrations (U.S. Patent 4,669,810). Large aspheric wavefront deformations can be achieved on a component which is manufactured by a replication process, thereby reducing costs.

Citation Download Citation

Robert B. Wood and Michael J. Hayford "Holographic And Classical Head Up Display Technology For Commercial And Fighter Aircraft", Proc. SPIE 0883, Holographic Optics: Design and Applications, (12 April 1988); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.944123

ACCESS THE FULL ARTICLE