Helmet gives fighter pilots ‘X-ray’ vision

Technology reporter, BBC News
Katia Moskvitch tries the Striker 'smart helmet' on a simulator

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When a pilot in a Eurofighter Typhoon jet glances down, he doesn't see a steel-grey floor. Instead he sees clouds, and maybe sheep and cows in green fields below.
If he were to spot an enemy down there, or anywhere near the aircraft, he would not need to point the plane towards the target.
He would simply look at it - through the solid hull of the plane - make sure that a tiny symbol displayed on his helmet's visor was aligned with the object, press a button and fire.
The pilot is wearing BAE Systems' Striker HMSS helmet, the UK defence company's latest development. Putting augmented reality technology - as used in video games - to military use is the latest goal for helmet makers around the world.

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The plane's sensors provide the pilot with X-ray vision-like imagery”
David Cenciotti Former Italian Air Force officer
Cameras all around the aircraft are wirelessly linked to BAE's helmet; the system checks in which direction the pilot is looking, and then displays the exact view on the visor, in real time.
Striker incorporates a helmet-mounted display (HMD), designed to help the pilot communicate with the plane.
HMD is a step forward from the so-called head-up displays (HUD) - the transparent screens in front of the pilot that first appeared in the 1970s. They show key data, such as the altitude, speed and direction, allowing pilots to keep their eyes on the view ahead instead of constantly looking down to check their instruments.
HUDs also display targets - but to aim, the pilot has to manoeuvre the aircraft accordingly.
The military around the world started using HMDs in the 1990s; nowadays, they are becoming more and more advanced.
VSI helmet Helmet-mounted displays made by a US company VSI are also among the most advanced, providing the pilot with X-ray-like vision
"If a pilot wears a Striker helmet - which is essentially a helmet with an integrated display - when he sees something on the ground he can just turn his head, put a symbol across on to the point of interest, press a button, and the system will calculate the object's co-ordinates," says Alan Jowett of BAE Systems.

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With a helmet-mounted display, you could actually control a UAV equipped with weapons from the jet”
Peter Robbie EADS
"The aircraft can then turn its sensors, cameras or weapons in that direction - so it allows a dialogue directly between the plane and the pilot."
Night vision Pilots from a number of countries routinely wear Striker HMSS on training exercises but it has not yet been used in combat.
BAE Systems says its helmet is the most advanced in the world but there are other companies which can make a claim to that title.
California-based Vision Systems International (VSI) has created a helmet-mounted display called HMDS Gen II, specifically designed for the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter stealth jet, which is currently under development.
The plane has been designed without a head-up display, so getting the right HMD is paramount.
Like Striker, HMDS Gen II integrates infrared imaging, night vision and a virtual HUD, showing data right in front of the pilot's eyes.
A RAF pilot wearing a Striker helmet on a Eurotyphoon jet in Malaysia BAE Systems' Striker helmet has been designed to help the pilot communicate with the fighter jet
"All of the plane's sensors along with a set of cameras mounted on the jet's outer surfaces feed the system, providing the pilot with X-ray vision-like imagery," says David Cenciotti, a military aviation journalist and former Italian Air Force officer.

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In real life, there is simply no reset button”
Andrew Brookes Retired RAF pilot
"He can see in all directions, and through any surface, with all the information needed to fly the plane and to cue weapons projected on to the visor."
"The most used helmet-mounted display in the world is JHMCS, also made by VSI."
Playing the game In future, full-display helmets could lead to the deployment of unmanned drones from the sky, says Peter Robbie, vice-president of business development at European aerospace and defence firm EADS.
"If you're flying a fighter plane with a helmet-mounted display, you could actually control a UAV [unmanned aerial vehicle] equipped with weapons from the jet," he says.
Alan Jowett of BAE Systems explains how the Striker generation of helmets is tested
"The UAV would be an additional weapons carrier, and the pilot could pass targeting information to it.
"So if he sees a target, by pressing a button it would become the unmanned vehicle's target. The pilot could authorise it to drop a missile and then monitor through his helmet where it is going to go.
"This type of monitoring already happens now - the pilot has a laser pointed on to the target, and it is what the weapon goes after. If at the last minute he sees, for instance, an ambulance turn up, he can make the weapon miss the target."
Such developments, along with the pinpoint accuracy of missiles on a modern aeroplane, could help save lives by reducing collateral damage.
But one retired RAF pilot says that adopting too much technology worries him.
"The biggest computer in my day, in the 1970s and 1980s, was the human brain. Now the human brain is in the business of managing all the data the plane is feeding to it," says Andrew Brookes, a former wing commander.
F-35 fighter jet The F-35 has been designed without a head-up display
"You're not flying - the computer does the flying. You just sit in an armchair, so to speak, and manage the battle space, manage all the inputs that are coming around from miles away, and a lot of it is fused under the screen in the helmet in front of your eyes.
"And while the precision power is awesome, and the intelligence-gathering capability is awesome, you become an all-seeing being in the sky.
"That's frightening when you think about it - as everything becomes more technological, there's less and less of the human flying element, and some people may not realise they are making a transition from a video game in their living room to a big video game in a conflict.
"And in real life, there is simply no reset button."
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Raised in darkness, MBA student set to launch UP village into cyber space

MBA student from remote village among 7 students to win Rs 1.5 lakh in all-India contest

The place 22-year-old Shailesh Nirala calls home is 20 km from a college and the nearest bookstore, 15 km from the closest cyber café, 10 km from a bank, and has only recently started getting electricity for 12 hours a day.

On September 18, Nirala would take a train home - in Dhuska village, Uttar Pradesh - and walk 10 km to the nearest bank to ensure that no one from his village will have to walk 15 km for internet access again.

Nirala was one of seven B-school students - out of 450 contenders from across the country - who won Rs 1.5 lakh in the Godrej LOUD contest held in Vikhroli on Thursday.

Nirala, in his winning presentation, had expressed desire to set up an information centre in Dhuska to help villagers browse through newspapers, magazines, employment websites and access information about agricultural practices.

After spending his first 12 years in Dhuska, Nirala had got a scholarship to finish his schooling in Bokaro, Jharkhand, where, for the firs time, he saw a computer and learnt English.

The youngest of four children of a farmer, Nirala paid his way through BBA by working as a bank assistant. Currently pursuing an MBA at Indian Institute of Foreign Trade (IIFT), Delhi, Nirala said, "People say mean things to students who manage to make their way out of the village. They assume their lack of exposure means they are not bright. The only reason I was able to get this far was because I managed to top my school and get a scholarship."

"Of the 2,000-odd residents, few manage to achieve enough to get out of the village and even fewer go back to help others," he said.  "I have spoken to the village panchayat and they have arranged for a room for setting up the communication centre. I'd been trying to find funding for the project since last year," he said. He plans to install two computers with printers, webcam and Internet connection within a week of returning to his village from Mumbai on September 18.


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Woman sees light with bionic eye

A prosthetic has given an Australian woman partial sight. It is the first time in the world such a device has been implanted behind the retina
Posted On Friday, August 31, 2012 at 02:06:33 AM

Australian scientists have successfully implanted a “world first” bionic eye prototype, describing it as a major breakthrough for the visually impaired.

Bionic Vision Australia (BVA), a government-funded science consortium, said it had surgically installed an “early prototype” robotic eye in a woman with hereditary sight loss caused by degenerative retinitis pigmentosa.

Described as a “pre-bionic eye”, the tiny device is attached to Dianne Ashworth’s retina and contains 24 electrodes which send electrical impulses to stimulate her eye’s nerve cells. Researchers switched on the device in their laboratory last month after Ashworth had fully recovered from surgery and she said it was an incredible experience. “I didn’t know what to expect, but all of a sudden, I could see a little flash - it was amazing,” she said in a statement. “Every time there was stimulation there was a different shape that appeared in front of my eye.“ Penny Allen, the surgeon who implanted the device, described it as a “world first”.

Ashworth's device only works when it is connected inside the lab and BVA chairman David Penington said it would be used to explore how images were “built” by the brain and eye.

Feedback from the device will be fed into a “vision processor” allowing doctors to determine exactly what Ashworth sees when her retina is subjected to various levels of stimulation.

“The team is looking for consistency of shapes, brightness, size and location of flashes to determine how the brain interprets this information,” explained Rob Shepherd, director of the Bionics Institute which was also involved in the breakthrough.

The team is working towards a “wide-view” 98-electrode device that will provide users with the ability to perceive large objects such as buildings and cars, and a “high-acuity” 1,024-electrode device.

Patients with the high-acuity device are expected to be able to recognise faces and read large print, and BVA said it would be suitable for people with retinitis pigmentosa and age-related macular degeneration. Penington said the early results from Ashworth had “fulfilled our best expectations, giving us confidence that with further development we can achieve useful vision”. “The next big step will be when we commence implants of the full devices,” he said.


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