JAXA (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency) has been conducting a research project named SAVERH (Situation
Awareness and Visual Enhancer for Rescue Helicopter) with Shimadzu Corporation and NEC from 2008. SAVERH
aims at inventing a method of presenting suitable information to the pilot to support search and rescue missions. An
integrated system comprising an HMD (Helmet-Mounted Display) and a FLIR (Forward Looking Infrared) sensor were
installed in a JAXA research helicopter, and a series of flight tests was conducted to evaluate the benefit of presenting
FLIR images on the HMD in night flight. Three pilots evaluated the display system during six night flights, considering
terrain and position awareness. The tests showed that use of FLIR gave better route tracking performance, and the
effectiveness of head-slaved FLIR on an approach task was shown by subjective pilot rating.
A method to enhance the legibility of FLIR (Forward-Looking Infra Red) images was invented and evaluated by flight
test. The method intends to avoid image saturation when a pilot is looking for low temperature objects of interest in an
image dominated by high temperature areas, such as searching for objects on a cooler land area in an image mostly filled
with a warmer sea area. The method utilizes a 2D mask generated from 3D object of interest data, and overlays the raw
image. The effectiveness of the method was evaluated by flight tests in which the processed image was presented on a
HMD (Helmet Mounted Display). The flight tests confirmed the enhanced image legibility brought by the method.
We have presented a new approach for Optical HMT (Head Motion Tracker) past years [1]-[4]. In existing Magnetic HMT,
it is inevitable to conduct pre-mapping in order to obtain sufficient accuracy because of magnetic field's distortion
caused by metallic material around HMT, such as cockpit and helmet. Optical HMT is commonly known as
mapping-free tracker; however, it has some disadvantages on accuracy, stability against sunlight conditions, in terms of
comparison with Magnetic HMT. We had succeeded to develop new HMT system, which can overcome particular
disadvantages by integration with two area cameras, optical markers, image processing techniques and inertial sensors
with simple algorithm in laboratory level environment (2008). We have also reported some experimental results
conducted in flight test, which proved good accuracy even in the sunlight condition (2009). We have also reported some
experimental results conducted in flight test, which proved good performance even in the night flight (2010).
Shimadzu Corp. and JAXA (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency) are conducting joint research named SAVERH
(Situation Awareness and Visual Enhancer for Rescue Helicopter) [2]-[4] that aims at inventing method of presenting
suitable information to the pilot to support search and rescue missions by helicopters. The HMT system has been
evaluated through a series of flight evaluation in SAVERH and demonstrated the operation concept. In this report, we
show result of the final evaluation of the HMD system through 12 flights including night flight. Also, those evaluation
was done by integrated HMT system that was newly developed for the tests in this year.
We resented a new approach for Optical HMT (Head Motion Tracker) past years (Proc. SPIE 6955, 69550A, 2008, Proc.
SPIE 7326, 732607/73260L, 2009) [1]-[3]. In existing Magnetic HMT, it is inevitable to conduct pre-mapping in order to
obtain sufficient accuracy because of magnetic field's distortion caused by metallic material around HMT, such as
cockpit and helmet. Optical HMT is commonly known as mapping-free tracker; however, it has some disadvantages on
accuracy, stability against sunlight conditions, in terms of comparison with Magnetic HMT. We had succeeded to
develop new Optical HMT, which can overcome particular disadvantages by integration with two area cameras, LED
markers, image processing techniques and inertial sensors with simple algorithm in laboratory level environment (2007).
We have also reported some experimental results conducted in flight test, which proves good accuracy even in the
sunlight condition (2008).
Shimadzu Corp. and JAXA (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency) are conducting joint research named SAVERH
(Situation Awareness and Visual Enhancer for Rescue Helicopter)
[2]-[3] that aims at inventing method of presenting
suitable information to the pilot to support search and rescue missions by helicopters. The Optical HMT has been
evaluated through a series of flight evaluation in SAVERH and demonstrated the operation concept. Through 16 flights
including night flights, the potential capability of the system was demonstrated and issues for further improvement were
identified.
We have presented a new approach for Optical HMT (Head Motion Tracker) last year (Proc. SPIE 6955, 69550A1-11,
2008) [1]. In existing Magnetic HMT, it is inevitable to conduct
pre-mapping in order to obtain sufficient accuracy
because of magnetic field's distortion caused by metallic material around HMT, such as cockpit and helmet. Optical
HMT is commonly known as mapping-free tracker; however, it has some disadvantages on accuracy, stability against
sunlight conditions, in terms of comparison with Magnetic HMT. We have succeeded to develop new Optical HMT,
which can overcome particular disadvantages by integration with two area cameras, LED markers, image processing
techniques and inertial sensors with simple algorithm in laboratory level environment. We have also reported some
experimental results conducted in laboratory, which proves good accuracy even in the sunlight condition. This time, we
show actual performance of the Optical HMT in flight condition, including evaluation of stability against sunlight.
Shimadzu Corp. and JAXA (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency) is conducting joint research named SAVERH
(Situation Awareness and Visual Enhancer for Rescue Helicopter) [2] that aims at inventing method of presenting suitable
information to the pilot to support search and rescue missions by helicopters. The Optical HMT has been evaluated
through a series of flight evaluation in SAVERH and demonstrated the operation concept.
JAXA (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency), together with Shimadzu Corporation and NEC, has initiated a research
project named SAVERH (Situation Awareness and Visual Enhancer for Rescue Helicopter) that aims at inventing
method of presenting suitable pilot information to support helicopter search and rescue missions. As the initial stage of
this research, a series of flight experiments was conducted to investigate the feasibility of operations enhanced by an
E/SVS (Enhanced / Synthetic Vision System) and to clarify system issues. An integrated system comprising an HMD
(Helmet Mounted Display) and a FLIR (Forward Looking Infrared) sensor were installed in a JAXA research helicopter,
and Tunnel-in-the-Sky symbology and a Synthetic Terrain image combined with the FLIR image were presented on the
HMD and/or on a Head Down Display (HDD). Through a total of 17 flights including night flights, the potential
capability of the system was demonstrated while many issues for further investigation were identified.
A new approach for optical Head Motion Tracker (hereafter HMT) is shown. In existing magnetic HMT, it is inevitable
to conduct pre-mapping in order to obtain sufficient accuracy because of magnetic field's distortion caused by metallic
material around HMT, such as aircrafts and vehicles. Optical HMT is commonly known as mapping-free tracker;
however, it has some disadvantages in comparison with magnetic HMT. We have succeeded to develop a new optical
HMT, which can overcome those disadvantages by integration with two area cameras, optical markers and inertial
sensors with simple algorithm.
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