Virtual Dome® System

To replace costly dome enclosures, Eidetics offers a low-cost, rear-projected display as the primary out-the-window scene. This type of display is very portable, cost-effective and provides sufficient training in most areas. For training tasks where the threat is not able to be viewed on the out-the-window display, Eidetics has developed, in conjunction with the US Air Force research Labs, Wright Patterson Air Force Base, the Virtual Dome® display (US Patent No. 5,272,652). In this system, an icon is displayed on the screen whenever the threat aircraft leaves the pilot’s field of view. This icon provides the pilot with the proper spatial and target situational awareness necessary to perform the most rigorous air combat training tasks.

As shown in the figure above, when an adversary or friendly aircraft exits the physical field of view of the screen or CRT display, a graphically generated circular window (icon), focused on the adversary aircraft, is displayed, creating a virtual field of view. The location of this moving window along the screen’s edge and the orientation of the aircraft image within, as seen by the pilot, provides the tactical cues required to conduct credible close-in, air-to-air combat. The pilot intuitively determines the correct maneuver plane, attitude, closing velocity and relative bearing of the other aircraft.

To quantify the increased training capability of Eidetics’ Virtual Dome® System, a detailed training task analysis was conducted. The following charts summarizes the results, showing that Eidetics’ Virtual Dome® system increases unit level training capability by up to 53%.