Daniel D. Desjardins

Requirements for AMLCDs in U.S. military applications

Flat panel displays are fast becoming a significant source of more defense for less money. Military instruments have begun to use color active matrix liquid crystal displays (AMLCDs). This is the beginning of a significant transition from electromechanical, CRT. dichroic LCD, and electroluminescent display designs to the AMLCD designs. We have the opportunity with this new technology to establish common products capable of meeting user requirements for sunlight-readable, color and grayscale capable, high-sharpness high-pixel count, flat panel displays for military applications. The Wright Laboratory is leading the development of recommended best practice, draft guidance standard, and performance specifications for this new generation, the flat panel cockpit display generation, of display modules based on requirements for U.S. military aircraft and ground combat human system interfaces. These requirements are similar in many regards to those in both the civil aviation and automotive industries; accordingly, commonality with these civil applications is incorporated where possible, against the requirements for military combat applications. The performance requirement may be achieved by two approaches: militarization of displays made to low requirements of a large volume civil products manufacturer like Sharp or integration of displays made to high requirements by a niche market commercial vendor, like Optical Imaging Systems, Litton Systems Limited, ImageQuest Inc., and Planar Advanced Inc. teamed with Xerox PARC and Standish Industries. [Note that the niche market companies listed are commercial off-the shelf vendors, albeit for high requirement low volume customers.] Given that the performance specifications can be met for a particular military product by either approach, the choice is based on life cycle cost and a thin analysis based on initial costs alone is not acceptable as it ignores the fact that military product life cycles and procurements are 20-60 years compared to 1.5 years for civil products. Thus far there is no convincing evidence that the large volume commercial product approach for combat systems will meet the combat performance specification or be cheaper from a life cycle cost perspective. National and economic security requirements require some military/avionic-grade AMLCD production domestically (i.e. in the U.S. and/or Canada). Examples of AMLCD demand and performance requirements in U.S. military systems are provided.

Military display market: third comprehensive edition

Defense displays comprise a niche market whose continually high performance requirements drive technology. The military displays market is being characterized to ascertain opportunities for synergy across platforms, and needs for new technology. All weapons systems are included. Some 382,585 displays are either now in use or planned in DoD weapon systems over the next 15 years, comprising displays designed into direct-view, projection-view, and virtual- image-view applications. This defense niche market is further fractured into 1163 micro-niche markets by the some 403 program offices who make decisions independently of one another. By comparison, a consumer electronics product has volumes of tens-of-millions of units for a single fixed design. Some 81% of defense displays are ruggedized versions of consumer-market driven designs. Some 19% of defense displays, especially in avionics cockpits and combat crewstations, are custom designs to gain the additional performance available in the technology base but not available in consumer-market-driven designs. Defense display sizes range from 13.6 to 4543 mm. More than half of defense displays are now based on some form of flat panel display technology, especially thin-film-transistor active matrix liquid crystal display (TFT AMLCD); the cathode ray tube (CRT) is still widely used but continuing to drop rapidly in defense market share.

Military display market: fourth comprehensive edition

The military display market is analyzed in terms of all fully electronic and many electro-mechanical displays used on combat platforms across all DoD Services. The military market for displays is defined by parameters such as active area, bezel-to-bezel measurement and technology. Other characteristics such as luminance, contrast ratio, gray levels, resolution, viewing angle, color, video capability, and night vision imaging system compatibility are noted. This study takes into account all displays that are either installed or funded for installation. In some few cases, it also includes planned displays. Display sizes having aggregate defense applications of 5,000 units or greater and having DoD applications across 10 or more platform fleets, are tabulated. The issue of size commonality is addressed where distribution of active area across platform fleets, individually, in groups of two through nine, and ten or more, is illustrated. Military displays are also analyzed by technology, where total quantities of such displays are broken out into CRT, LCD, AMLCD, EM, LED, Incandescent, Plasma and TFEL percentages. Custom, versus Ruggedized Commercial-Off-The-Shelf (RCOTS), versus Commercial Off-The-Shelf (COTS) designs are contrasted. High and low information content designs are identified. Displays for several high-profile military programs are discussed, to include both technical specifications and program history. Our defense-wide study as of February 2006 has documented 1,195 direct-view and 15 virtualview display sizes across 628 weapon system platforms for a total of 1,161,977 displays.

Military display market segment: avionics (Invited Paper)

The military display market is analyzed in terms of one of its segments: avionics. Requirements are summarized for 13 technology-driving parameters for direct-view and virtual-view displays in cockpits and cabins. Technical specifications are discussed for selected programs. Avionics stresses available technology and usually requires custom display designs.

Military display performance parameters

The military display market is analyzed in terms of four of its segments: avionics, vetronics, dismounted soldier, and command and control. Requirements are summarized for a number of technology-driving parameters, to include luminance, night vision imaging system compatibility, gray levels, resolution, dimming range, viewing angle, video capability, altitude, temperature, shock and vibration, etc., for direct-view and virtual-view displays in cockpits and crew stations. Technical specifications are discussed for selected programs.

Military display market segment: helicopters

The military display market is analyzed in terms of one of its segments: helicopter displays. Parameters requiring special consideration, to include luminance ranges, contrast ratio, viewing angles, and chromaticity coordinates, are examined. Performance requirements for rotary-wing displays relative to several premier applications are summarized. Display sizes having aggregate defense applications of 5,000 units or greater and having DoD applications across 10 or more platforms, are tabulated. The issue of size commonality is addressed where distribution of active area sizes across helicopter platforms, individually, in groups of two through nine, and ten or greater, is illustrated. Rotary-wing displays are also analyzed by technology, where total quantities of such displays are broken out into CRT, LCD, AMLCD, EM, LED, Incandescent, Plasma and TFEL percentages. Custom, versus Rugged commercial, versus commercial off-the-shelf designs are contrasted. High and low information content designs are identified. Displays for several high-profile military helicopter programs are discussed, to include both technical specifications and program history. The military display market study is summarized with breakouts for the helicopter market segment. Our defense-wide study as of March 2004 has documented 1,015,494 direct view and virtual image displays distributed across 1,181 display sizes and 503 weapon systems. Helicopter displays account for 67,472 displays (just 6.6% of DoD total) and comprise 83 sizes (7.0% of total DoD) in 76 platforms (15.1% of total DoD). Some 47.6% of these rotary-wing applications involve low information content displays comprising just a few characters in one color; however, as per fixed-wing aircraft, the predominant instantiation involves higher information content units capable of showing changeable graphics, color and video.

Military display market segment: wearable and portable

The military display market (MDM) is analyzed in terms of one of its segments, wearable and portable displays. Wearable and portable displays are those embedded in gear worn or carried by warfighters. Categories include hand-mobile (direct-view and monocular/binocular), palm-held, head/helmet-mounted, body-strapped, knee-attached, lap-born, neck-lanyard, and pocket/backpack-stowed. Some 62 fielded and developmental display sizes are identified in this wearable/portable MDM segment. Parameters requiring special consideration, such as weight, luminance ranges, light emission, viewing angles, and chromaticity coordinates, are summarized and compared. Ruggedized commercial versus commercial off-the-shelf designs are contrasted; and a number of custom displays are also found in this MDM category. Display sizes having aggregate quantities of 5,000 units or greater or having 2 or more program applications are identified. Wearable and portable displays are also analyzed by technology (LCD, LED, CRT, OLED and plasma). The technical specifications and program history of several high-profile military programs are discussed to provide a systems context for some representative displays and their function. As of August 2002 our defense-wide military display market study has documented 438,882 total display units distributed across 1,163 display sizes and 438 weapon systems. Wearable and portable displays account for 202,593 displays (46% of total DoD) yet comprise just 62 sizes (5% of total DoD) in 120 weapons systems (27% of total DoD). Some 66% of these wearable and portable applications involve low information content displays comprising just a few characters in one color; however, there is an accelerating trend towards higher information content units capable of showing changeable graphics, color and video.

Military display market segment: aircraft cockpits

The military display market is analyzed in terms of one of its segments, aircraft cockpits. Parameters that require special consideration, such as luminance ranges, light emission/viewing angles, and chromaticity coordinates, are examined.

Military market for flat panel displays

This paper addresses the number, function and size of primary military displays and establishes a basis to determine the opportunities for technology insertion in the immediate future and into the next millennium. The military displays market is specified by such parameters as active area and footprint size, and other characteristics such as luminance, gray scale, resolution, color capability and night vision imaging system capability. A select grouping of funded, future acquisitions, planned and predicted cockpit kits, and form-fit-function upgrades are taken into account. It is the intent of this paper to provide an overview of the DoD niche market, allowing both government and industry a timely reference to insure meeting DoD requirements for flat-panel displays on schedule and in a cost-effective manner. The aggregate DoD market for direct view displays is presently estimated to be in excess of 157,000. Helmet/head mounted displays will add substantially to this total. The vanishing vendor syndrome for older display technologies is becoming a growing, pervasive problem throughout DoD, which consequently just leverage the more modern display technologies being developed for civil-commercial markets.

Determination of 255 just noticeable color gray level differences for improved color palette

Following research reported by the authors to SPIE (2015) and SID (2017), this paper pursues further psychophysical research to the determination of 255 Just Noticeable Color Differences (JNCDs). Given transmissive (e.g., Active Matrix Liquid Crystal Display (AMLCD)) displays shall continue to create color palette via additive color subpixel gray level; given the number of such gray levels shall continue to be 255 (plus black) for most avionic, vetronic and other commercial applications, the authors anticipate the requirement for a unique set of color gray levels, and to this end propose identifying a statistically reliable set of threshold luminance for transmissive display color channels. Additionally, the authors propose to demonstrate that once individual color primaries are established on a JND basis, any and all combination colors are also unique and distinguishable. Only in this way can 255 gray level transmissive displays be most efficient in delivering their advertised 16.5 million colors and most effective in creating useful results, e.g., color maps, etc. Method of research, to include procedure, equipment, stimuli and test subjects shall be cited. Results of test, to include test subject Fechtner fractions for red, green, and blue, and test subject Fechtner fractions for equivalent color brightness combinations of red, green, and blue, shall be reported.