..:: India Strategic ::. ABC Aviation: Thales unveils revolutionary head-worn display system for business jets

British Prime Minister David Cameron resigns | Theresa May takes over as new UK PM | May becomes second British woman PM after Margaret Thatcher | Cameron announced resignation following Brexit, a referendum for UK's exit from EU June 23 | International Tribunal demolishes China's claims over South China Sea | Permanent Court of Arbitration at The Hague says China has no legal basis to claim regional waters and build islets | The Tribunal also held China guilty of damaging coral reefs and natural environment | China has border maritime problems with all its neighbours | China rejected the decision, saying it is invalid and has no binding force | India, Tanzania agree to deepen overall defence and security partnership, especially in the maritime domain | Both nations agreed to work closely, bilaterally, regionally and globally to combat twin threats of terrorism, climate change | Prime Minister visiting Tanzania in the last leg of his visit to 4 African nations July 7-11 | Boeing, Mahindra Defence open C-17 Training Centre for IAF | Terrorism is the gravest security threat facing the world today, says PM Modi during Mozambique visit | Terrorism impacts India and Mozambique equally | NASA spacecraft Juno reaches Jupiter | Juno crossed violent radiation and flew 130,000 miles/hour | Jupiter is the largest planet in our solar system | Juno should be in Jpiter orbit for 20 months to send data | The $1.1 billion Juno mission took five years to reach Jupiter | LCA 'Tejas' joins Indian Air Force | Tejas is an indigenously-built Light Combat Aircraft | The single-seat, single-engine, multi-role light fighter is designed by ADA and manufactured by HAL | India test-fires new surface-to-air missile from a defence base in Balasore off Odisha coast | The new missile is jointly developed by India and Israel | Abdul Majeed Al Khoori appointed Acting CEO of the Abu Dhabi Airports | Eng. Mohamed Mubarak Al Mazrouei becomes Advisor to the Abu Dhabi Airports Chairman | Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar hands over 'Varunastra' to Indian Navy | Varunastra is an advanced heavyweight anti-submarine torpedo | It is indigenously designed, developed and manufactured by DRDO | India officially joins Missile Technology Control Regime | With this India becomes 35th member of the MTCR | Indian Foreign Secretary S Jaishankar signed the document of accession into MTCR in Seoul June 27 | The document was signed in presence of Ambassadors of France, the Netherlands and Luxembourg - the Chair and two co-chairs of the Regime | India had applied for the membership in 2015 | India finalises deal for 145 BAE Systems M777 artillery guns | This is Indian Army's first artillery deal in 30 years | Britain votes to leave EU, Pound crashes | 52 per cent voted Leave and 48 Remain in historic referendum | British Prime Minister David Cameron announces to resign before October over UK's exit | Leave process will take about two years though | Markets hit worldwide, including in India | China scuttles India's NSG bid | India joins SCO | India, apart from Pakistan, was admitted as full member of SCO during its Ufa Summit in July 2015 | After completing certain procedures, India now technically entered into SCO | India had an observer status for past 10 years prior to entering into six member regional bloc | No consensus on India's membership in NSG | China and five other countries oppose India's entry as New Delhi has not signed NPT | China insists Pakistan must also enter NSG if India's application is accepted | Pakistan is China's only military ally and is also known as a nuclear, missile and terror proliferator (NMTP) | Indian Space Agency ISRO successfully launches 20 satellites in one rocket | This is the biggest launch in ISRO's history | The satellites were launched onboard PSLV C-34 from SDSC (SHAR) Sriharikota | PSLV C-34 was carrying 17 satellites from US, Canada, Germany, Indonesia and 3 from India | Government of India approves 100% FDI in defence and civil aviation sectors | In defence, foreign investment beyond 49% (and up to 100%) permitted through the government approval route | This is in cases of access to modern technology in the country | For aviation, the government allowed 100% FDI in India-based airlines | The decision on FDI reforms taken at a high-level meeting chaired by Prime Minister Modi | India confident of getting into NSG, says External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj | India is working with China to win support | India will not oppose any country's membership proposal, EAM told a news conference |

Home

Editorial

Thales unveils revolutionary head-worn display system for business jets

Published: November 2015

Las Vegas. On the opening day (November 17) of the NBAA show, Thales unveiled TopMax, the world’s first civilian head-worn display, providing a 360° field of view and total eye-out functionalities that increase safety for business jet pilots especially during critical phases and in low visibility.

TopMax is the result of Thales’s decades long experience in military helmet mounted sight displays (HMSD) and civilian head up displays (HUD). The group’s innovation teams have long been seeking to address the contradictory needs for an affordable, compact head-up vision system with an extra-large field of view for the civilian market to complement existing HUD systems, a complex technical challenge for the whole civil aerospace market, and much more for smaller business aircraft.

Thales worked on the challenge by taking inspiration from vision systems available in the consumer tech industry and, using assets from military HMSD, they designed a brand new system that can be worn by civilian pilots and does not require a large fixed mount.

The result is TopMax, a lightweight head-worn display that completely bridges the technological gap between a military HMSD and a civilian HUD. First demonstrated at the Paris Air Show 2015, TopMax provides low visibility take off/landing functions, Enhanced Flight Vision and Synthetic Vision capabilities of a fixed HUD, but like an HMSD it gives a 360° field of view and total eye-out functionality.

To add to this, Thales was able to integrate functionalities at the heart of its HMSD products, including head tracking system for target designation and cueing functions. This evolution allows a civilian pilot to look at objects like 3D traffic to better understand their position and, in some cases like waypoints select them for inclusion in the FMS as direct destinations in the same way a military pilot can select targets visually for inclusion in targeting operations.

This translates into significant benefits to business jet pilots, whose mission types in certain respects are not far off military missions. Both face challenges such as approach and landing at smaller airports with low visibility conditions and require a high level of situational awareness in a highly flexible operational context. With TopMax, pilots are thus able to achieve their mission and serve the needs of their passengers in a more efficient and safer way.

“Being inspired by our military applications to produce innovative products for the civil market is part of our DNA, but in TopMax we believe to have developed true game changer. It fulfills a set of market needs that were previously thought to be impossible to be addressed by the civil market. TopMax represents the future of the civil aviation market,” said Gil Michielin, Thales Executive Vice President, Avionics.