The trend in simulation systems for current fighter type aircraft is to employ increasing numbers of components that have been developed for commercial markets. The reason for this trend stems from two factors; the remarkable improvement in the performance of these system elements, and the relatively low cost of those elements.

This availability of low cost image generation equipment and high performance projectors has enabled the revival of a class of simulation display devices long thought too expensive to be put into general use in training simulations. These rear-projection display systems take a brute force approach to providing the pilot with high resolution imagery throughout his field of regard. This abundance of imagery, while a great improvement over systems with area of interest and/or reduced field of view images, has only recently become cost effective.

One new system that takes advantage of this progress is the SimuSphere developed by Raytheon. This display makes use of a well established dodecahedron structure. The modernization of the design has included advancements in all areas of the technology, from manufacturing to image generation. This paper will discuss a number of these improvements to the display hardware, including manufacturing tolerances and repeatability, mechanical and electronic alignment concerns, and ingress/egress issues. The benefits to the system wide solution resulting from image optimization and a compatible HUD design will also be detailed. Finally, any system that makes significant use of commercial components must have a clear upgrade path which benefits from their characteristically rapid evolution. Potential system enhancements resulting from improved projection and image generation products will also be explored.

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Michael Fortin