It is neither practical nor feasible to deploy a conventional flight simulator with aviation units to maintain pilot proficiency. This is especially true for cockpits with side-by-side seating, for which the display system is inherently large. Operational Flight Trainers (OFTs) are the most practical way to keep proficient but are impractical when needed in tight spaces or with limited budgets.

This paper explores the use of a lightweight, stereoscopic Head-Mounted Projective Display (HMPD) with integrated retroreflective screen techniques and Mixed Reality (MR) technology as the display system for an inexpensive PC based simulator. It focuses on development of a low-cost, deployable full 360deg field of view (FOV) display system, and provides technical background on retroreflective materials and HMPD lens design for this application.

An initial experiment design for a prototype cockpit simulator will be developed. The simulator is a proof of concept for a high fidelity flight simulator that is less expensive and more portable than those using conventional flight simulator techniques. This display system will provide an Augmented Reality (AR) low cost, deployable, full-FOV display system that can be applied to any human in the loop command and control (C2) system. For example, the same technology can be used for providing extraordinary Situation Awareness (SA) for operators in Air Traffic Control (ATC), Remotely Piloted Vehicle (RPV) and/or Unmanned Combat Air/Rotary Vehicles (UCA/RV) and Command, Control, Communications, Computers, Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance (C4ISR) systems.