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thumbnail of Middle Ground – Field of View for Future Helmet Mounted Displays

Author
Siddharth Shyamsundar
Abstract
Drawing on research spanning multiple decades, different platforms and use cases, this literature review provides an in-depth overview of Field of View (FOV) in fixed wing military aviation Helmet Mounted Displays (HMDs), focusing on its human factors (HF) and performance implications. Expanding on the capabilities of human vision, it highlights how FOV and human vision are interlinked and why the current fixed wing HMD FOV standard is inadequate, failing to leverage the far-reaching capabilities of the human eye. This paper delves into both the preeminent FOV perspectives – the “as small as possible” and the “bigger the better” approaches, and identifies a “middle ground” of horizontal FOVs between 60° and 90°, where the benefits of wide FOV HMDs are at their most advantageous. Using this as a starting point, this study calls for the development of a wide FOV HMD for fixed wing military aircraft to include empirical HF research using appropriate use cases while accounting for platform and sensor capabilities and mission sets.