Thales Studies Low-Cost HUDs

Thales Avionics has launched development of an all-new, low-cost head-up display, intended to extend HUD and enhanced vision system use to new classes of aircraft. Thales North America president Jean-Pierre Mortreux disclosed here at NBAA that the company is working on a HUD using liquid-crystal display (LCD) technology.

So far, HUDs have not been widely used except on the largest corporate jets because of their size, weight and cost. LCD is a key to reducing size, according to Bruce Bailey, vp of commercial aviation at CMC Electronics, which recently acquired low-cost HUD specialist Flight Visions. Using technology similar to a digital media projector, an LCD HUD eliminates the high-intensity CRT in today's systems, which is heavy, bulky and inherently hot-running and requires a high-voltage power supply.
Another key advance in Flig

ht Visions' HUDs, says Bailey, is that "they have mastered the art of using plastic lenses." Plastic is not only lighter than glass, but as anyone who wears glasses can tell you, modern high-refraction-index materials lead to thinner lenses, lower losses and more-compact optical systems.