Comanche Modular Controls and Displays System

Abstract

The current RAH-66 Comanche ScouVAttack Helicopter in development for the U.S. Army uses an advanced Controls and Displays architecture coupled to an all glass cockpit. Advanced Mission Computers (MCs) drive state of the art crew station displays. This combination provides unmatched targeting capability while reducing the pilot's and copilot's workload. Each Crew Station (see Figure 1) consists of two primary display elements, a color 640 x 480 pixel Active Matrix Liquid Crystal Display (AMLCD) called the MultiFunction Display (MFD) and a monochromatic 640 x 480 pixel AMLCD MFD. Side by side mounting of the two units in each crew station provides maximum display surface within a limited field of view. Data transmitted to the MFDs includes artificial flight instrument displays, digital map data for navigation and threat avoidance, and high resolution FLIR images for automated and manual threat targeting. Two AMLCD Multi-Purpose Displays (MPDs) with embedded graphics generators augment the MFDs. The MPDs, situated to the lower left and right of the MFDs, provide situational data on weapons status, radio selection, and system health. They also provide a MILSTD-1553 interface to the Flight Control Computers to provide a limp home vertical situation display capability in the event both mission computer systems fail. A dedicated Display Graphics Subsystem (DGS) hosted in the MCs generates the video images for the MFDs. The DGS is a three SEM-E module set - a Graphics Module (GM) with embedded Intel i960 processor and custom graphics engine Application Specific Integrated Circuits (ASICs), a Video Distribution Module (VDM) that merges graphics with digital map or sensor images and outputs the composite video over fiber-optic links to the MFDs, and a Map Generator Module (MGM) that creates moving terrain plan and paper chart images. The modules are programmed using a high level Display Graphics Language (DGL) that permits the user to develop and maintain display formats with a simple yet powerful interface.