EFIS -D10 Heads Up display

[Charles Spinelli(Guest)]

I built a HUD optical system that mounts on the EFIS D10. The system consists of a 45 deg silvered mirror to project the image vertically thru a collimating lens and then projected on to an 80/20 beamsplitter mounted in front of the pilot. As a result I have the EFIS display overlayed on my forward field of view. The system is cheap light weights about a pound and removable in flight.

I sent some pictures to the canard aviators user group and got a huge flood of emails on guys wanting to do the same thing. There are a couple of issues I need to work out the main one is brightness on a sunny day. In very bright sunlight the image will wash out but on cloudy days or evening flights and at night it works great.

I think I have a solution for increasing the image quality/brightness but it will require your help. In a nutshell if the display can be modified to project the image in a bright green (Like real HUDs) I can get the optics coated to reflect the bright green waveband only and that should increase the readablity in bright sunlight. Also is there any way to increase the brightness of the display without damaging the unit.

I you guys are interested in seeing what I have done I'd be glad to show you, I can even send some of the pictures ifyou like. I live in the Seattle area and my Vari-Viggen is located at Renton Airport.

Charlie

 

[dynonsupport]

Charlie,
That system sounds pretty interesting. I'm not sure that we have an interest in commercially developing something like that, but we are always interested in what our customers are doing with our products. You can post pictures on this message board, so go right ahead. We'd love to see them.

As for brightness, we use an LCD screen with a CCFL (Cold Cathode Flourescent Lamp) backlight. This means that if we were to display only green, we'd be 1/3 as bright as a while pixel. It would also require serious software work to make our displays work with only a single color and still be readable. There really isn't a way to increase the backlight intensity. To do this, you would need to replace the CCFL in the LCD panel, which would require a custom CCFL and a whole new inverter design (CCFL's run on 500-1600V and need a properly sized inverter).

Hope your project continues to go well, but I don't think we can help you out in the brightness department.

 

[Chasspin]

I wasn't sure how to post the images, here is the canard aviators yahoo group URL with 2 pictures I posted of the HUD.

http://photos.groups.yahoo.com/group/canard-aviators/lst?.dir=/HeadUp+Display&.src=gr&.order=&.view=t&.done=http%3a//briefcase.yahoo.com/

The first pic show the dynon display looking thru the beamsplitter. you can see the EFIS data overlayed on the view out my window at home.

The second pic show the unit on the bench.

I would be nice if you guys could set up way to upload the images directly to the forum.

Charlie

 

[dynonsupport]

Hi Charlie,

We can't access the photos you linked, because they can only be accessed by registered members of the canard-aviators list.

Instructions on how to post images:

1) When you are writing a message, you should see a bunch of little buttons at the top. The third button from the left on the top row is for posting an image.

2) Click the button for posting an image, and you will see two "img" tags inserted into your message.

3) Between the two tags, type the location on the internet of the picture you want to be shown (like http://www.dynonavionics.com/images/screen_shot_240_180.gif). Note that images posted in members-only areas such as yahoo groups will not work for this.

4) Push the "preview" button at the bottom of your post to make sure that the image loads correctly and looks like you want it to look.

5) Push the "post" button to share your picture on the forum.


Here is what the example image mentioned above looks like using this method:

 

[Chasspin]

Try this and see if that works!

http://spaces.msn.com/members/variv...spx?_c01_photoalbum=showdefault&_c=photoalbum

 

[Nick(Guest)]

Hi Charlie

Your HUD system looks interesting. Is it difficult to build? Are there any instructions on the web? Also info on where to source the optics eg collimating lens etc... I'd ba grateful for any info.
Nick.

 

[Wayne Blackler(Guest)]

Charlie,

Please contact me on wayne.blackler@boeing.com.

I have a Long EZ(http://ez.org/feature/F0411-1/F0411-1.htm with panel on http://ph.groups.yahoo.com/group/canard-aviators/photos/view/ecc7?b=28). The panel in my aircraft lends itself to a Dynon HUD, and I would like to it out.

Cheers,

Wayne Blackler
AUSTRALIA