General Aviation

Problem: General Aviation (GA) pilots spend a large amount (up to 50%) of their time in a “head down” mode performing basic navigation tasks and trying to figure out “where am I?” on the map.

This not only creates a safety issue due to decreased situational awareness but also detracts from the joy of flying in the sense of watching the outside world pass under your wings.

Solution: The Nomad Personal Flight System — featuring the Nomad™ Augmented Vision System — increases flight safety and situational awareness for the GA pilot by allowing head up, hands-free access to critical flight data without diverting attention from flying the plane.

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The Nomad system’s see-through format enables the pilot’s focus to be outside the cockpit, increasing situational awareness particularly critical during heavy pilot workloads in controlled airspace. The system relies on a convenient iPAQ® Pocket PC and is a “walk on/walk off” kit which runs off battery power, or through a standard cigarette lighter adapter.

No modifications to the aircraft are required, and pilots can use the Nomad Personal Flight system on virtually any airplane. This system runs independent of installed avionics, and because it is not a primary flight instrument, does not require any additional certifications.

The PCFLIGHTSYSTEMS EFIS module coupled to a GPS provides aircraft attitude and navigation information needed to pilot the aircraft.

Technology that was once found only in fighter jets and commercial aircraft is now affordable and available to the GA pilot. See the advantages of a “glass cockpit, ” equipped with a moving map display system through a daylight readable head up display.

For information on how to purchase the Nomad Personal Flight System, visit: PCFlightSystems.com

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Airtraffic Control

Problem: Currently, the controller is continually switching from looking down at information on monitors to looking out the window at the actual aircraft he is directing (to particular gates, land and hold short instructions, taxi commands, etc). Controllers today speak of being “out-monitored” in that they have too much information to absorb at one time. Viewing all of this information requires taking their attention away from the outside world.

Future Visualization Tool for ATC Tower Controllers (84 KB) (Requires Adobe Acrobat)

Solution: The Nomad system’s high brightness and see-through operations benefit the air traffic controller by allowing information to be superimposed upon the real world, thereby augmenting the controllers view of the world and making him more effective and more aware of the total airport traffic environment.

News: Eurocontrol, the European ATC group charged with evaluating new technologies, has purchased the Nomad system and has been in the evaluation stages for about one year. Microvision is in active communication with individual European Union member states for their own evaluation. In the United States, Microvision is working with the FAA to evaluate the feasibility of using the system domestically.

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Aircraft Maintenance

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Problem: On wing aircraft maintainers have to work quickly to get aircraft back in the air. To do this, they must access thousands of pages of manuals and procedures. Today this usually means driving to the maintenance shack to refer to paper manuals. This is a time consuming effort that slows the maintenance process.

Solution: Equipped with the Nomad Augmented Vision System coupled with a wearable computer, the maintenance personnel have instant access to the entire maintenance database library. Documents are controlled so the newest revision level is used and there is no need to shuttle back and forth to the maintenance shack.

More importantly, your crew can access information while on scaffolding, sitting inside the airframe or working in other difficult positions. All the time, working with their hands while viewing critical maintenance information.

Benefit: With augmented vision the maintenance crews have all of the necessary information to perform the maintenance tasks right before their eyes. With their hands free, and in head up mode, your crews are is much more productive and safer on wing. Speed and accuracy improvements have been measured at up to 70% in similar applications.