You May Soon Be Able To Have A HMD Head-Up-Display (HUD) For Less Than $2,000

By Bruce Brandon

Talk about how the cost of information has gone down!  Aerocross is a young startup company located in McKinney, TX (near Dallas) created by two very experienced engineers who had a booth in the new Innovations Pavilion at AirVenture. EAA awarded the complimentary booth space to the company on a competitive basis as part of a renewed effort to nurture innovations.

Tam Pho, a United States Air Force Academy trained Astronautical Engineer, and D Wysong, a Texas A&M trained Aerospace Engineer, have teamed up to produce a low cost HMD that to the author is one better than a Head-Up Display (HUD) for general aviation pilots. Aerocross Systems is calling its new device Brilliant Eyes Head-Mounted Display (HMD). What makes this device revolutionary is that it will be affordable for any GA pilot at a targeted price of less than $2,000 and, regardless of where the pilot’s head is directed, he/she has critical flight information available.

The two engineers have over 20 years (each) of experience working on several major programs including the Space Shuttle, X33 VentureStar, Titan IV/Centaur, and Pegasus space launch systems. As Aerocross Systems, they have developed electro-optical systems, and data acquisition systems for several government and commercial organizations. In recent years, they have built and tested the Echo Hawk, a medium altitude (30,000 ft) unmanned aircraft system (UAS), as a prime contractor for the United States Air Force.

Aerocross showcased a working prototype at AirVenture and gathered critical feedback information from over 1000 new and experienced pilots alike. The company plans to continue development in late 2013 and beginning low rate production in 2014.

Plans call for the initial release to have the basic “six Pack” information displayed and gradually adding additional information as pilots become accustomed to the display. When it is released (and particularly when fully developed), HMD will be a great safety enhancement for the general aviation pilot.

(Image provided by Aerocross)

FMI: http://aerocross.com/index.htm