Draft VTTC Display SOW .docx

Specifications / Statement of Work F-35 JSE High Fidelity Visual Display System

1.0 INTRODUCTION

The Joint Simulation Environment (JSE) program is installing aircraft simulation stations in a recently constructed facility at Nellis Air Force Base, Nevada. This contract is for the procurement, installation and set-up of four dome display systems at Nellis in mid-to-late 2021, with an option to procure four additional dome display systems in 2022.

These display systems are to be used for fast-jet aircraft simulations. The facility has floor space restrictions, Field of View (FOV) requirements, and a future use of a Helmet Mounted Display (HMD) requirement with a 60” (1.5 m) focal distance that requires a dome display system with a 1.3-1.5m screen radius with the pilot’s eye point at the screen center.

Use of this display system is for simulation of single-seat fixed wing aircraft operating in the simulated world in dawn, day, dusk and night time Out-The-Window (OTW) visual scene conditions. NVG compatibility is not required, as simulated NVG video is displayed through a helmet mounted display. The display system shall provide a seamless OTW visual image across the field of view and shall not have visible changes of brightness in areas where individual projected images overlap (blend zones).

A Heads-Up-Display (HUD) image is to be projected on the screen for situations where the HMD is not used.

This specification establishes performance requirements for a Visual Display System (VDS) required to support these Nellis simulation systems. For the purposes of this document, a VDS is defined as an out-the-window (OTW) display screen, image projectors, auto alignment and calibration system, mechanical/optical edge blending solution, and support structures and interfaces.

2.2 Installation and Setup

2.3.2 Field of View. The contractor shall verify image coverage of the required field of view and image geometry position accuracy to +/- 1 degree across the dome image.

2.3.3 Luminance Measurements. Acceptance testing shall include light meter measurements (in Foot-Lamberts) verifying the average luminance and contrast of the VDS using an ANSI 50% black and 50% white checkerboard test pattern with all projectors displaying the test pattern.

2.3.3 Resolution Measurements. Acceptance testing shall include resolution measurements using a set of ten white and black vertical and horizontal line pairs. Customer viewing of line pairs on the dome, as follows, to determine the point at which the line pairs are discernable as line pairs on the dome surface.

2.3.3.1 Perform resolution measurement at the center of each projected image.

2.3.3.2 Calculate the arc-minute/Optical Line Pair for each projected image.

2.3.3.3 Calculate the average for all of the arc-minutes/Optical Line Pair measurements.

2.3.4 Intensity Matching. Acceptance testing shall include customer subjective Pass/Fail white intensity matching evaluation across all projected images using full field 0%, 50% and 100% white level test patterns without distracting visible anomalies.

2.3.5 Color Matching. Acceptance testing shall include customer subjective Pass/Fail Color matching evaluation of dawn, day, dusk, and night across all projected images using 5 customer-selected visual database OTW scenes without distracting visible anomalies.

2.3.6 Blend Zone. Acceptance testing shall include customer subjective Pass/Fail of non-discernable blend zone evaluation of dawn, day, dusk, and night across all projected images using 5 customer-selected visual database OTW scenes without distracting visible anomalies.

2.4 Documentation

Documentation provided with the display systems shall include:

The following training shall be provided with initial system delivery:

Delivery, installation, and acceptance testing schedules shall be finalized at the CDR meeting. A short or compressed installation, setup and testing schedule is desirable.

3 DISPLAY PERFORMANCE

3.1 Field of View (FOV)

The VDS FOV as seen from the Pilot’s Eye point at the geometric center of the dome display screen is detailed in the Table 1 below. Horizontal FOV shall be the same in both the left and right directions. The front of the crew-station is expected to protrude through the front of the dome, requiring a cut-out in the screen. Parts of the screen not visible to the pilot because of the crew-station are not a required part of the FOV. Minimum and maximum values are given where flexibility is available.

Table 1: FOV Requirements

3.2 Display Screen

3.2.1 To minimize parallax errors between the display system and helmet mounted display, the display screen shall be spherical in shape with pilot eye point located at the spherical center.

3.2.2 The radius of the screen surface shall be between 1.3m and 1.5m, with the 1.5m radius being preferred.

3.2.3 As shown in Appendix A, Figure 1, the Pilot Eye Point (PEP) for the Crewstation is 47.63” above the floor.

3.3 Resolution

3.3.1 Average resolution over the FOV shall be 5.2 arc-minutes / optical line pair or better.

3.3.2 Minimum average resolution over the projected area for any single projector shall be 6 arc-minutes / optical line pair or better.

3.4 Luminance

3.4.1 The minimum average white square luminance shall be 10 foot-Lamberts measured using the ANSI 50/50 white/black checkerboard test pattern.

3.4.2 Luminance at each point in the display shall not vary by more than 50 percent between any two matching (white and white, or black and black) squares within a viewing zone.

3.5 Contrast

3.5.1 The minimum average contrast ratio shall be 10:1.

3.5.2 The contrast ratio measurement shall be made using the ANSI 50/50 white/black checkerboard test pattern with all displays simultaneously illuminated with the test pattern. The pattern shall provide at least 8 squares per display channel with 50 percent of the squares at the specified minimum acceptable luminance.

3.6 Color

Minimum per color bit depth of 10 bits per primary color is required.

3.7 Display System Latency.

The latency of rendering of a full scene, which is measured from the projector first pixel input data of a frame to the light of that pixel on the display surface, shall be 27 milliseconds or less.

3.8 Distortion Correction / Image Blending

A solution shall be provided for projected image distortion correction, blending, color matching as required for seamless projected image across the FOV. Distortion correction and blending functions may be performed by a system provided by the seller or through software installed on the government supplied image generation system. Up to 6U of space in government supplied 19” electronics racks that will be located next to each display system – and also house the image generator - can be made available for the seller’s equipment. An Aechelon Nucleus image generation system will be used with these display systems.

3.9 Non-discernable Edge Blending

The blending area between the projectors shall not be discernable to the human eye. The blending areas shall not be discernable for Dawn, Day, Dusk, and Night scenes. Night Vision Goggle support is not required. It is expected that mechanical/optical edge blending may be required for seamless night-time imagery.

3.10 Automatic Alignment System

The display system shall incorporate automatic alignment and calibration functionality allowing the user to correct geometric distortion and blending to maintain a seamless image after installation. Distortion and blending maintenance corrections shall take less than an hour to perform.

3.11 Projector Control / Communication

There shall be a method for communicating with the projectors for the purpose of controlling on/off/standby status of all projectors from a government supplied host computer.

3.12 Projectors

The projectors supplied with the system shall use solid-state technology to minimize cost of ownership (lamp life).

3.13 HUD Projector

A HUD projector shall be provided to project heads-up-display graphics on the screen in front of the crew-station covering a 30° x 30° degree area as viewed from the PEP. The HUD projector shall have sufficient contrast so that the background is not visible during day-time simulation. Geometric image correction will be provided.

3.14 Security Requirements

Network equipment (such as could be required for projector communication) will require prior approval. Wireless electro-magnetic communications (such as Wi-Fi an Blue-Tooth) are prohibited in the installation space.

4 PHYSICAL SPECIFICATIONS REQUIREMENTS

4.1 Facility Installation

4.1.1 The display system shall fit into a 130” wide x 130” deep x 120” high volume. The preferred footprint is 120” x 120” due to facility space constraints. Equipment and structures more than 7 feet above the ground (above head height) can protrude an additional 12” outside of this volume on aft side of the VDS. Subsequent to an inspection of the installation site, some additional height may be available.

4.1.2 A raised flooring system is installed in the installation room with smooth surfaced tiles. Display systems may be secured to the flooring system if required. It is not believe that the flooring system can support heavy machinery such as a fork-lift.

4.1.3 The room the display system are to be installed in is approximately 41’ x 65’ (12.5m x 19.8m). See Appendix A, Figure 2.

4.1.4 Display system equipment and structures shall enter the installation room through a 14’ x 14’ (4.2m x 4.2m) exterior door going directly into the room.

4.1.5 The government will provide a single electrical power connector for the VDS per the seller’s requirement, up to a maximum of a 220 VAC x 30A connection. Separate power at the station will be provided for the government’s electronics rack and crew-station.

4.2 Crew-Station

4.2.1 Basic dimensions (in inches) for the crew-station to be used inside of the display system are shown in Appendix A, Figure 1. A 3D model of the crew-station can be provided by the government in STEP or IGES format on request.

4.2.2 Based on the size of the screen and required FOV, a rectangular cutout in the front of the display screen will be required to accommodate the Crewstation.

4.2.3 Pilots access the crew-station from the side of the cockpit. A clear walking path from the back of the display system to the side of the crew-station is required for ingress/egress.

Appendix A Figure 1: Crew-Station Dimensions

Appendix A Figure 2: Preliminary Room Layout image1.tif image2.png