Helmet-Mounted Displays: - USAARL - The - U.S. Army

Test and Evaluation 10
Clarence E. Rash
John C. Mora
Melissa H. Ledford
Introduction
Inherent to any design program is the need to test and evaluate
operational performance. Such testing should begin during the earliest
phases of development. The end goal should be to fully qualify the system
at first flight. Unfortunately, in many past programs, waivers were
requested for performance failures which were identified and known for
some time. Despite the belief of program managers, the easiest and most
cost-effective time to solve a problem is when it is first discovered.
At the very least, testing and evaluation should be a required action at
all major program milestones. Detailed test plans should be predeveloped
but be flexible enough to accommodate the recognized complexity of HMD
systems. It is not to be expected that one grand HMD test and evaluation
plan will serve for all HMD designs. However, there are some basic testing
tenets and system parameters which should be considered, if not required,
for a thorough testing plan.
As applicable, testing should consist of a bench (laboratory) phase and
a field phase. Also, as applicable, testing should be at the subsystem, as
well, as the system level. For the Army aviation HMD design, the basic
subsystems are: image source, display optics, helmet, and tracker.
Laboratory
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