Flight Simulator
A simulated flight environment for pilot training may soon be made
more
realistic through the use of eye-tracking technology developed by
researchers at
the University of Toronto's Institute of Biomedical
Engineering (IMBE). Many
safety and cost benefits are obtained by training
aircraft pilots under
simulated conditions, but to be effective the
simulation must be convicingly
realistic. At present, th e training
facilities use large domes and gimballed
projectors, or an array of video
screens, to display computer-generated images.
But these installations
are very expensive and image resolution is low. Further,
it would take an
enormous amount of addi to improve image quality significantly
throughout the
whole viewed scene. However, based on the visual properties of
the eye,
realism can be obtained by providing a high-resolution 'area of
interest'
insert within a large, low-resolution field of view. If the
image-generating
computer 'knows' where the pilot's fixation is, it mage there.
The
technology to make this possible was developed by a research team headed
by
Professor Richard Frecker and Professor Moshe Eizenman. The work was
carried out
in collaboration with CAE Electronics Ltd. of Montreal with
financial support
from the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council
of Canada. Their
eye-tracker can record and analyze accurately up to 500 eye
positions per
second. The system works by means of capturing and processing
the reflections of
a low-level beam o f invisible infra-red light shone onto
the eye. Multi-element
arrays capture the image of the eye and digitize the
information, which is then
processed in real time by a fast, dedicated signal
processing unit. The
difference in position between the ligh tre of the pupil
reveals the
instantaneous direction of gaze. Developments by the IBME team
have
significantly increased the speed of signal processing in addition to
enhancing
accuracy of eye position estimates. Eizenman believes that
"these
improvements make our eye-tracker very effective in monitoring the
large G-force
environment where the pilot tends to make larger eye movements
because of
contraints which exist on movements of his head". In a new
generation of
aircraft simulators, under development by CAE Electronics Ltd.
of Montreal, a
head tracker which tells the direction of the pilot's head is
mounted on top of
the helmet. The eye tracker is mounted on the front of the
helmet, and is ll
exactly where the pilot's eye is fixating. Frecker said
that "successful
integration of our eye tracker into the novel helmet-mounted
CAE flight
simulator would result in a new generation of simulators that
would likely
replace the current large domes and cumbersome video display
units."
Initial tests of the integrated system will be carried out in
collaboration with
CAE Electronics at Williams Air Force Base in Arizona
later this year.