New eye tracking techniques improve realism of aircraft
simulators
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, the
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 of 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.
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