3D stereo integrated attitude director and horizontal situation indicator apparatus

The method of presenting roll, pitch and heading information representative of a given aircraft on a display to a viewer in a coordinated manner comprising the steps of:

• interleaving left and right eye views of an aircraft in the center of a spherical grid on the display having dynamically changing scales to give the appearance of movement of said scales on the far side of the sphere representing pitch and heading of the aircraft and a static scale above the sphere representing roll of the aircraft;
• viewing said display in a manner such that the viewer's right eye sees only the right eye view and the viewer's left eye sees only the left eye view whereby the viewer perceives,
• a) a stationary aircraft symbol situated in the center of a spherical grid with the rear surface of the aircraft symbol lying in plane parallel to the surface of said display means and with the nose of the aircraft symbol extending toward the far side of the sphere,
• b) a stationary roll scale lying in the same plane as the rear surface of the aircraft symbol,
• c) a pitch scale which is orthogonal to the roll scale and is presented on the far side of the sphere and moves in response to the pitch motion of said aircraft with the nose of the aircraft symbol indicating the current pitch value.

Apparatus for presenting roll, pitch and heading information representative of a given aircraft to a viewer in a coordinated manner comprising, in combination:

• first means for interleaving left and right eye display views of an aircraft in the center of a spherical grid having dynamically changing scales on the far side of the sphere representing pitch and heading of the aircraft and a static scale above the sphere representing roll of the aircraft;
• second means for enabling one to view said display in a manner such that the one's right eye sees only the right eye view and the one's left eye sees only the left eye view whereby the one perceives,
• a) a stationary aircraft symbol situated in the center of a spherical grid with the rear surface of the aircraft symbol lying in plane parallel to the surface of said display means and with the nose of the aircraft symbol extending toward the far side of the sphere,
• b) a stationary roll scale lying in the same plane as the rear surface of the aircraft symbol,
• c) a pitch scale which is orthogonal to the roll scale and is presented on the far side of the sphere and moves in response to the pitch motion of said aircraft with the nose of the aircraft symbol indicating the current pitch value,
• d) a heading scale which is orthogonal to the pitch scale and is presented on the far side of the sphere and moves in response to the heading motion of said aircraft with the intersection of the pitch and roll scales indicating the current heading value, and
• e) a roll pointer which lies in the same plane as the roll scale and in line with the pitch scale and which moves in response to the roll of said aircraft to indicate the current roll value.

A 3D display for use in ascertaining a craft orientation comprising, in combination:

• shuttered means for allowing only one eye at a time to view a display;
• display means for presenting left eye and right eye presentations synchronized with said shuttered means to evoke a 3D (three dimensional) view to one wearing said shuttered means;
• and
• signal modifying means, connected to said display means and to receive inputs of a craft's pitch, roll and heading information, for supplying left and right eye presentation signals to said display means whereby a viewer perceives,
• a) a stationary craft symbol situated in the center of a spherical grid with the rear surface of the aircraft symbol lying in plane parallel to the surface of said display means and with the forward tip of the craft symbol extending toward the far side of the sphere,
• b) a stationary roll scale lying in the same plane as the rear surface of the craft symbol,
• c) a pitch scale which is orthogonal to the roll scale and is presented on the far side of the sphere and moves in response to the pitch motion of said craft with the hose of the craft symbol indicating the current pitch value,
• d) a heading scale which is orthogonal to the pitch scale and is presented on the far side of the sphere and moves in response to the heading motion of said craft with the intersection of the pitch and roll scales indicating the current heading value,
• e) a roll pointer which lies in the same plane as the roll scale and in line with the pitch scale and which moves in response to the roll of said craft to indicate the current roll value.