Greg_Toman
Member
GRT Avionics is introducing the GRT Vision wearable Heads-Up Display (HUD) at Airventure 2015. President Greg Toman has been intensely involved with the development of this system that originally was inspired by the needs of agricultural pilots. Upon his first flight with the BT-200 Android smart glasses manufactured by Epson, it was clear to Greg that this is a giant step forward in instrumentation.
"Even with my previous background developing military fighter system around a heads-up display, where the benefits of such a display are well known, I was amazed to see what it means to actually fly with one. This will change general aviation. The instrument panel is quickly going to become nothing more than a backup to a wearable HUD."
GRT Avionics has developed the necessary software, and has become a re-seller of the Epson smart glasses. "We are not limiting our app to just the BT-200, and in fact have written it to make it quickly adaptable to future smart glasses. It is clear that this technology is perfect for aviation, is amazingly economical, and has reached the point where it meets the practical needs of the pilot, and is only going to get better."
Introductory pricing of $750 for the glasses and software have been announced for Airventure, with a 15-day no-risk return policy. Glasses can be fitted with prescription lenses, and include sunglass filters for daytime flying.
Click for GRT Avionics Web Page
Actual photo take through the Epson BT-200 glasses from the right seat of RV-6A N78PP. The glasses have proven to be usable under all lighting conditions, including full sunlight. (Photo was taken with development software that was not driving the flight path marker and wind indicator.)
Another early development photo. Although the flight path marker is not functioning in this photo, this photo shows the benefit of seeing the runway and instrument data at the same time. Not shown is a vertical bar graph that pop up when passing over the end of the runway that shows the runway remaining. Instrumentation, like runway remaining, were useless with heads-down displays because it was nearly impossible to look at it, and doing so could compromise control of the airplane on the landing roll-out. This is not the case with a heads-up display.
Aerobatics with wearable HUD technology will be unthinkable after having flown with them. This shouldn't be surprising, as military fighter pilots have relied on this for more than 40 years. Now it is our turn.
"Even with my previous background developing military fighter system around a heads-up display, where the benefits of such a display are well known, I was amazed to see what it means to actually fly with one. This will change general aviation. The instrument panel is quickly going to become nothing more than a backup to a wearable HUD."
GRT Avionics has developed the necessary software, and has become a re-seller of the Epson smart glasses. "We are not limiting our app to just the BT-200, and in fact have written it to make it quickly adaptable to future smart glasses. It is clear that this technology is perfect for aviation, is amazingly economical, and has reached the point where it meets the practical needs of the pilot, and is only going to get better."
Introductory pricing of $750 for the glasses and software have been announced for Airventure, with a 15-day no-risk return policy. Glasses can be fitted with prescription lenses, and include sunglass filters for daytime flying.
Click for GRT Avionics Web Page
Actual photo take through the Epson BT-200 glasses from the right seat of RV-6A N78PP. The glasses have proven to be usable under all lighting conditions, including full sunlight. (Photo was taken with development software that was not driving the flight path marker and wind indicator.)
Another early development photo. Although the flight path marker is not functioning in this photo, this photo shows the benefit of seeing the runway and instrument data at the same time. Not shown is a vertical bar graph that pop up when passing over the end of the runway that shows the runway remaining. Instrumentation, like runway remaining, were useless with heads-down displays because it was nearly impossible to look at it, and doing so could compromise control of the airplane on the landing roll-out. This is not the case with a heads-up display.