Thales Unveils Wearable Display, New Cockpit

At Heli-Expo, Thales unveiled a pair of new products, including its pilot-worn "eyes out" sight display aimed at the civil helicopter market; and its Avionics 2020 helicopter cockpit of the future. The "eyes out" system leverages Thales's military helmet-mounted sight display and is a full-color, head-up solution compatible with all types of helmets and head-worn equipment, including NVGs. It uses hybrid inertial/optical position tracking technology that enables passive integration in cockpits and delivers conformal symbology. It allows pilots to keep their focus on their surroundings during critical phases of flight without having to look down at the instrument panel.

Thales bills the 2020 touchscreen cockpit as the world's first to display "open world information alongside information coming from the secured avionics in an integrated manner," thus making it the world's first "fully connected cockpit for helicopters." The open architecture design allows operators to choose systems and functionalities even from third parties, making it fully "scalable and customizable." The avionics suite will integrate flight data monitoring, live telemedicine and patient telemetry, live landing zone data and enhanced functions for law enforcement and security, including live airborne video using either 4G or Iridium networks. Health and Usage Monitoring System (HUMS) data will be accessible in real time, and passengers and crew will have live access to Wi-Fi and IFE. The system will also be hardened against cyber attack, especially when downloading and uploading software apps and data.