Display processing for a synthetic vision system (SVS) utilizing the VME environment

The synthetic vision system sensor should, in its ultimate form, create an image on a head-up/head down display (HUD/HDD) that duplicates what the pilot would see in good visual flight rules (VFR) approach and landing conditions. This in turn implies a sensor that has sufficient resolution, weather penetration and registration to provide normal visual cues for landing such as orientation, rate of approach, and identification of any objects obstructing the runway. To achieve this goal, the Versa Module Eurocard (VME) platform was selected due to its flexibility and wide industry support with commercial-off-the-shelf high-performance processing boards. The authors present the following: a radar sensor description, system performance requirements, top-level VME capabilities, dataflow pipeline architecture, algorithms (radar and display processing examples), and performance. Currently, VME 6U form factor processing boards are available with various capabilities from general-purpose processing to high-speed application specific integrated circuit (ASIC)