The 4D-display

A perspective primary flight display-the 4D-display-and an advanced navigation display format were jointly developed by VDO-L and the Darmstadt University of Technology. The goal of the new display formats is to improve the pilot´s situation awareness especially terrain and obstacle awareness which in turn considerably reduces the risk of a CFIT event. The displays also incorporate means for an accurate spatial and on-ground guidance. Several flight test campaigns were performed in order to evaluate the display concept and to prove the acceptance of the pilots. The flight tests comprised approaches, demonstrations of the taxi and the inherent ground proximity warning function and low-level terrain following tasks. The concept was highly appreciated by pilots. It could be demonstrated that the synthetic vision technology offers a great potential for new applications such as curved approaches or approaches in difficult terrain and low visibility. In particular it was stated that that the 4D-display is an appropriate means to avoid CFIT occurrences. In order to provide the required graphics processing power for complex perspective displays, VDO-L has developed highly integrated, high performance graphics modules which meet the requirements of prospective applications