helmet with lcd display free sample

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This Instructable will detail the process of creating your very own Thomas Bangalter Daft Punk helmet. While this tutorial may seem specific to Thomas Bangalter"s helmet in particular, there are many processes involved within that will be helpful to anyone looking to get into prototype making as well as some electronic work.

A few caveats beforehand: While the methods I employ here were able to furnish me with a finished helmet,I am in no way saying these are absolutes!In the end, the best processes to follow are those which you are most comfortable working with, so if there is something here that seems easier to do in your own way, by all means feel free to modify the process to your preferred flavor of building.

I should also note that this is a complicated and lengthy process. The final result took me a little over 4 months to realize, so anyone looking to follow a similar path, be prepared to be in it for the long haul! That said, this is only my second helmet project. If you"re more familiar with electronics, casting, moldmaking, or just plain have more freetime than me, your results may vary. This project encompasses elements of sculpting, mold making, casting, soldering, electronic design, and lots of good-old-fashioned sanding.

Before I begin any project, I spend a lot of time scouring online for reference images. The gents from Daft Punk are a fairly elusive couple, and to add to the complexity of sourcing references, there have been a multitude of changes to their helmets over the course of their career.

In the end, the blueprints I designed are an amalgamation of many of the changes to Thomas" helmet over the course of its evolution. Whether you decide to adhere strictly to the subject material or base your designs off of personal interpretation, reference blueprints are essential! These will keep you on track and make sure all elements of your project stay consistent and accurate during the course of your build.

While this may not be the most precise measurement, I find that it works fairly well with some practice. Often times you may have to take into account lens distortion or other factors depending on how the reference image was shot.

A while ago my Dad rescued a roll-fed plotter from the dumpster of a local school and it now lives as my blueprinting machine. If this isn"t an option, you can either try a local print shop, or scale your blueprints with registration marks to fit on normal sized paper. (pic 5)

The easiest way to break down a complex project like this one is to think of it in simple geometric forms. The helmet is really just a dome with two cylinders shoved in the side for ears, an extended faceted cylinder face for the visor, and three intersecting planes for the chin area. We"ll start with the dome.

Trim the polystyrene foam into blocks that fit into the recesses of your MDF form, and glue these blocks together with Gorilla Glue. Allow these to set for 24 hours.

Once the glue on both the MDF form and the polystyrene foam has cured, glue the blocks into the MDF form with more gorilla glue. Don"t worry if it seeps out of the joints, it will all be sanded off soon. (pic 5)

After allowing this assembly to dry, begin to carve out the overall "dome" shape with a coping saw or electric knife. You"re only trying to get the general shape now, so leave it kind of rough. (pic 6)

After getting the "dome" shape close with the rough trimming, follow up with an electric orbital sander and very coarse sandpaper. You can do this stage by hand, but the polystyrene foam tends to "tear" when hand sanding, so I recommend an orbital if you have access to one. This process will be very, very dusty! Wear a respirator!(pic 7)

Start covering the indented spots of the helmet with thin passes of bondo or filler putty. Take your time with this, there"s no need to slather on 30lbs of the stuff only to have to suffer sanding it all off later. Make thin, smooth passes and sand them down as needed. (pic 4)

Using a contour gauge will ensure you have symmetry on all sides of the helmet. Remember, the MDF "spines" in the base should be extracted form your blueprints, and represent the outermost edges of the helmet. You want to be able to see signs of these underneath the filler to make sure you"re not making the base too large. (pic 5)

This is a "feel" step, so make sure to run your hand over the helmet after each pass, noting the indented areas with a marker and filling appropriately. It will take a little while to make perfect, but put in the time now because the results will be worth it! (pics 6 & 7)

Referencing the blueprints from the overhead perspective, plot out the shape of the visor onto .1" styrene sheet and trim it to shape. (Note: The underside of the visor has the same basic shape, but looking at the blueprint"s portrait perspective, you can see it is shorter along the side. Make sure to account for this here.) It will help in future steps if you scribe a center line onto both sections now, so you know where the symmetry line of your helmet sits (pic 2)

I trimmed my blueprint shapes out of foamcore and placed the negative shape over the helmet dome to plot the area where the visor intersects. Once you"ve measured this out, use a dremel tool with a cut-off wheel to scribe two lines in the dome shape for the styrene visor assembly to slot into (Tip: using masking tape as a guide for this line will help you make sure its nice and straight) (pics 4 & 5)

Once the visor shape has been mounted to the helmet, trace the shapes of the chin from the blueprints onto the styrene and trim. Glue these to the lower styrene visor, making sure to align the center marks of the chin to the center marks of the visor. To get the proper angle on the chin sides, measure out from the center line to the left and right pieces - if the measurements are the same, you"re symmetrical! (pic 7)

After the visor and chin structures have been mounted to your liking, reference your blueprints again and note the location of the ears. The uppermost point on the ear cutout is at the corner of the upper visor. Using a dremel tool with a rotary bit, first roughly trim this section out, then follow it by refining the recess with a sanding drum. After this recess is cut out, make a circular piece of styrene to fit into the hole to provide a flat, even base. (pics 8 & 9)

For the ears, reference your blueprint and cut out four pieces of .5" MDF (or more, if your blueprint calls for a thicker ear section) about 1/2" larger than the diameter of the finished ear cylinder. Glue these pieces together with woodglue, and clamp them to dry overnight. (pic 2)

Once the basic shape is complete, spray the puck with primer and allow to dry. MDF is a very porous material, so it may take a few coats to fully saturate your lathed piece. (pic 3)

Going back to the blueprints, measure the height of the visor bevel above and below the styrene piece from step 4. I marked these areas on the helmet by using a dial caliper and cutting a recess into the dome, then inserting a styrene ridge. (pic 2)

You could fill this entire area with bondo, but that would be pricey and really heavy. Instead, add a crescent shape of polystyrene foam and sand it to match the bevel of the visor areas. (pics 3 & 4)

In step 4 the "T" shapes that support the visor area were placed .25" inside the edges of the visor. Now that the visor frame is secured in place, take a piece of styrene that matches the height of the frame, and lay it across these shapes, making the curved visor front panel. At this point, you can also add the trapezoid shaped side panels in front of the ear cutouts. For these, make a paper template first, as the dimensions will be a bit tricky to get right from your blueprints. Trim them from .1" styrene and superglue them in place before proceeding with bondo. (pics 5 & 6)

After sealing the visor foam with urethane resin as in step 2, start smoothing out the visor beveled edge with thin passes of bondo filler. Leave the very ends of the visor above the ears unfilled for now. Sand and re-skim with more thin passes of bondo as needed until the visors are smooth and even. (pics 7 & 8)

At this point, there"s going to be some cleanup needed. To get a better view of areas that need smoothing, paint your helmet master with a coat of primer. Making the entire piece one color will make it easier to see issues like slight indentations in the dome surface. (pic 2)

The "mouth" of the helmet is an indented box. Measure the opening on your blueprints and create a .5" deep box out of .1" styrene plastic. I used a drill bit to open up an area in the front of the helmet for this to fit, but a dremel rotary tool would work just as well. Embed the mouth box into the helmet, then fill the gaps with bondo and sand flush. (pic 4)

The seam line along the top of the helmet is best sketched out using a piece of string. If you have an assistant, have them hold the string at the tops of the ears while you trace the line the string makes. If you don"t have an assistant, chalk line or string rubbed with graphite will work also. After this line is drawn, carve it out with a set of hand files, dremel tool, or an engraving chisel. (pic 6)

Once you have all the details finished and all the small imperfections filled in, paint your master with 3-4 coats of primer and allow 24 hours to dry. Warning! Make sure whatever primer you use can be wetsanded! Krylon dull gray and white primers cannot be wetsanded, and learning that lesson once they"re already on your finished piece is painful.

After the primer is fully cured, begin to wetsand the helmet. Start out with sanding sponges (320 or 400 grit) then work up in sandpaper grit to 600, 1000 and 2000. Using some windex or dish soap in the wetsanding process will make your sandpaper last longer and produce smoother results. (pic 2)

After the wetsanding is complete, buff your finished master with wax. Make sure to test out your wax on some scrap material first, as not all wax finishes will work with all primers. I use Turtle Wax brand on top of Krylon Ruddy Brown primer. (pic 3)

For this helmet, I chose to make a 2-part mold. The seam line would sit on the carved seam line along the top ridge of the helmet. Mark off your seam with non-sulfur oil clay, making sure to add registration keys in the surface for the other mold half. Start out with a thinned coat, gradually building up thickness until you"ve reached .25" to .5" of silicone around the entire section. For this helmet mold, Rebound-25 silicone was used. (pic 4)

Make sure to add registration keys on the outside of the mold as well, to align the flexible rubber mold with the rigid mold jacket which will be added later. For a bit more information about Rebound 25 molds, check out the following video by Smooth-On:

Once the back half of the mold is complete, repeat the process for the front of the helmet. Remove the clay wall separating the two halves of the mold, and brush it with mold release wax or a similar product. I use Meguiar"s caranuba wax, but be careful, as this wax will dissolve the Krylon primer used on the master sculpt. Once the back silicone has been waxed, move on to molding the front half of the helmet.

For my mold, I chose to make separations using 1/4" MDF to split the mold jacket into three parts. With a complex shape like a helmet, a one-piece or even two-piece mold jacket would be difficult to remove. Drill aligned holes in the MDF partitions, then join them together with wingnuts before applying the mold jacket. (pic 2)

Plasti-Paste can dry very jagged. In order to make the mold jacket easier to handle later on, use rubbing alcohol and a rag to smooth out the surface as the material cures. Make sure to only do this on the top coat, as pressing in on the mold jacket while its curing may cause some registration issues with your mold later on.

Afterwards, fill in the wall between the tube and the silicone mold with more resin. The tube will keep this in place between the mold wall and result in a hollow casting. You can remove the tube later with a dremel tube if you wish, or leave it in place. Either way, a hollow ear piece will be much lighter than solid ones! (pic 5)

For my helmets, I use Smooth-On"s 300 or 320 urethane casting resins. Start by mixing 2 cups of resin (1 cup of part A mixed with 1 cup of part B) and pour it into the mold cavity, rotating it slowly by hand as the resin cures.

Repeat this process, moving the mold around to cover all areas of the inside of the helmet, until a uniform thickness of 3/16" is achieved. If some spots are a little thicker, that"s fine; slushcasting is a tricky process that can take some getting used to. One helmet usually takes about 32oz of resin.

Warning! I did castings in both polyester and urethane resin - the poly is lighter and thinner, but more brittle. Urethane can deform and its heavier, but much more forgiving when subjected to stress. Whichever resin you choose to go with, read the MSDS (material safety data sheet) and make sure to use a resin that can stand at least 140º of heat. Shipping a helmet in the summer to a chrome shop can subject it to 120º+ in a shipping truck, and the chroming process itself can be quite warm as well. Some resins, like Smooth-On"s 65D Roto resin, have lower melting temp and can deform very easily.

After the helmet is fully cured, remove it from the mold and trim out the areas for the visor, ears, mouth and nose vents using a dremel tool and hand files. (pics 3 & 4)

The visor for the helmet will be made from clear 1/16" PET (polyester) plastic. This is the same plastic used in soda bottles. You can order it from McMaster-Carr here.

After you"ve got your template finished, trim the visor out of the PET plastic. Make sure to leave the protective film on the plastic until you"re ready to tint it. Check the fit on the trimmed helmet. (pic 3)

To tint the visor, purchase RIT dye from a local grocery store. Get a large pot and fill it with water, heating the water on your stove to about 140-150ºF. Put in 5 packs of RIT black dye and mix into the water. (pic 4 & 5)

For the main electronics, you"ll want to familiarize yourself with Arduino, and also with the MAX7219 chips. More information about these can be found here for programming, or here for hardware and schematics.

To conserve space, I chose to work with SMD component ICs and design my own circuitboards in Cadsoft EAGLE PCB layout editor. This program can take some time to get used to, but there is a fairly powerful freeware version available for download. (pic 2)

After you"ve designed your circuitboards, export the gerber files to be made into boards. My boards were printed at BatchPCB.com. Each of the chips shown here can control one 8x8 matrixed LED array, so if you"ve got an 8x40 display like the one shown here, make sure to order 5 sets of boards and all components.

I also decided to add lighting to the ear areas and corners of the visor in my helmet. If you"re comfortable plotting out an LED matrix, designing a simple I/O board like this will be a snap! (pics 3-6)

Upper and lower subvisor supports (pic 3) Your 8x40 (or 8x32, if you decide to make a smaller one) display will need to fit into the opening in the visor area on your helmet. With LEDs that are 5mm in diameter and 8 sitting in each column, its best to plan out the layout before drilling 320 holes. I used illustrator to make the layout in the pic below. (pic 2)

Get a piece of 1/16" clear PET plastic and glue your visor blueprint to the protective plastic film. Using a drill press, carefully measure and drill out all the openings for the LEDs. Drill these out before cutting out the main visor shape, as you won"t have any way to clamp down the trimmed piece without damaging the viewing area if you trim it to shape first. (pics 4-6)

Cut 5 upright supports from aluminum tubing and use these to space the upper and lower supports equally apart from one another. Drill holes in the same location on the upper and lower visors for mounting points, and secure the tube pieces in place with machine screws. Make sure the threads are slightly larger than the interior diameter of the aluminum tube so these will thread the tube as you tighten them. (pic 11)

First, since LED multiplexing requires the LEDs in the array to be wired with cathodes one direction and anodes another, make a holder like the one shown in the pic to bend the leads of the LEDs accordingly, and trim off the excess. Make sure that one side is bent taller than the other to prevent any leads crossing and power shorts. (pic 2)

Place 7 LEDs with 2 bent leads, and one of the LEDs with just one bent lead into your drilled holes and solder the connectors of the lowest-sitting leads together. When finished, you should have a line of LEDs with all anodes soldered together, and one straight lead at the end. Repeat this for as many columns as you have in your matrix (for me, it was 40) Its a good idea at this time to paint the backsides of the LEDs black to avoid light coming back into the helmet while you"re wearing it. I waited until later and it was a bit of a pain to do. (pic 4)

With all 40 columns built, place them into the subvisor in blocks of 8, and solder the remaining connections. Be careful not to drip any solder across the joints or onto the subvisor. Solder these where they will be mounted in the subvisor, as each section will have a slightly different curve to it. (pic 5)

Once soldered, you can remove the LEDs from the subvisor by pressing lightly on the front of them. Remove the 8x8 units and solder up the connections to the rows and columns. Keep your wiring tidy and try to run the lines up one side of the display - using heat shrink tubing can help make sure things route the right way. (pics 7 & 8)

After all the wires are connected, re-install the LED arrays and run the wires up to the MAX7219/7221 chips mounted on the sub visor. (pic 9) When mounting the MAX7219/7221 chips to the subvisor, make sure to isolate them against electrical contact with a small rubber pad. Aluminum is conductive and can short out your matrix!

After the LED matrix is wired, connect the 5V, GND, clock, data and latch connections on the matrix boards and leave some length on the wires to connect to the arduino once the subvisor is installed in the helmet. (pic 1)

Before sending your helmet casting off for chrome, make sure to sand the exterior and fill in any deformations that may have occurred during the casting process. This will require primer, and possibly thin coatings of filler putty.

Also make sure to have all of the mounting points for your subvisor and electronic components sorted out before this final coating. You don"t want to be trying to glue or dremel things on a chromed helmet and risk accidentally scratching the expensive surface. Things to consider: Visor cutout, nose holes, ear mounting points, subvisor mounting points, and any mounting pads on the inside of the helmet for Arduino boards, voltage regulators, or wiring connections.

Contact your chroming service and ask what their recommendations for preparation are before sending your helmet off. Chroming non-metal pieces is a specific and very finicky technique. I paint my helmets with Krylon primer and wetsand the finish to 2000 grit paper, but each shop will vary.

At this point I decided to glue the base for my ear pucks into place. After talking with my chrome shop, they said that having the outer "dish" shape of the ears separate for the chroming process would allow for a better finish, so those were left unattached - talk to your shop first to see what will work best, they may want the helmet with no ears on at all, in which case you may need to figure out a way to have these removable and held on with screws instead.

If you"re gluing the ears in place, tack the base of each ear cylinder in place with small spots of hotglue to hold them in place. This is just to get the position right while you secure them with a more permanent adhesive. Once the placement is satisfactory, secure them in place with 2 part epoxy glue, letting it cure overnight. You may need to go back and sand some of the glue joints smooth - some evidence of this can be seen in pic 3.

It may take a couple passes to get everything smooth. Once you"ve got all the imperfections filled in, spray the helmet with 2 more coats of primer (pic 4). Allow this to dry for 48 hours, then wetsand the primer to a smooth finish. As with the master sculpt from before, start with 400, then progress to 600, 1000 then 2000 grit paper. Allow everything to dry overnight, then box it up and ship it off to your chroming shop of choice! (pic 5)

The first thing to go into the chrome helmet should be the visor. Mask off the front with painter"s tape to make sure it is not scratched, and repeat this on the other side to make sure no glue residue gets on the visor interior. Press the visor into place and use small spots of hot glue to "tack" it down while the glue cures. (pic 2)

Using epoxy, run a thin bead around the outer edge of the visor inside the helmet to secure it in place. Allow this to cure for 24 hours, then remove the tape on the inside of the visor.

The subvisor and LED matrix needs to be installed now. Each helmet will be different, but mine is held up on two blocks of sintra plastic, secured in place with 2 self tapping screws at the base. (pic 3)

My helmet shown has added vent fans and LEDs in the ears and corners of the visor area. To control all of these, a switch plate was made out of PET plastic and secured to the inside of one of the ear cups. Its a good idea to have at least one "master" control switch to turn on and off all the features of the helmet, in order to conserve battery life. (pic 5)

Each of these switches controls one segment of the helmet, and is connected to the 5V regulator mentioned earlier. There are a wide variety of battery solutions, but a matrix like this one can pull 800mA at full draw, so you"ll need a pretty robust battery. I recommend LiPo packs, but make sure to read all the cautionary labels first! Using these, I"m able to run my helmet for about 5 hours on one charge. (pic 8)

Once everything is wired up, just add padding and you"re set to rock! Charcoal pick-and-pluck poly foam is a cheap and comfortable material for this. Its a good idea to add the padding with strips of adhesive-backed velcro, so it can be removed and cleaned or replaced later. You don"t want sweat soaked foam in there.

Enjoy your new helmet! One of the first things you"re going to find out is that the brighter it is outside, the easier its going to be able to see while all the lights are on inside the helmet. Since you look through the gaps in the LED matrix in the clear subvisor, the ambient light thrown by the LEDs in full darkness may obscure everything you"re trying to see! This is another reason its a very good idea to have a switch accessible in case you want to turn the visor display off but keep the fans in the helmet running so you don"t suffocate!

I was able to navigate convention areas and hotel lobbies at all hours of the day with no problems. Walking around outside at midnight with no ambient lighting though, and you"re pretty blind when the matrix is illuminated.

Hello there! I am finally building mine, but i have a big question... the ear pieces should be molded apart from the helmet mold? why you cast them in their own mold? could something go wrong if I mold everything in one single piece and make the cast all together? i am so intrigued by this thing haha. regards!0

You could probably use surface mount LED"s to put them right up against the visor so that no light goes back into the helmet if you wanted to see at night, however you would not get the same domed LED look.0

You would still have to solder stuff but it would not take nearly as long and finding someone to help you program it will not be hard, it would only take me about 5 minutes to write a program to control such a display with simple animations or text.0

Although since LED strips are surface mount (or in otherwords instead of the lights being dome shaped they would be more flat) you would not get exactly the same look, but it would still look good as well as the fact that you could get an RGB strip (a led strip with red, green, and blue LEDs in each diode) and have a multi colored display.0

How often have we rolled off the throttle to slow down without activating the brake light? All the time, right? We check our mirrors to ensure the driver behind us is aware we"re slowing, but the flash of a brake light is important for safety. Now we havea smart and easy solution for being highly visible even when we don"t activate our motorcycle"s brakes—the Brake Free Light.

The Brake Free Light costs $169.99 and is available at BrakeFreeTech.com. We found it at IMS Outdoors when the company’s founder and CEO, Alex Arkhangelskiy, set up his display right next to the Yamaha demo rides.

Brake Free includes a template and helmet mount with high-performance 3M VHB double-sided adhesive that secures the low-profile mount to the backside of most motorcycle helmets. If you have multiple helmets, two extra mounts cost just $12.99 and allow you to easily move the light from one helmet to another.

Unlike other helmet-mounted brake lights such as theInView WRN reviewed here, the self-contained Brake Free does not require splicing into wiring harnesses or installing an app to function.

Three light modes, toggled by the power button, provide options when it comes to desired visibility in adverse weather, heavy traffic conditions, or reduced light scenarios. Brake light activation is the same in all modes, with all 100 LEDs instantly illuminating at a steady, “Ouch, my retinas!” intensity.

The Brake Free Light comes with a micro USB charging cord but no plug. It takes less than 3 hours for a full charge from a completely dead charge and the battery life is from 8 to 12 hours depending on mode and usage.

A single LED comes on when the lithium-ion battery needs a recharge. Recharge times were quick and on par with my communication system, so hooking it up was an easy add to my post-ride routine.

Brake Free lists the unit as weighing only 7 ounces. My Klim Krios Pro helmet is very lightweight to begin with, so slapping it on the back was noticeable at first. Now that I’ve been wearing the Brake Free for two months, I will say the added weight has not been a problem. The unit is well balanced and unaffected by the wind.

Regarding a “what if” scenario, I was assured by company CEO and co-founder, Alex Arkhangelskiy, that the unit is designed to pop off on impact. That would reduce damage to the helmet and/or injury to the rider in the event of an incident.

The Brake Free Smart Brake Light is a standalone helmet-mounted product, with a stylish ruggedized all-weather housing with a waterproof cap sealed micro-USB port for charging (and firmware updates perhaps) and a single top centre control button. Two integrated sensors along with 100 ultra-bright LEDs (two perimeter and two centre panels) and firmware provide a true standalone device with an outstanding visual footprint. Brake Free has three user-selectable output modes and automatic modes, including Emergency Braking. The module is super simple to install; a small adhesive piece is mounted to the helmet and the Brake Free module snaps into place securely on the mount. Charge it up, mount it, turn it on, set the desired output mode, and off you go, knowing that the Brake Free is providing the visibility ‘six’ to keep surrounding road users alert and aware of your presence. For what it does and how it does it, the Brake Free is an outstanding deal at $169.99 USD.

To repeat a statement made in the Introduction Section of the inView Wireless Helmet Brake and Turn Signal System review…”technology isn’t standing still”, even in our COVID-19 world; in fact, in some ways, some technologies have seen an acceleration with many solutions coming into their own to provide timely pandemic coping tools and solutions.

But this uptick, as we transition from summer to early fall, to getting two wheels covering ground – paved or otherwise, also means there are as many, if not more of us on the roads; and with cooler nights and less heat and humidity during the day, motorcyclists are everywhere it seems.

Most motorcyclists, including those of us with a long involvement in safety at all levels and within all disciplines know that our ‘presence’ is a tenuous thing; one road user will recognize and acknowledge your presence but the next ten users won’t. And for new riders, even with preparatory training, establishing a presence takes work.

Stock motorcycle lighting – a single or set of front-facing headlights and an even smaller rear facing taillight just doesn’t cut it compared to larger vehicles with multiple left/right factory-based lighting systems.

Motorcycle footprint – two wheels inline, five to seven feet long, usually narrow with the highest point the rider, compared to large, larger and huge vehicles with much more of a footprint and thus presence.

There is another component in all of this as well – the rider or riders. We have a big role to play; if we aren’t part of the solution in making ourselves visible, which helps establish the person/machine presence on the road, through the wearing of high-visibility personal protective equipment or PPE gear – helmets or outer gear, then we remain part of the problem.

Brake Free Technologies, Inc., is a small team of motorcyclists with a love and passion for all things related; and a desire to share this passion by creating beautiful and highly functional products for fellow riders.

With the idea that motorcycle safety (see above) does not have to come at the expense of styling and that both function and style can be accommodated, the company was launched with the first prototype realized in April 2014.

The objective was to provide a product that the rider would want and be proud to wear on their helmet and, it needed to be simple to use, simple to install, and make a BIG difference in improving motorcycle/rider visibility or conspicuity.

And with their passion for motorcycling and desire to bring the Brake Free Smart Brake Light to market and, the world, in April 2017 the company launched their IndieGoGo crowdfunding project and with the help of 2,138 backers, the Brake Free Light is here.

The Brake Free, Smart Brake Light is a stylized ruggedized hard plastic housing that attaches securely to the back of the helmet with a small 3M VHB adhesive mount; snap on, snap off.

With all functional components integrated onboard – hardware, firmware, and power, the Brake Free product is about as plug-n-play as you can get. Turn it on, set it for the desired mode (Active, Pulsing or Stealth) and voila – an instant visibility increase that is hard to miss.

Function and output of the Brake Free is based on wireless brake detection technology using a combination of gyrometer (for orientation and angular velocity) and accelerometer (proper acceleration) along with a powerful patented brake detection algorithm to autonomously detect slowing, braking, engine braking, or downshifting.

Based on the principles involved and the technology used, Brake Free provides three types of braking output: regular braking output, – when front or rear brakes are engaged; deceleration or engine braking – when rolling off the throttle or downshifting without motorcycle brakes being activated; and, emergency braking actions – that trigger a special output pattern.

The Brake Free product is packed in a simple attractively styled cardboard container with the typical strategically folded insert pieces; all great as the whole piece is recyclable.

Packed securely inside were: the Brake Free module, one Brake Free adhesive mount; a micro-USB charging cable; Quick Start Guide; Installation template (great inclusion); and an alcohol wipe (just make sure the alcohol-based wipe can be safely used on the helmet).

This is the minimalist mode, with only the centre LEDs constantly on at 20 percent output for taillight operation. During braking, all four light panels go to full output for the duration of the braking event and return to the 20 percent always-on for taillight output.

To conserve battery life, Brake Free automatically goes into Sleep Mode if it is not being used, such as when stopped and/or dismounted and the helmet stationary, after 45 seconds of inactivity. This low power mode turns off all lights until Brake Free detects motion again, at which time it will power on automatically.

Brake Free automatically switches to Low Battery Mode when the battery charge drops to 25 percent, with the device switched into Stealth Mode (centre two panels only) and then blinks the left LED panel as a visual communication signal to the user that the battery is low. This mode provides optimal conservation regarding battery life until recharged.

While the Brake Free is designed for daily use in all conditions, if the device does overheat, the right LED panel will glow solid, with all other panels turned off. Allow the unit to cool off before attempting to use the Brake Free again.

The Brake Free charging port is located bottom centre and is sealed with a fully-seated silicone weather cap; make sure this cap is replaced and fully seated when the port is not being used as the integrity of the unit can be impaired if the weather cap is not properly seated.

Just because it is easy to use doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t do a little bit of preparatory homework before mounting and using the Brake Free Smart Helmet Light.

With all the preparatory material and information available, mounting the Brake Free to a helmet is indeed a straight-forward activity, especially if the provided template is used. I scanned the original template and put it back in the packaging for storage/retention; the lighter weight paper copies are easier to trim and position on or over the helmet as well.

Size and shaping of the Brake Free module very much comes into play here; the module has a healthy physical footprint and while shaped, its fitment shaping is rounded to match most helmets. Many helmets today of all types have sculpted surfaces and aerodynamic contouring lines that don’t always provide a nice clean smooth rounded surface.

Depending on how much adaptation is needed for certain helmets, there are three basic things to consider: find the optimal positioning for best projection of rear viewing of the LEDs; find the best surface point for mounting the Brake Free; and, if additional helmet mounts are needed, get them. Brake Free offers them in two-packs at a very reasonable price.

Or one can take the adaptive approach. As there are usually three, four, or five helmets in use here, either under formal review and/or being utilized with BT systems under test, and in that other helmet-mounted LED systems are also on hand, there are efficiencies to be gained in using a more flexible solution – 3M Dual Lock.

All of the helmets in use here are, at some point, treated to a section of 3M Dual Lock (170 or 400) shaped like but cut larger than the Brake Free mount, providing a common size standard usable with any other helmet mounted systems that also get converted if needed.

To adapt the Brake Free mount, just slightly heat and peel the 3M VHB adhesive off the mount, clean the surface with Goo Gone, let it dry, and then add a matching piece of Dual Lock and let it cure for a few hours.

The Schuberth C3Pro is a an easy helmet to use – its back shell is rounded, smooth, and without mid-point sculpture or contouring lines that might interfere with mounting the Brake Free in the optimal position – that one is taken care of.

Both the Sena OUTRUSH (review submitted) and HJC RPHA 11 Pro Carbon with HJC Smart 20B BT system (review ongoing) required some placement testing using a paper template and positioning of the Brake Free to come up with the best compromise between fit and angulation; it is time well spent.

And if in doubt regarding effective placement, it helps to have a second person provide support and objective input; with the user on the motorcycle, helmet worn, and the Brake Free turned on. Check the output in all modes and move the head forward sharply to trigger Brake mode; the visual results are eye-opening.

I often use small pieces of Gorilla tape (rolled as double-sided pads) mounted on the inside edges of the unit so it can be tacked to the helmet and adjusted for best visual output and secure fit on to the helmet prior to finalizing mounting piece placement.

The Shoei J-Cruise II three-quarter helmet presents some layout challenges but with the 3M Dual Lock pad centred and positioned halfway between the upper and lower sculpture lines, the Brake Free snaps into place securely, although it does sit away from the helmet a bit.

And that brings into mind a common observation regarding Brake Free fitment on multiple helmets, especially if something like 3M Dual Lock is used rather than the thin lower profile double sided 3M VHB adhesive solution.

The 3M VHB adhesive solution provides a lower profile mounting and in general, the Brake Free module fits against or close to the helmet shell – depending on helmet shaping of course. On the other hand, the thicker overlaid 3M Dual Lock sections create a higher profile and thus distancing fitment that users might consider to be less appealing visually.

Bottom line regarding helmet installation – the Brake Free should fit on any helmet that provides enough usable real estate for the small mounting piece. Just make sure the fitment is secure and not easily dislodged.

Pressing the Power (control) button brings the Brake Free to life and once the 3 check pulses are seen, the device is ready to roll, with the last Mode setting retained. If the helmet isn’t put on right away or the system detects no motion for 45 seconds, it goes into Sleep Mode; with any movement bringing it to life, confirmed by the three check pulses.

And of course, no matter what running mode you are using, any braking that meets system criteria results in the immediate full output from all 100 ultra-bright LEDs with a three pulse ‘see me’ sequence first followed by steady on full output while the braking thresholds are met.

With typical part-day rides and mixed intensity use, getting two to three days out of one charge is possible, so it seems that the stated 8 to 12 hour run time is more than fair. Longer-term use and longer travel periods will help verify things.

The Brake Free provided for this review is getting constant use; I don’t leave home on two wheels without it. Why? Because the Brake Free is an outstanding safety product.

A standalone self-contained product with everything needed wholly integrated or housed inside, the Brake Free has no external harness or connections other than the micro-USB cable used for charging and all user interaction is done with its single control.

With three user-selectable visual output modes – Active, Pulsing, and Stealth, along with other automatic modes that function without any intervention, including the Emergency Braking Mode, the Brake Free is very simple and very functional; it’s about as plug-n-play as you can get.

The Brake Free module reviewed has and will continue to have a busy and productive life. It is constantly moved between helmets, has experienced two or three good drops, and one separation from a helmet that was completely my fault; has the Brake Free hesitated in any way – nope; it just keeps working; this thing is tough.

And don’t forget, if the Brake Free is this good for motorcycle use, think of all the other helmet-wearing PPE related activities we do where the Brake Free would be a good thing to have.

Bottom Line:get one, open the box, charge the battery, position and install the small adhesive mount, click the Brake Free module into place, turn it on, set the desired mode, and go riding, secure in the knowledge that the Brake Free has your six – bigtime. This is my safety product of the year. Check it out, a highly recommended investment with huge payback potential.

Picture a heads-up display inside a helmet and you probably imagine something like the one from Iron Man. But most consumer products—snowboard goggles, Google Glass, etc—instead have a tiny micro display housed at the edge of your peripheral vision. It"s less of an information overlay and more of an extra screen that you struggle to see. Its this disparity that Russian tech entrepreneur Andrew Artischev is trying to remedy with his new LiveMap motorcycle helmet. We got to try an early prototype, and are excited to report that it genuinely made us feel like Tony Stark.

Artischev’s background is in apps, not optics. He was inspired to create a HUD motorcycle helmet after scouring bike shops in Moscow for what he was sure must exist, but that he couldn"t find. He knew that giving motorcyclists easier access to information about navigation, speed, and the performance of their bikes made sense. He just needed to figure out how to pack all that data, plus a display, into a skid lid.

Why hasn’t there been an HUD motorcycle helmet yet? After all, the technology has been around in high-end cars from BMW, and even Chevrolet, for a decade or more. HUDs have been fitted in fighter pilots’ helmets for even longer. The answer lies in the complex series of jobs a motorcycle helmet has to perform—jobs no other helmet has to tackle.

Where a pilot’s helmet simply has to protect the wearer’s head from flying objects and serve as a mount for various auxiliary equipment, like an oxygen mask, radio, and visor, a motorcycle helmet has to provide adequate deceleration for the human brain in massive impacts—a racer walked away two years ago after head butting the ground at 209.9 miles per hour—and small ones. (Concussions can occur during even waking-speed topples.) To achieve that, various densities of styrofoam are layered between the wearer’s head and the outer shell. Made from a strong but malleable material like carbon fiber or plastic, that shell deflects impacts and spreads their energy over a large area. All aspects of a motorcycle helmet’s construction are highly regulated, and those regulations vary between markets. The helmet you sell in Australia must meet different standards than a helmet sold in the U.S., for instance. Those regulations also cover the shape and size of the viewport, vents, and more.

One of the biggest considerations in motorcycle helmet design is in delivering good crash protection in a package with the smallest possible external dimensions. The smaller a helmet is, overall, the more aerodynamic it will be, and the lower the force with which it may twist a user’s head and neck. It"ll also make the wearer look less like a Q-Tip. Heavier helmets also cause muscle fatigue and soreness.

Therefore, just sticking a set of big optics and a computer in an existing motorcycle helmet is not an option. And that was Artischev’s challenge. So he basically set about reinventing the heads-up display, shrinking it, and adding unique, motorcycle-friendly functionality.

Unlike micro displays, which are basically what they sound like (little screens), a true heads-up display works by projecting an image onto a clear surface in front of your eyes. In so doing, it overlays data on vision, without the wearer having to change his focal point. Think about it: when you’re riding, are your eyes focused on a point one inch from your face or 100 yards away? By making the projected image appear as if it’s floating way out in front of you, you can see it without changing the focal distance of your eyes. A true heads-up display empowers users with data in an immediate way that isn"t distracting.

Artischev came over to my house in Los Angeles one day last week with the second generation prototype of his helmet. The optical projection system in it, and its processor, are much smaller than those used by fighter pilots or in cars, but remain larger than what he hopes to bring to production later this year. Wearing the prototype helmet, which still needs to be plugged into a laptop to function (so riding with it isn’t currently practical for review purposes), I was able to see a clear, bright image that covered a large part of my field of view. The projected image was bright enough to see, even while looking into Los Angeles’ bright blue sky, and it hovered out there at about 10 yards, allowing me to perceive its information without looking down at a tiny screen an inch from my face. Artischev says that focal distance will be programmable.

Particularly in Russia, where insurance law heavily favors evidence, drivers and riders have started relying on “dash cams,” or constantly-recording, front-facing cameras installed in their vehicles that can provide an objective account of who’s at-fault in an accident. In a car, these dash cams can be bulky, but on a bike helmet, affixing even a GoPro can be awkward and uncomfortable. So Artischev is additionally including a front-facing HD camera in the helmet, and plans to include the latest cellular data connection to also allow live streaming from it. He’s achieving much of that, along with a tiny and low weight, by employing an off-the-shelf chipset from the Samsung Galaxy S6 smartphone. The LiveMap helmet will run on Android.

Artischev has developed the LiveMap helmet over a period of eight years, on a budget of just $1.5 million. Some of that was afforded by a grant from the Russian government, but most was derived by re-investing the profits from his previous business. He’s the kind of passionate inventor who truly believes his product is going to solve a real problem. After trying the system, I’m a believer, too.

Currently, I navigate on my bike in one of two ways. Around town, I typically look up directions, commit as much as I can to memory, pull over when that limited capacity is exhausted to consult my phone, then repeat. On longer trips, I’ll write shorthand directions on a piece of paper and duct tape that to my fuel tank. GPS navigators (or phone holders) that mount to your handlebars are available, but they"re expensive, exposed to both theft and weather, suffer from poor UX design, and are difficult both to see and operate on the move. None of this is what you would call fool proof. The LiveMap helmet is.

One hurdle that Artischev isn’t trying to tackle—and this is smart—is in producing his own motorcycle helmet. Instead, he plans to purchase a white-label design that’s produced for several other non-HUD helmet manufacturers in Japan. Doing so means all the various legal hoops have already been jumped through, for every market, and that safety is already maximized. By employing a modular helmet—one where the face portion flips up (an arrangement preferred by cops and many other people who ride through cities around the world), he’s able to house the HUD optics and processor in the chin portion, which is not only less vulnerable to direct impacts in a crash, but is a largely empty, unused space. From there, the optics project an image up onto a proprietary visor, which reflects the image into your field of vision.

Without final production numbers, Artischev isn’t able to quote a finished weight for the helmet. But by using a high-end carbon fiber shell, he hopes to make it competitive with existing, low-tech, full-face designs. As for price, you obviously are talking about a significant premium for new and miniaturized technology, housed in a safe, high-quality package. He tells us to expect something in the region of $2,000 to $2,500. Helmets could be in the hands of consumers early next year.

That price puts the LiveMap helmet in the same ballpark as the Skully AR-1. That design, which has yet to come to market, falls well behind LiveMap’s true HUD solution. Instead, Skully is essentially housing a Google Glass-clone micro screen inside a similarly off-the-shelf helmet. When we reviewed it in 2014—a world first—we found that solution to be neat, but the small display is obviously of limited utility and it"s hard to see in direct sunlight.

If Artischev is able to deliver the LiveMap in 2017, and if he’s able to do so in a slick helmet which can be free of compromises, then I think he’s going to be genuinely onto something. This daily rider has his fingers crossed.

A head-up display, or heads-up display,HUD (transparent display that presents data without requiring users to look away from their usual viewpoints. The origin of the name stems from a pilot being able to view information with the head positioned "up" and looking forward, instead of angled down looking at lower instruments. A HUD also has the advantage that the pilot"s eyes do not need to refocus to view the outside after looking at the optically nearer instruments.

Head-up displays were a precursor technology to augmented reality (AR), incorporating a subset of the features needed for the full AR experience, but lacking the necessary registration and tracking between the virtual content and the user"s real-world environment.

The projection unit in a typical HUD is an optical collimator setup: a convex lens or concave mirror with a cathode-ray tube, light emitting diode display, or liquid crystal display at its focus. This setup (a design that has been around since the invention of the reflector sight in 1900) produces an image where the light is collimated, i.e. the focal point is perceived to be at infinity.

The computer provides the interface between the HUD (i.e. the projection unit) and the systems/data to be displayed and generates the imagery and symbology to be displayed by the projection unit .

Other than fixed mounted HUD, there are also head-mounted displays (HMDs). These include helmet-mounted displays (both abbreviated HMD), forms of HUD that feature a display element that moves with the orientation of the user"s head.

Many modern fighters (such as the F/A-18, F-16, and Eurofighter) use both a HUD and HMD concurrently. The F-35 Lightning II was designed without a HUD, relying solely on the HMD, making it the first modern military fighter not to have a fixed HUD.

Second Generation—Use a solid state light source, for example LED, which is modulated by an LCD screen to display an image. These systems do not fade or require the high voltages of first generation systems. These systems are on commercial aircraft.

Newer micro-display imaging technologies are being introduced, including liquid crystal display (LCD), liquid crystal on silicon (LCoS), digital micro-mirrors (DMD), and organic light-emitting diode (OLED).

During the early 1940s, the Telecommunications Research Establishment (TRE), in charge of UK radar development, found that Royal Air Force (RAF) night fighter pilots were having a hard time reacting to the verbal instruction of the radar operator as they approached their targets. They experimented with the addition of a second radar display for the pilot, but found they had trouble looking up from the lit screen into the dark sky in order to find the target. In October 1942 they had successfully combined the image from the radar tube with a projection from their standard GGS Mk. II gyro gunsight on a flat area of the windscreen, and later in the gunsight itself.AI Mk. IV radar to the microwave-frequency AI Mk. VIII radar found on the de Havilland Mosquito night fighter. This set produced an artificial horizon that further eased head-up flying.

In 1955 the US Navy"s Office of Naval Research and Development did some research with a mockup HUD concept unit along with a sidestick controller in an attempt to ease the pilot"s burden flying modern jet aircraft and make the instrumentation less complicated during flight. While their research was never incorporated in any aircraft of that time, the crude HUD mockup they built had all the features of today"s modern HUD units.

HUD technology was next advanced by the Royal Navy in the Buccaneer, the prototype of which first flew on 30 April 1958. The aircraft was designed to fly at very low altitudes at very high speeds and drop bombs in engagements lasting seconds. As such, there was no time for the pilot to look up from the instruments to a bombsight. This led to the concept of a "Strike Sight" that would combine altitude, airspeed and the gun/bombsight into a single gunsight-like display. There was fierce competition between supporters of the new HUD design and supporters of the old electro-mechanical gunsight, with the HUD being described as a radical, even foolhardy option.

The Air Arm branch of the UK Ministry of Defence sponsored the development of a Strike Sight. The Royal Aircraft Establishment (RAE) designed the equipment and the earliest usage of the term "head-up-display" can be traced to this time.Rank Cintel, and the system was first integrated in 1958. The Cintel HUD business was taken over by Elliott Flight Automation and the Buccaneer HUD was manufactured and further developed, continuing up to a Mark III version with a total of 375 systems made; it was given a "fit and forget" title by the Royal Navy and it was still in service nearly 25 years later. BAE Systems, as the successor to Elliotts via GEC-Marconi Avionics, thus has a claim to the world"s first head-up display in operational service.AIRPASS HUD fitted to the English Electric Lightning from 1959.

In the United Kingdom, it was soon noted that pilots flying with the new gunsights were becoming better at piloting their aircraft.instrument flight rules approaches to landing was developed in 1975.fighter jets and helicopters, aiming to centralize critical flight data within the pilot"s field of vision. This approach sought to increase the pilot"s scan efficiency and reduce "task saturation" and information overload.

Use of HUDs then expanded beyond military aircraft. In the 1970s, the HUD was introduced to commercial aviation, and in 1988, the Oldsmobile Cutlass Supreme became the first production car with a head-up display.

Until a few years ago, the Embraer 190, Saab 2000, Boeing 727, and Boeing 737 Classic (737-300/400/500) and Next Generation aircraft (737-600/700/800/900 series) were the only commercial passenger aircraft available with HUDs. However, the technology is becoming more common with aircraft such as the Canadair RJ, Airbus A318 and several business jets featuring the displays. HUDs have become standard equipment on the Boeing 787.Space Shuttle orbiter.

Field of View – also "FOV", indicates the angle(s), vertically as well as horizontally, subtended at the pilot"s eye, at which the combiner displays symbology in relation to the outside view. A narrow FOV means that the view (of a runway, for example) through the combiner might include little additional information beyond the perimeters of the runway environment; whereas a wide FOV would allow a "broader" view. For aviation applications, the major benefit of a wide FOV is that an aircraft approaching the runway in a crosswind might still have the runway in view through the combiner, even though the aircraft is pointed well away from the runway threshold; whereas with a narrow FOV the runway would be "off the edge" of the combiner, out of the HUD"s view. Because human eyes are separated, each eye receives a different image. The HUD image is viewable by one or both eyes, depending on technical and budget limitations in the design process. Modern expectations are that both eyes view the same image, in other words a "binocular Field of View (FOV)".

Collimation – The projected image is collimated which makes the light rays parallel. Because the light rays are parallel the lens of the human eye focuses on infinity to get a clear image. Collimated images on the HUD combiner are perceived as existing at or near optical infinity. This means that the pilot"s eyes do not need to refocus to view the outside world and the HUD display – the image appears to be "out there", overlaying the outside world. This feature is critical for effective HUDs: not having to refocus between HUD-displayed symbolic information and the outside world onto which that information is overlaid is one of the main advantages of collimated HUDs. It gives HUDs special consideration in safety-critical and time-critical manoeuvres, when the few seconds a pilot needs in order to re-focus inside the cockpit, and then back outside, are very critical: for example, in the final stages of landing. Collimation is therefore a primary distinguishing feature of high-performance HUDs and differentiates them from consumer-quality systems that, for example, simply reflect uncollimated information off a car"s windshield (causing drivers to refocus and shift attention from the road ahead).

Eyebox – The optical collimator produces a cylinder of parallel light so the display can only be viewed while the viewer"s eyes are somewhere within that cylinder, a three-dimensional area called the head motion box or eyebox. Modern HUD eyeboxes are usually about 5 lateral by 3 vertical by 6 longitudinal inches (13x8x15 cm). This allows the viewer some freedom of head movement but movement too far up/down or left/right will cause the display to vanish off the edge of the collimator and movement too far back will cause it to crop off around the edge (vignette). The pilot is able to view the entire display as long as one of the eyes is inside the eyebox.

Luminance/contrast – Displays have adjustments in luminance and contrast to account for ambient lighting, which can vary widely (e.g. from the glare of bright clouds to moonless night approaches to minimally lit fields).

Boresight – Aircraft HUD components are very accurately aligned with the aircraft"s three axes – a process called milliradians (±24 minutes of arc), and may vary across the HUD"s FOV. In this case the word "conform" means, "when an object is projected on the combiner and the actual object is visible, they will be aligned". This allows the display to show the pilot exactly where the artificial horizon is, as well as the aircraft"s projected path with great accuracy. When Enhanced Vision is used, for example, the display of runway lights is aligned with the actual runway lights when the real lights become visible. Boresighting is done during the aircraft"s building process and can also be performed in the field on many aircraft.

Scaling – The displayed image (flight path, pitch and yaw scaling, etc.), is scaled to present to the pilot a picture that overlays the outside world in an exact 1:1 relationship. For example, objects (such as a runway threshold) that are 3 degrees below the horizon as viewed from the cockpit must appear at the −3 degree index on the HUD display.

On aircraft avionics systems, HUDs typically operate from dual independent redundant computer systems. They receive input directly from the sensors (pitot-static, gyroscopic, navigation, etc.) aboard the aircraft and perform their own computations rather than receiving previously computed data from the flight computers. On other aircraft (the Boeing 787, for example) the HUD guidance computation for Low Visibility Take-off (LVTO) and low visibility approach comes from the same flight guidance computer that drives the autopilot. Computers are integrated with the aircraft"s systems and allow connectivity onto several different data buses such as the ARINC 429, ARINC 629, and MIL-STD-1553.

Typical aircraft HUDs display airspeed, altitude, a horizon line, heading, turn/bank and slip/skid indicators. These instruments are the minimum required by 14 CFR Part 91.

flight path vector (FPV) or velocity vector symbol — shows where the aircraft is actually going, as opposed to merely where it is pointed as with the boresight. For example, if the aircraft is pitched up but descending as may occur in high angle of attack flight or in flight through descending air, then the FPV symbol will be below the horizon even though the boresight symbol is above the horizon. During approach and landing, a pilot can fly the approach by keeping the FPV symbol at the desired descent angle and touchdown point on the runway.

Since being introduced on HUDs, both the FPV and acceleration symbols are becoming standard on head-down displays (HDD). The actual form of the FPV symbol on an HDD is not standardized but is usually a simple aircraft drawing, such as a circle with two short angled lines, (180 ± 30 degrees) and "wings" on the ends of the descending line. Keeping the FPV on the horizon allows the pilot to fly level turns in various angles of bank.

During the 1980s, the militaryNASA Ames Research Center to provide pilots of V/STOL aircraft with complete flight guidance and control information for Category III C terminal-area flight operations. This includes a large variety of flight operations, from STOL flights on land-based runways to VTOL operations on aircraft carriers. The principal features of this display format are the integration of the flightpath and pursuit guidance information into a narrow field of view, easily assimilated by the pilot with a single glance, and the superposition of vertical and horizontal situation information. The display is a derivative of a successful design developed for conventional transport aircraft.

The cockpit of NASA"s Gulfstream GV with a synthetic vision system display. The HUD combiner is in front of the pilot (with a projector mounted above it). This combiner uses a curved surface to focus the image.

The use of head-up displays allows commercial aircraft substantial flexibility in their operations. Systems have been approved which allow reduced-visibility takeoffs, and landings, as well as full manual Category III A landings and roll-outs.

For general aviation, MyGoFlight expects to receive a STC and to retail its SkyDisplay HUD for $25,000 without installation for a single piston-engine as the Cirrus SR22s and more for Cessna Caravans or Pilatus PC-12s single-engine turboprops: 5 to 10% of a traditional HUD cost albeit it is non-conformal, not matching exactly the outside terrain.tablet computer can be projected on the $1,800 Epic Optix Eagle 1 HUD.

In more advanced systems, such as the US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA)-labeled "Enhanced Flight Vision System",infrared camera (either single or multi-band) is installed in the nose of the aircraft to display a conformed image to the pilot. "EVS Enhanced Vision System" is an industry accepted term which the FAA decided not to use because "the FAA believes [it] could be confused with the system definition and operational concept found in 91.175(l) and (m)"

"Registration," or the accurate overlay of the EVS image with the real world image, is one feature closely examined by authorities prior to approval of a HUD based EVS. This is because of the importance of the HUD matching the real world.

While the EVS display can greatly help, the FAA has only relaxed operatin