If you have been hankering for some HUD action on your next auto, you’ll need a further choice come next spring: the all-new 2012 BMW 3 Series. The launch will mark the primary time a heads-up display has made it into Bavaria’s volume seller, after debuting as an optional extra eons ago on its 5 Series. Since then, HUDs of limited hues have permeated München’s high-end, splaying speed and navigation directions inside the line of sight of road-going elites everywhere. However, this iteration is “full-color,” which besides pleasing ROY G. BIV fans, makes it “more intuitive,” because the company reasons it’ll aid drivers in recognizing crucial alerts faster. That, or we’re really only a generation clear of über cool AR wizardry and flicks on our windscreens. In fact, no word on when the 3′s brethren gets the technicolor treatment, but we’re betting it won’t be long, given that is the dash of a 6 Series you notice above. PR, per usual, is after the break.
28.10.2011
Munich. Low-flying over hilly terrain at a speed of just about 800 kilometres per hour within the cockpit of a Eurofighter jet is a challenge to even one of the most hardened of military pilots. “When you are flying at tree-top height at around 220 metres a second, only extremely accurate head-up display technology is ready to provide the mandatory ease of mind,” comments Wing Commander Robert Hierl, test pilot on the Technical and Airworthiness Centre for Aircraft.
Because of a front panel projector, all flight-relevant data supplied by the flight management system in addition to information and signals crucial to a mission are displayed on a second, vertically positioned panel located within the cockpit. That will prevent the pilot from being distracted, all information is displayed in virtual form at eye level in the direct visual view, thus guaranteeing the very best degree of concentration, supremacy and safety for both the pilot and the machine.
BMW was the primary European car builder to conform head-up display technology – a system initially deployed in aviation and constantly further developed over several decades – to be used in volume-production vehicles. Since January 2004, this innovative driver assistance system was a vital part of BMW ConnectedDrive offered for the BMW 5 Series. Consistently further developed and optimised, it really is now a whole-colour head-up display and non-obligatory for the majority series.
With regards to graphic representation, functionality and adaptability, the original new Head-Up Display feature makes a major contribution towards active safety by displaying driver-relevant information in high-quality resolution inside the driver’s direct visual view, in order that she or he doesn’t need to take their eyes off the line. a vital gain in safety as researchers know: a standard driver takes an entire second to read the rate indicator within the instrument panel or to glance on the navigation device. Whilst the driving force is distracted, which is without his or her eyes at the road, the vehicle covers a distance of around 14 metres when travelling in urban areas at a speed of fifty km/h – virtually a “blind flight”.
With Head-Up Display, the time required by the motive force to assimilate information is reduced by greater than a half, the system creating a decisive contribution towards concentrated and focused driving. The virtual image projected onto the windscreen is perceived as “hovering” at eye level above the bonnet and is visible only to the motive force. Moreover, this manner of display is less tiring, because the eye doesn’t must constantly change between close-range and remote vision. Also, the brightness of the picture adjusts perfectly to the environment, in order that the attention doesn’t need to readapt every time.
The reproduction of information is effected by way of an intense light source, that is located contained in the instrument panel and shines through a translucent TFT (Thin Film Transistor) display, the picture being transferred to the windscreen via specially shaped mirrors. As a result of the convex shape and the physical properties of glass, using the windscreen as a reflector is an exceptionally complex process. In a windscreen, the sunshine path is generally refracted, leading to double images.
Relating to the Eurofighter, this problem is solved by an extra panel located directly inside the pilot’s visual field. BMW tackles this physical phenomenon by way of a wafer-thin foil, that’s integrated into the windscreen, ensuring the superimposition of the projected images and, for this reason, flawless, undistorted representation. Full-colour Head-Up Display offers the motive force an important increase in reading comfort. The whole colour spectrum facilitates a practical and thus more intuitive display of pictures and logos. These speak for themselves, are perceived even faster and don’t must be decoded or interpreted. Even Eurofighter test pilot Robert Hierl is very impressed: “Our monochrome head-up display technology is unable to provide one of these brilliant display quality.”
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