VCASS

Between 1977 and 1982, the United States Air Force's Aerospace Medical Research Laboratory (AMRL) pioneered the development of a revolutionary virtual crew system concept led by Tom Furness and Dean Koscian. The system, designated Airborne Visually Coupled Systems Simulator (VCASS) was achieved by significantly extending the features of previously developed helmet-mounted tracking and display systems.

VCASS inspired the fictional weapons system that Rod Ensor designated DWS (Discriminating Weapons Systems) featured in The Calling and its prequel, The Kids

 

The heart of the VCASS was a special headgear assembly which included two miniature cathode-ray tube (CRT) image sources, virtual image projection optics and a helmet attitude/position sensor. In addition, the prototype included several control interfaces which were manipulated relative to the virtual scenes:

  1. Head-aimed control -- pilot-positioned head-stabilized reticle over virtual switch box and “pressure-enabling switches” to activate function.
  2. Voice-activated control -- The technology has become familiar, facilitating human-machine interactions in simple applications, such as in word processing.
  3. Touch sensitive panel -- pilot-positioned finger on touch panel area to call up special virtual switch panels.
  4. Virtual hand controller -- in this mode the pilot would move his hand in three-dimensions. The magnetic tracker senses the hand position and orientation with six degrees of freedom. When the hand is put into a pre-determined volume or region within the cockpit, a three dimensional virtual control panel was windowed into the visual display. The pilot then activated functions or makes Vernier adjustments by moving his hand or placing a finger over the virtual switch. Auditory, visual and/or tactile feedback was given to indicate completed control action.

In addition to the control and display interfaces described above, two other display systems were being developed in the 1980’s for incorporation into the VCASS. The first was a tactile display system which provided a stimulus to the operator’s hand and/or fingers which signified that he had touched or activated a virtual control panel. The second display system provided a three dimensional auditory surround to the panoramic visual display.