A mounting mechanism was designed and built to satisfy requirements specific to a developmental head-up display (HUD) to be used by pilots in a Boeing 757 airplane. This development was necessitated by the fact that although such mounting mechanisms were commercially available for other airplanes, there were none for the 757. The mounting mechanism supports a miniature electronic camera that provides a forward view. The mechanism was designed to be integrated with the other HUD instrumentation and to position the camera so that what is presented to the pilot is the image acquired by the camera, overlaid with alphanumeric and/or graphical symbols, from a close approximation of the pilot's natural forward perspective. The mounting mechanism includes an L-shaped mounting arm that can be adjusted easily to the pilot's perspective, without prior experience. The mounting mechanism is lightweight and flexible and presents little hazard to the pilot.

This work was done by Wayne Geouge, Monica Barnes, Larry Johnson, and Kevin Shelton of Langley Research Center. For more information, download the Technical Support Package (free white paper) at www.techbriefs.com/tsp under the Mechanics/Machinery category.

This invention is owned by NASA, and a patent application has been filed. Inquiries concerning nonexclusive or exclusive license for its commercial development should be addressed to

the Patent Counsel
Langley Research Center
at (757) 864-3521.

Refer to LAR-16380-1.