Artificial Perception Laboratory
	Enhanced Synthetic Vision System

PROBLEM

The Enhanced and Synthetic Vision System (ESVS) is a Canadian Forces Search And Rescue (CF SAR) Technology Demonstrator project to help SAR helicopter crews see in poor visibility conditions. The ESVS includes an on-board image generator to render synthetic images of the terrain and an infrared sensor to provide a correlated out-the-window image. Both images are presented on a helmet-mounted-display with the infrared image fused as an inset in the center of the synthetic image field of view. Flight symbology is superimposed on the final image to assist the pilot in flying the aircraft. An active range sensor will also be used to correct database inaccuracies due to erroneous or incomplete source data. The research program is done in collaboration with CAE Inc., the National Research Council (NRC) of Canada, BAE Systems Canada, the University of Toronto, York University, and the Department of National Defence (Canada).

The members of the Artificial Perception Laboratory participating in this project are:

Prof. Frank P. Ferrie
Philippe Simard (Ph.D. student)

Simard, P., Link, N.K., Kruk, R.V., "Evaluation of algorithms for fusing infrared and synthetic imagery", Proceedings of the SPIE Conference on Enhanced and Synthetic Vision, vol. SPIE-4023, pp. 127-138, 2000.
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Simard, P., Link, N.K., Kruk, R.V., "Feature detection performance with fused synthetic and sensor images", Proceedings of the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society 43rd Annual Meeting, pp. 1108-1112, 1999.
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Simard, P., "Fusion of synthetic and infrared imagery", Master's Thesis, McGill University, 1999.
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