Aircraft Heads Up Display design and optimization as applied to the AV-8B Harrier

Though the advent of the Heads Up Display (HUD) has dramatically changed the way information is presented to aircrew during flight, the requirement to select and discern the pertinent information applicable to the task at hand has not. Much like the proliferation of gauges and switches in a 60's and 70's era military cockpit interfered with a quick and efficient scan of the instruments, so to do the number of pieces of information being presented in a HUD. With the selection of the AV-8B to be the lead platform in implementation of the Open System Core Avionics Requirement (OSCAR), a rehosting of the Operational Flight Program (OFF), has come the opportunity to optimize the HUD design of the AV-8B. This thesis focuses on an attempt to simplify and standardize the current HUD displays and improve the tailoring of reject sub-modes that are designed to decrease the amount of data being displayed. The potential benefits of HUD modes that could be instructor configured and selectable in-flight to facilitate the development of the proper scan and reduce the time required for pilots to gain proficiency are also addressed.