Design of a Microelectronic Controller with a MIL-STD-1553 Bus Interface for the Tactile Situation Awareness System

Spatial Disorientation SD is a triservice aviation problem that costs the Department of Defense more than 300 million annually in destroyed aircraft and is the primary cause of pilot related mishaps in the Navy and the Air Force. As one solution to the SD problem, the Naval Aerospace Medical Research Laboratory has developed the Tactile Situation Awareness System TSAS. The primary objective of TSAS is to enhance pilot performance and reduce SD related aircrewaircraft losses by providing continuous non-visual information using the normally underutilized sensory channel of touch. Using vibrotactile stimulators, TSAS applies information taken from the aircrafts instruments to the pilots torso. The current implementation of TSAS is a research system that is not compatible with the crowded cockpit of modern aircraft. This thesis presents a design of a microelectronic controller for TSAS compatible with tactical environments. This new system, called the Tactor Interface Microcontroller System TIMS, incorporates the functionality of the research TSAS into a palm sized microcontroller system and enables TSAS to communicate directly to the computerized sensory and weapons systems in combat aircraft such as the Navy FA-18. TIMS brings the TSAS prototype out of the research stage and puts this exciting technology into the hands of the warfighter.