Advanced Display Interface for Open System High Resolution Military and Commercial Applications

Commercial display interfaces are transitioning from analog to digital format. Although this transition is in the early stages, the military needs to begin planning its own transition to digital. There are many problems with analog interfaces in high-resolution display systems that can be resolved by changing to a digital interface. Also, lower display system cost can be achieved by implementing a digital interface to a high-resolution display rather than an analog interface. The Advanced Display Interface ADI is designed to replace the analog RGB interfaces currently used in high definition workstation displays. The goal is to create a standard digital display interface for military applications that is based on current commercial standards. Support for military application-specific functionality is addressed, including display test and control. The main challenges to implementing a digital display interface are described, along with approaches to address the problems. Conceptual ADI architectures are described and contrasted. The current commercial standards for digital display interfaces are reviewed in detail. Finally, a demonstration system based on the chosen ADI architecture is described.