Question - What is it? (next to HUD)

[vctpil]

Hi,

Following the last video from Wags, I notice two "things" displaying something next the HUD at a certain moment (see screenshot).

I didn't find that on the real flight manual.

Maybe is it still work in progress.

Thanks,

Vincent

[Gierasimov]

As far as I understand, these trace the helmet movement. Part of the off-boresight dogfight capability. 

[LetMePickThat]

43 minutes ago, Gierasimov said:

As far as I understand, these trace the helmet movement. Part of the off-boresight dogfight capability. 

 

Yes, they're spinning prisms scanning the cockpit volume, looking for the helmet.

[vctpil]

So, they stop spinning at the moment they capture the helmet?

[YoYo]

4 hours ago, Gierasimov said:

As far as I understand, these trace the helmet movement. Part of the off-boresight dogfight capability. 

Correct. 

I've also noticed some strange behavior here. Behind the glass, there are elements that constantly rotate. It creates the impression of small screens that constantly pulsate with reflections. I'm afraid this could be very annoying while flying. Interestingly, we have the same sight in the Ka-50, for example, and nothing rotates there, even though the system is the same.

[R_0xD]

38 минут назад, vctpil сказал:

So, they stop spinning at the moment they capture the helmet?

no, it like the tracker for a vr headset if you have one, it keep spinning.

[YoYo]

38 minutes ago, vctpil said:

So, they stop spinning at the moment they capture the helmet?

It's more like something constantly scanning the pilot's head area. Even if it detects a signal from the lowered helmet-mounted sight, it continues to work. However, this can be quite annoying for the DCS user.

[Beirut]

I would imagine there will be an option to turn it off.

[vctpil]

Yes, could be annoying, but we will see that when available.

Thanks a lot for the info.

[AeriaGloria]

Fun fact, the prisms require their own heaters. 

[Raven (Elysian Angel)]

2 hours ago, vctpil said:

Yes, could be annoying, but we will see that when available.

Thanks a lot for the info.

Gierasimov's post is the solution to this thread, not yours.

[YoYo]

2 hours ago, Beirut said:

I would imagine there will be an option to turn it off.

It would be a good idea to be able to turn off this animation. I'm afraid it might give you a headache in VR .

Shimmering manifests itself as a flickering effect that's always visible out of the corner of your eye, and it's not a pleasant experience. Of course, we'll see it once the model arrives, and then we can judge.

[YoYo]

Real example:

But as you can see, sometimes the sensor is also at rest and does not work:

I've watched a few videos and sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't.

[Beirut]

57 minutes ago, YoYo said:

It would be a good idea to be able to turn off this animation. I'm afraid it might give you a headache in VR .

 

Or just annoy the **** out of you on a screen.

[razo+r]

They're already spinning in the KA-50 when the HMD is in use, but nobody complained so far, so...

[YoYo]

I've done a bit of research. These are the sensors of the S-31EZh "Zhelazny" system (Russian: С-31ЭЖ), the pilot's head tracking system.

How it works:

This system was part of the ZSh-5 – the world's first integrated helmet-mounted sighting system (HMS), introduced in the MiG-29 and Su-27 in the late 1970s/early 1980s. These "windows" are infrared photodetectors that observe reflections from small, point-shaped IR emitters (diodes) located in the pilot's helmet. This allows the aircraft's targeting computer to know the pilot's direction of view and can direct the OLS-29 sensor (optoelectronic infrared sighting system) or weapons (e.g., R-73 missiles with a wide-angle head) to where the pilot's eyes are looking. The "pulsation" that is visible to the naked eye (sometimes a slight flicker is visible) is the result of these infrared emitters/receivers working - the system is constantly checking the head position.

So - old Track IR !

 

5 minutes ago, razo+r said:

They're already spinning in the KA-50 when the HMD is in use, but nobody complained so far, so...

Good to know. I'll check, Do you remember how to activate the HMD in the Ka-50? I haven't flown one in a while.

[razo+r]

5 minutes ago, YoYo said:

Good to know. I'll check, Do you remember how to activate the HMD in the Ka-50? I haven't flown one in a while.

Press "H" or switch the HMD switch, one of the smaller switches next to the Laser Switch.

[R_0xD]

I don't think it is a big deal, they real pilots have it and it is not a problem for them, I think it will be a bit distracting for 30 minutes and then, we will forget about it

[YoYo]

59 minutes ago, razo+r said:

Press "H" or switch the HMD switch, one of the smaller switches next to the Laser Switch.

It does work in the Ka-50 III. Maybe it's more visible in the video with MiG because it also seems to have some reflective, brighter elements, but you're right, it's a false alarm. It's not distracting, although it does draw attention to the fact that something is moving. It's fine in VR too! Thanks for the tip! 

[LetMePickThat]

1 hour ago, YoYo said:

So - old Track IR !

 

As someone said above, it's closer to the IR tracking bases used for some VR headsets - it's the same technology. TrackIR also uses IR tracking (shocker !), but it does not rely on mechanical tracking. 

See this high framerate IR video of an HTC Vive (= Steam VR) tracking base.

 

Edited 9 hours ago by LetMePickThat