Fighter pilots have long been able to view flight data projected onto jet windshields within their line of sight. Soon recreational motorcyclists and bicyclists will be able to take advantage of that technology.

Motion Research, a Seattle company former race car driver Dominic Dobson founded in 1993, said it will begin selling an inexpensive information display system next spring that attaches to a motorcycle helmet.

The SportVue head-mounted display will allow riders to see speed, revolutions per minute and gear position without taking their eyes off the road. The system gathers speed information from a global-positioning satellite receiver attached to the rear of the helmet.

The design, based on a patent co-developed by Tom Furness, one of the pioneers of head-mounted display technology, uses a lens and mirror and backlit liquid crystal display to give the viewer the illusion that the information displayed in the periphery of one eye is projected in the distance.

Dobson founded Motion Research when he was racing Indianapolis Motor Speedway and Formula One cars, and his initial idea was to use the display technology for race car drivers. But the cost of producing such displays was prohibitively high a decade ago. He retired in 1998 and recently picked the idea up again, because the costs of the technology have fallen significantly.

"We realized we could build it far more cheaply today," he said. "Not much changed in the technology itself. What happened was the cost of manufacturing changed."

Today, he said, the technology is beginning to appear in the consumer market, both in wearable systems and in some cars, such as certain models of the Cadillac, with systems that project driving information onto the windshield.

But Motion Research will be the first company to attempt a truly low-cost consumer application. The price of the motorcycle SportVue will range from $249 to $349.

The bicycle version of Sportvue, which will be introduced sometime after the motorcycle system, will project speed, distance traveled and heart rate information, like current cyclometers, and range from $150 to $199, Dobson said. He said the company was also in discussions with helmet manufacturers to integrate the display systems into helmets.

http://www.carlaking.com/images/helmet_tech.jpg

Hehe.. Nice. Virtually eliminates the time spent glancing at the instrumentation cluster, giving you 100% view of the road at all times.

What's next? On-board DVD players? Videoke? :D Just thinking on the lighter side.

I'd like a built in GPS & Celphone in my helmet

para ka lang nag vi-video game!hehehe:)

On sale na next year? I suppose helmet manufacturers aren't very keen on the idea...
Why externally mounted? What happens when I open the visor?
Why didn't he make a visor with integrated head up display as an alternative to OE visors? Coupled with light sensitive dark visor that would have been very cool!

I want global navigation system, radar detector, videophone and x-ray vision so I can see what she's packing in there:D

Once the exclusive realm of fighter pilots, the Head-Up Display, or HUD, which projects critical data into a pilot’s field of view, has made its way into some corporate jets as well as a few ground-based, low-altitude vehicles. It's been an option on the Chevrolet Corvette for the last several years, and a few Cadillac models offer Night Vision in a windshield-projected display.

Our experience with the Corvette HUD has been overwhelmingly positive: The speed, engine rpm, peak-performance shift points and more can easily be seen "floating" just below the horizon line in the distance. Day or night, it's a very cool tool and helps to keep the driver's eyes focused on the road--where they should be. Indeed, some autocrossers say they depend on the HUD to improve lap times by seeing their exact speed as they enter and exit turns.

Military-jet HUDs cost millions and we know that corporate-jet HUDs typically come with a price tag in the $500,000 stratosphere, not including the jet. So we're guessing that you won't be adapting one of those pricey gadgets for use in the family SUV anytime soon. You could buy, say, 10 Corvettes for that price.

If you don't have an F-15 Tomcat, a biz-jet, or a Corvette, you're pretty much out of luck if want HUD technology today. But what if you could put a HUD on your motorcycle helmet for under $350? Starting in spring 2004, you'll be able to do just that.

What A Difference A Decade Makes
In the past few years, the technology to manufacture a wearable HUD has dropped significantly in price--so much, in fact, that Seattle-based Motion Research has been able to develop the low-cost SportVue, a lightweight visor-mounted display unit that gets its data from a GPS "pod" mounted on the back of the helmet. The system adds less than 6 ounces to a helmet and won't weigh you down with a second mortgage, or two.

The SportVue display and the GPS unit communicate via a custom RF link, eliminating the need to run wires between the two. That means easier, cleaner installation. The display unit attaches to the helmet using a Snell-approved "break away" clip, while the GPS transceiver pod is bonded to the helmet.

Once installed, the display projects real-time data into the rider's field of vision. The data appears at a distance so refocusing your eyes is not an issue, allowing your attention to stay on the road. Real-time information such as speed and distance are continually updated.

Motion Research plans to make a bicycle-helmet version available sometime after the initial rollout of the motorcycle model. That system will display the rider's speed, distance traveled and heart rate, all for an estimated price of $150 to $199.

A HUD On Every Helmet
Some of the tools we think of as indispensable today often didn't start out that way. The cellphones that are in nearly everyone's pocket or purse now were thought of as extravagant toys when they were first introduced. Microwave ovens certainly fit that bill, yet millions of households use them--as tools, not toys--every day. Indeed, most technological tools start out as what seems to be a solution in a search of problem.

In some inventions, we see the utility immediately: Edison's light bulb, for example. Others take time to take hold. The compact disc struggled for 10 years to succeed, and another 5 years before it fully unseated the vinyl LP from its position as the dominant audio media.

As the economies of large-scale manufacturing kick in, we expect we'll see more heretofore unaffordable gadgetry appear in our homes and automobiles. Some may go the way of the 8-track tape, while others will become the tools of our everyday lives. And we think the HUD will be in that toolbox of the future, in your car and on your helmet. Only the future isn't so far away.

Look for the motorcycle SportVue system to appear on your horizon this spring, with a price range of $249 to $349.

For more information, check out www.motionresearch.com.

Botchix,

Take a look at his.

http://www.motorcyclephilippines.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=4789

this is a link to the brochure

http://www.motionresearch.com./SportVueBrochure.pdf

What you want isn't that far away...

Jake
I checked the thread, somehow I remember reading about it on MCN mag. ages ago but I don't know if they are for sale yet.
I also read somewhere of someone came up with a light sensitive visor that adjust its tint automatically- no input from the rider. It said something about the speed of the change was not fast enough for when you enter a tunnel and that they were developing it further to speed the change to milli seconds. I hope they succeed! That would be way cool!

The head-up display is cool too, but I'm not too sure about external pod that is bonded at the back of the lid, also the display within visual range can block or get your mind off and miss something. If it's flat against the visor or the visor itself is the display and triggered by facial movement or voice activated that can be good, because I wouldn't want to be looking at all these displays when I don't want to. Like avoiding a collision, low speed manoeuvre or when safety is an issue....

Heck! I'm a fuzzy little ......t, aren't I? :D
Yep, with all these current inovations, what I want isn't so far away...