A simulated flight environment for pilot training may soon be made more
realistic through the use of eye-tracking technology developed by
researchers at the University of Toronto's Institute of Biomedical
Engineering (IMBE).
Many safety and cost benefits are obtained by training aircraft pilots
under simulated conditions, but to be effective the simulation must be
convicingly realistic. At present, the training facilities use large domes
and gimballed projectors, or an array of video screens, to display
computer-generated images. But these installations are very expensive and
image resolution is low. Further, it would take an enormous amount of addi
to improve image quality significantly throughout the whole viewed scene.


However, based on the visual properties of the eye, realism can be
obtained by providing a high-resolution 'area of interest' insert within a
large, low-resolution field of view. If the image-generating computer
'knows' where the pilot's fixation is, it mage there.

The technology to make this possible was developed by a research team
headed by Professor Richard Frecker and Professor Moshe Eizenman. The work
was carried out in collaboration with CAE Electronics Ltd. of Montreal
with financial ...