Dassault’s Combined Vision System (CVS) Makes Public Debut at NBAA

Dassault Aviation is introducing its proprietary Combined Vision System at NBAA’s Business Aviation Convention & Exhibition (BACE) in Las Vegas, Nevada.

The system, dubbed FalconEye, is being presented on a Falcon 2000LXS on display at the show. The aircraft is a production model due to be delivered soon after the exhibit ends.

“It’s in our very DNA to innovate in ways that bring added value to the customer,” said Eric Trappier, Chairman and CEO of Dassault Aviation. “With the advent of our Combined Vision System, operators will benefit from a superior HUD design that affords vastly improved situational awareness and safety regardless of the time of day or weather conditions.”

FalconEye is the first Head-Up Display (HUD) system to combine synthetic, database-driven terrain mapping and actual thermal and low-light camera images, providing an unprecedented level of situational awareness to flight crews. The fourth-generation, multi-sensor camera is composed of six different sensors, fusing images from both the visible and infrared spectrums.

“What makes this truly revolutionary is the unique and patented way in which we blend real video of the outside world in low-light conditions with synthetic terrain imagery, a first in the business jets industry,” said Olivier Villa, Senior VP Civil Aircraft; Dassault Aviation. 

Dassault’s unique approach presents a synthesized view to the pilot, clearly delineating between real, enhanced and synthetic worlds. The Enhanced Vision portion of the system will also permit approaches with operational credit and increased aircraft capabilities. 

Dual HUDs – another industry first – will be a future option for customers. Dual HUDs will provide the same information and heads-up views to both pilots, harmonizing HUD utilization for the flying and non-flying pilot while improving crew coordination and facilitating pilot training

Long History of HUD Innovations

Dassault has long been a forerunner in the development of modern HUD systems.

The first HUD in operational use was installed on Dassault’s Mirage IIIB fighter. The Mirage IIIB HUD paved the way for a long line of design improvements down to the advanced units on today’s Mirage 2000 and Rafale fighter aircraft. 

In the early 1970s, the Dassault Mercure, a 150 seat short/medium-range airliner, was the first civil aircraft to be fitted with a head-up display. Associated with a ‘fail passive’ auto-pilot, it allowed approaches in very low visibility conditions that had previously been off limits to civilian pilots.

In 1993, Dassault introduced the Falcon 2000, the first business jet equipped with a head-up guidance system which permitted hand-flown approaches down to CAT III conditions.