SES: BAE Systems - Harrier GR9 Video Control Unit

SES is currently under contract to BAE SYSTEMS (Operations) Ltd to develop and build a Video Control Unit (VCU) for the GR Mk 9/9A variant of the Harrier II.

This latest Harrier will be equipped with state of the art video cameras linked to a video recording system, allowing Head Up Display (HUD) and Forward Looking Infra Red (FLIR) video images to be displayed and recorded during a mission. The system also has the capability of displaying video on one or both of the two cockpit Multi-Purpose Colour Displays (MPCDs) and of recording composite display pictures from these units.

A vital element of this new system will be the VCU being developed by SES, from an original BAE SYSTEMS prototype. The VCU will allow both processed and raw video obtained from the HUD, FLIR and MPCDs to be recorded on up to three Video Cassette Recorders (VCRs) subject to selection by the Pilot.

Pilot control of the video sources is provided by another SES system, the Harrier Instrumentation Pilot Interface, affectionately known to the development team as HIPI. This system, reported in issue 2 of IN SESSION provides complete control of the suite of instrumentation equipments installed in a Harrier while used for flight trials.

The VCU will be capable of processing raw or composite video data in a number of formats, 625 line PAL, 525 line NTSC, or RGB colour and monochrome together with cursive symbology which may have been added to the display by the aircraft mission computer. Combining the raw video and symbology for recording is achieved by converting the mission cursive data signals from the MPCDs into raster video signals and adding these to the raster video signal currently being displayed.

The ability to multiplex video signals and to allow time code and event marker data to be inserted onto the recorded video further enhances the capability of this versatile control unit.