Enhanced and synthetic vision systems development based on Integrated Modular Avionics for civil aviation

The paper describes current results of a research and development (R&D) project aimed to create an advanced prototype of an Enhanced and Synthetic Vision System (ESVS). The paper contains functional requirements for the ESVS prototype and discusses the main principles of its development. Brief overview of ESVS hardware and platform is given. The following image processing algorithms of ESVS are described: image enhancement based on modification of the Retinex algorithm, image fusion based on a morphological approach, runway detection based on the original modification of Hough transform - Projection Hough Transform, and runway obstacles detection based on photogrammetric method. The main features of the synthetic vision function of ESVS are described which provide computationally efficient creation of a realistic three-dimensional (3D) out- the-cabin view using terrain, objects, and texture databases.