Skiers, snowboarders, and snowmobilers now have a real-time way of tracking their performance and capturing video, thanks to a new head-up display designed to fit inside a set of snow goggles.
The micro-display, used in goggles built by six different manufacturers, also incorporates GPS and Bluetooth technology, and has the ability to pair with Android smartphones for additional real-time connections. "While you're skiing, you can take a glance with your right eye to see how fast you're going or to look at a map," Xichi Zheng, director of systems engineering for Recon Instruments, told us. "You can also be notified when a call comes in from your smartphone."
Known as the Recon Micro Optics Display (MOD), the new product was developed by Recon engineers over a 15-month period and introduced at the Consumer Electronics Show earlier this year. It uses a 32-bit ARM computing platform and incorporates a tiny lithium polymer battery that enables it to reside inside a normal-sized set of ski goggles.
The key to the MOD display is its ability to run off a small battery and still offer a six-hour battery life. To do that, Recon engineers employed a Sitara AM3703 ARM Cortex A8 microprocessor from Texas Instruments (TI), running at 600 MHz. The Sitara enables the display to process video streams from a head-mounted third-party camera, while providing on-chip memory for storage of photos and videos. It's also capable of displaying speed and temperature from the goggle's onboard sensors.
"Our system is unique in that it had to maintain a constant display, and still refresh once per second, all while consuming low power," Zheng said. "The platform was robust enough to allow us to do that."
I agree with the concern about durability and damage when falling. I often ski "quite hard", and if I push too far, sometimes I do fall, also quite hard. So an expensive display that is destroyed as I "gently tumble" 50 yards down the hill is a very expensive toy to break.
The other thing is that skiers really do not need the distraction, no matter how cool it is. CEll-phone skiing is as bad as drunk skiing, and a whole lot less welcome.
Probably the display could be great for some sport like bowling, or golf, where computer assistance in calculating aims could be very valuable, and running into other folks is quite easy to avoid.
@bobjengr: In a combat situation the last thing I would want is for the guy covering my flank to be looking at a map inside a pair of goggles. Much of the life saving information can come from things observed by peripheral vision and in this case what the soldier would see is how fast he was going. Not particularly useful data.
I had a similar thought about the safety aspect. However, there is significant talk and development about making this type of technology standard in cars. Maybe if there is a big implementation with ski goggles it can be proven one way or another before every distracted driver has it installed.
@bobjengr: I agree with the safety concerns, despite the fact I know there would be a huge audience for this. I know the display is in your peripheral vision, but blazing down the slopes, especially at 30 mph or more is a challenge in itself on hard terrain--the last thing you need is any distraction, even if it is relevant like GPS mapping, and the noise of text/emails. Now taking advantage of all that info on the chair lift--that's a totally different story.
I see real potential for our military. Maybe that capability already exists, or at least I would like to think so. The GPS and map features might be a great help and free a soldier's hands for other tasks. As far as downhill skiing while reading text messages, it seems to me the same unsafe situation would be there when compared to driving and texting. Great article Charles.
This would be great for off-road ATV riding but does anyone know how the map feature works? Does it just display google maps (android) or can you use custom maps such as with Polaris's ORV Trails app?
If I interface with a GoPro camera I can show everyone how fast I can get lost!
We got a sports radar detector some years ago to check speed skiing. I like to ride between 30 and 50 mph which is the limit of the slope in many cases. The last 2 years we have used two different Contour Video cameras. The Contour with the mapping of both speed and elevation is cool. The down side is when you wreck both the Go Pro and the Contour will be damaged and I do wreck.
I would like to test it downhill mountain biking as well as skiing. So where can I get one?
Sounds like a gadget lover's dream. I think as long as someone is comfortable receiving info in that manner and can train themselves to absorb data from within their peripheral vision, it would work great. The GPS addition is definitely a plus, especially when you're covering big mountain terrain, back country, or glade skiing.
Hey Beth, the HUD actually sits in your periferal, so it doesn't distract you while you're skiing or reduce your field of vision. You don't actually see it until you glance down and look at it. The UI is designed to be easy to read in split-second glances to get important info like speed, altitude, time, etc. When you're stopped or on the chairlift you can glance down and easily read more detailed info like your text messages, or pull up navigation or your music player. Also, if you get lost in the trees (which I sometimes do), you can open up navigation while stopped and easily find your way back to the trails. This saved my butt in Whistler more than a couple times this season. Hope that helps :)
With LEDs dropping in price virtually every year, automakers have begun employing them, not only on luxury vehicles, but on entry-level models, as well.
The 3D printing revolution seems to have a knack for quickly moving technology ahead by way of collaborative effort and even a little friendly competition -- all of course in the name of scientific advancement.
Advantech has launched a new series of motion-control I/O modules to meet the increased demands that come with more distributed industrial systems that require control of a growing number of axes and devices.
Using almost 200 light-emitting diodes in the front and back of the new 2014 CTS, Cadillac designers are showing how LEDs can change the character of a vehicle.
From Dell / Intel® New Paradigms in Design Work Scott Hamilton, vertical market strategist for Dell Precision workstations, 5/2/2013 3
Early in my career, I worked as a draftsman and remember the days of drawing on vellum with numbered pencils and Mylar with plastic lead. This was a fun experience in the sense that I ...
I've been using workstations for more than 10 years and love finding ways to get more performance from my system. With demanding professional applications that require more power each ...
A lasting memory from my first job as an engineer in an auto assembly plant is standing on hard concrete at six in the morning, vending-machine coffee clutched in hand, listening to ...
A quick look into the merger of two powerhouse 3D printing OEMs and the new leader in rapid prototyping solutions, Stratasys. The industrial revolution is now led by 3D printing and engineers are given the opportunity to fully maximize their design capabilities, reduce their time-to-market and functionally test prototypes cheaper, faster and easier. Bruce Bradshaw, Director of Marketing in North America, will explore the large product offering and variety of materials that will help CAD designers articulate their product design with actual, physical prototypes. This broadcast will dive deep into technical information including application specific stories from real world customers and their experiences with 3D printing. 3D Printing is
To save this item to your list of favorite Design News content so you can find it later in your Profile page, click the "Save It" button next to the item.
If you found this interesting or useful, please use the links to the services below to share it with other readers. You will need a free account with each service to share an item via that service.
Tweet This
3 
