According to the FAA in-flight fires, smoke or fumes are accounting for one unplanned landing per day. In-flight smoke is also number four on the list for fatalities and loss of aircraft. Together with FedEx Express, ODG has developed an AR enabled oxygen mask that allows the pilot to control the airplane even in the event of complete vision loss.
The new device is called SAVED™, which stands for ‘Smoke Assured Vision Enhanced Display’. ODG incorporated its R7 augmented reality headset into an oxygen mask. In the case of an emergency, the pilot uses the oxygen mask and is able to see the instruments via a connection to the HUD computer as well as the outside of the airplane through video cameras outside the cockpit. This should allow the pilot to continue the flight and land the airplane safely.
ODG AR Oxygen Mask
The device is still in prototype phase and is being shown at the International Air Transport Association’s Safety and Flight Ops show in Montreal, Canada April 17-19, 2018.
Analyst Comment
This is a very interesting development on several levels. First, this device could easily save lives in commercial applications as well as passenger planes. From this perspective, the cost of the device will be secondary to the potential savings. One plane with a significant number of passengers being saved from crashing would make up for all devices sold to every plane on this planet, not to count any cargo plane being saved by this device. According to the press release there are about 39,000 planes that could benefit from such a device.
On the other side, any kind of technology to be installed in an airplane has to go through a rigorous and lengthy approval process. Unfortunately, I am pretty sure that the pilots on my next flight will not be equipped with such technology. Nevertheless, they airline has my vote to adopt this quickly.
The other facet of this development is that ODG is going after such a small market opportunity. While 39,000 planes sounds like a lot, 39,000 AR headsets not so much. It shows that the AR industry is still far away from believing that a consumer mass market adoption will be possible any time soon. As a consequence, small companies like ODG need to focus on more obtainable applications that prove the viability of their technology. We have seen similar approached by other companies that focus on more commercial applications like logistics, education, visualization, etc. to sell at least limited quantities of their AR devices today. (NH)
Although Norbert thinks that 39,000 is not many headsets, CCS recently estimated that just 24,000 AR smartglasses were sold to industry last year, so 39,000 is quite a good number, today. (BR) (CCS Insight: Commercial Use of Smartglasses is “Disappointingly Low”)
