AIRCRAFT PANORAMIC DISPLAY

A panoramic display system for an aircraft comprising a display screen and line generation means for generating a line image on the display screen. The position of the line image on the display screen corresponds to the position of a projection of an artifact external to the aircraft onto an imaginary window to an eye point within the aircraft. The eye point is positioned on the opposite side of the window from the artifact. The line image may be generated by determining the position of a great circle on a sphere having its center at the eye point, such that the position of the great circle corresponds to the artifact projected onto the sphere to the eye point. The position of the line image on the display screen corresponds to the position of the great circle on the sphere.The display system may comprise a plurality of display screens positioned adjacent to one another such that each can be viewed from a single viewing point. Partial line images are generated on each display screen such that the position of each partial line image corresponds to the position of the projection of the artifact onto a window portion to the eye point. The eye point is common to all window portions, and the spatial relationship of the window portions with respect to one another is congruent with the spatial relationsship of the display screens with respect to one another.