Synthetic Vision Systems (SVS) generate and present a realistic and intuitive simulated view (the SVS scene) of the world outside of a vehicle, such as an aircraft, a tank, an automobile, a boat, or a submarine. SVS provide the operators of vehicles, such as the pilots of aircraft, with clear and intuitive means of understanding their operating environment. By providing a clear and intuitive means of understanding an operating environment, SVS contribute to situational awareness. Situational awareness is the mental representation and understanding of objects, environmental conditions, and other situation-specific factors affecting human performance in complex and dynamic tasks. Increasing situational awareness for the operator of a vehicle increases operator performance and reduces operator error.
The SVS scene is typically generated utilizing terrain, obstacle, geo-political, hydrological and other databases. The terrain displayed in the SVS scene is drawn utilizing a fixed field of view (FOV). A FOV is the angular extent of the observable world that is seen at any given moment. The FOV of the SVS scene is drawn to be conformal to the real world. By drawing the SVS scene including a FOV which is conformal to the real world, the operator of a vehicle is able to observe a simulated view of the world outside of a vehicle which would be observable through a window in the vehicle, even when conditions such as hazardous weather obscure visibility or when a window is not available, feasible, or desirable.