Catalogue No: | PM30405 |
---|---|
Picture Type: | Rochester Photo Negative |
Topic: | Camera / Recorder |
Title: | A-7 TRAM VCU covers off |
Platform(s): | A-7 Corsair |
Date: | 12 Mar 1975 |
Width (mm): | 127 |
Height (mm): | 102 |
Copies: | 1 |
Location: | Negatives Cabinet PM ("54/" Negs) [RAA Office] |
The Target Recognition and Attack Multisensor (TRAM) system was fitted to the A-7 Corsair to give a night vision display for target recognition at long range. This is the Video Conversion Unit (VCU) which converted cursively written symbology to the required video output format that allowed the HUD image to be recorded.along with the FLIR camera video.
The two tubes that can be seen at the side of the unit are each a form of storage tube (a type of cathode ray tube) which allowed the symbology to be wtritten as a stored charge image on the the tube's internal screen and then read out by scanning it with a raster pattern that matched the desired video format.
The operation of the two tubes were interleaved, so that when one was writing symbology the other was raster scanning the stored symbology image as a frame of video. At the end of the video frame, their roles would then swap for the next video frame to give continuous symbol-to-video conversion.