An innovative tool for assessing the impact of clusters defects on dot-matrix display cockpit symbology

This paper focuses on the development of a capability for assessing the impact of cluster defects on dot-matrix display font readability. Cluster defects consist of groups of two or more adjacent inoperative display picture elements. Determining the sizes and quantities of cluster defects that can be safely tolerated is a substantial task considering the large number of ways these defects can occur. The magnitude of this task is substantially reduced through the application of an update to a software product called FontTool. The first version of FontTool, an MS DOS based tool, addressed row and column dot-matrix display defects. The updated version described herein provides many of the extensions necessary to access the impact of cluster defects. Savings in display production and life cycle maintenance costs may be realized by applying this tool to design font characters that are more readable in the presence of cluster defects.