GVA HMI - Human Machine Interface¶

The GVA HMI (gva-qt6-hmi) is the core display rendering application for DEF STAN 23-009 compliant military vehicle Human Machine Interfaces. It provides a fully functional display with all eight functional areas, DDS integration, and support for third-party external applications.

Overview¶

The GVA HMI application provides:

• DEF STAN 23-009 Compliance: Full implementation of GVA display layout and functional areas
• Eight Functional Areas: SA, WPN, DEF, SYS, DRV, STR, COM, BMS with dedicated screens
• DDS Integration: Real-time alarm display, registration services, and device management
• External App Support: Third-party applications can render to WPN, STR, and BMS screens
• Video Playback: Camera/video stream display on SA (Situational Awareness) screen
• Widget Rendering: Custom Qt widgets for PPI, vehicle status, speedometer, and more

Running the HMI¶

Basic Usage¶

# Start the HMI on default SA screen
./build/bin/gva-qt6-hmi

# Start on a specific functional area
./build/bin/gva-qt6-hmi --area=4    # Start on SYS screen
./build/bin/gva-qt6-hmi -a 5        # Start on DRV screen

# Play video on SA screen
./build/bin/gva-qt6-hmi /path/to/video.mp4

Command Line Options¶

Functional Areas¶

The HMI implements all eight GVA functional areas accessible via the control buttons:

SYS Screen¶

The System screen displays the vehicle status with an interactive 3D model and system information:

Keyboard Controls¶

Global Controls¶

Alarms View Controls¶

DRV Screen Controls¶

External Applications¶

The HMI supports third-party external applications on three extensible screens:

• WPN (F2) - Weapon system applications
• STR (F6) - Stores management applications
• BMS (F8) - Battlespace management / mapping applications

When no external application is connected, these screens display "Waiting for External Application".

Running with BMS¶

To run the HMI with the BMS (Battlespace Management System) external application:

# Terminal 1: Start the registry service
./build/bin/gva-qt6-registry --domain=0 &

# Terminal 2: Start the HMI
./build/bin/gva-qt6-hmi --area=8

# Terminal 3: Start the BMS application
./build/bin/gva-qt6-app-bms --domain=0

See the BMS Application documentation for more details.

Running with Shield Protocol¶

# Terminal 1: Start the registry service
./build/bin/gva-qt6-registry --domain=0 &

# Terminal 2: Start the HMI on WPN screen
./build/bin/gva-qt6-hmi --area=2

# Terminal 3: Start the Shield Protocol game
./build/bin/gva-qt6-app-shield-protocol --domain=0

See the Shield Protocol documentation for more details.

DDS Integration¶

The HMI integrates with the GVA DDS services for:

Alarms¶

Real-time alarm display from the GVA Alarm Service. Alarms are categorized by severity:

• Warning (Red) - Critical conditions requiring immediate attention
• Caution (Amber) - Important conditions requiring attention
• Advisory (Cyan) - Informational messages
• Override (Green) - System override status

The status bar displays alarm counts. Press A to view the full alarms table.

Registration¶

The HMI registers with the GVA Registry Service to:

• Announce itself as a display device
• Receive third-party session registrations
• Manage button label updates from external applications

Display Extension Service¶

External applications use the Display Extension Service to:

• Register their session with the HMI
• Stream rendered frames to extensible screens
• Receive touch/mouse events forwarded from the HMI
• Update soft key (bezel button) labels

Architecture¶

┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│                      GVA HMI Window                         │
├─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤
│  ┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐   │
│  │              Main Display Area                       │   │
│  │  ┌─────────────────────────────────────────────┐    │   │
│  │  │  Functional Area Content                     │    │   │
│  │  │  - SA: Video + PPI Widget                    │    │   │
│  │  │  - SYS: 3D Vehicle + Wheels Widget           │    │   │
│  │  │  - DRV: Camera + Speed/RPM Widgets           │    │   │
│  │  │  - BMS/WPN/STR: External App Frame           │    │   │
│  │  └─────────────────────────────────────────────┘    │   │
│  └─────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘   │
│  ┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐   │
│  │  Status Bar: DTG | Grid Ref | Heading | Alarms      │   │
│  └─────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘   │
│  ┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐   │
│  │  Function Keys (Bezel Buttons): F1-F20               │   │
│  └─────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘   │
└─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘

Building¶

The HMI is built as part of the main LDM SDK build:

cd build
cmake ..
make gva-qt6-hmi -j$(nproc)

Build Options¶

Related Documentation¶

• External Applications Service - DDS interface for third-party apps
• BMS Application - Example mapping application
• Shield Protocol - Example game application
• Functional Areas - Detailed functional area reference
• Widgets - HMI widget components