Public:ARHUDFM FAQ
Augmented Reality Head-Up Display Fullface Mask (ARHUDFM)
Frequently Asked Questions
Problem
Deficiencies of the human systems used in the U.S. and German armed forces and in NATO: a distributed communication between units and between all soldiers, orientation and navigation considering fast dynamic environmental factors, the effect on concentration when performing multiple simultaneous actions, disadvantages of portable wearable devices, a lack of important additional electronic functions, a high cost of modern equipment.
Several problems at once.
1. Distributed communication between units and between all soldiers:
- Quality of communication
- Voice communication with the enemy at a distance
- Encryption
- Simultaneous communication through multiple channels
- Accuracy of information and communication
- Duration of communication sessions
As a rule, the commanders of the individual units have digital remote communication devices with encryption algorithms. However, most of those involved have simpler radios that are suppressed by electronic warfare or suffer interference in terrain with terrain elevation changes. In addition, if the unit is performing tasks in small groups, it lacks communications with other command centers, much less other domains. Voice information is exchanged through nodes, which slows down communication considerably. An important point is certainly the fact that voice communication between NATO units from different countries encounters language barriers.
The solution is a software-defined radio (SDR) embedded in an augmented reality mask that operates flexibly on an extended frequency spectrum and broadband with multiple protocols and with less transmit power. The result is less interference with others and communication errors, more workarounds for radio jamming, and increased transmission range. Multi-channel one-to-many communication shortens the duration of sessions and the speed of data exchange, especially for short text and character messages, graphics and GPS position exchange. This improves communication and coordination many times over.
Loud communication with the enemy or the population by each fighter avoids misunderstandings.
2. Orientation and navigation considering fast dynamic environmental factors:
- Friend-or-foe system
- Speed of map reading and positioning
- Exchange of positions within the same unit and especially during inter-domain interaction
- Capture of enemy fire positions and missile launch positions, approach to distant objects, and object recognition
The friend-or-foe system is still a prospective system for all Alliance countries and is not yet widely used. It is not effective without the use of augmented reality technologies. Another problem is the need for rapid target acquisition in the field and real-time navigation with the ability to see the positions of friendly units and vehicles, as well as captured fire positions and enemy movements, detect heat and smoke trails, and distinguish
between civilians. This requires receiving data from the drone and from other friendly units.
The navigation grid should show not only the landscape but also the distance and movement path of friendly and enemy positions, their numbers, and identification codes for communication. The optical ability to zoom in on distant objects, object recognition using computer vision and identification with satellite imagery or electronic maps and day and night thermographic vision combined with optical and infrared spectral vision must be available at all times.
It is important that soldiers are not distracted by these tasks and do not lose sight of their surroundings while using other equipment (navigation device, tablet PC, map, binoculars, rangefinder, thermal imaging camera, radio, and night vision device). All devices should be integrated and not interfere with observation.
3. The effect on concentration when performing multiple simultaneous actions:
- Observation, detection and approval
- Execution of the combat task
- Delegating the task to another
- Ballistic measurement and target setting
- Reporting the execution of the task
- Monitoring the execution of the task by others
- Screen view, text input
It is rare for a human to be able to provide two or more thought processes at the same time. For this reason, Air Force pilots have long used the head-up display to show important navigation parameters and target data. Progress and new possibilities overwhelm a person's cognitive abilities. In every domain, including sea and land, the military first conducts surveillance. Immediately upon detection, they must decide if data needs to be shared or if the electronic system needs to take care of it by providing updates to others. If the information is important, confirmation of data sharing should be obtained and possibly coordinated with others.
Whether a combat task must be delegated to or by others, or the decision has been made to perform it oneself, a very simple, clear, and immediate protocol for coordination is required. And an equally simple and concise confirmation of the established outcome. One solution is the use of voice control, auto-tracking, and data exchange via radio communication with symbols, graphics, and written codes.
Another important task that overtaxes a person's cognitive abilities is calculating ballistic parameters and aiming. It does not matter whether the weapon is a handgun, a mortar or an artillery piece. The computer calculates 7 to 12 parameters in milliseconds, often with pre-positioning and corrections, saving time and ammunition.
4. Disadvantages of portable devices:
- Dimensions and weight
- Lack of comfort during prolonged wear (pressure on head and face, fogging of goggles and visor, insufficient ventilation of head and face, battery charge)
- Wired communication between devices on the head, back, waist, and chest
- Visibility to the enemy when using glow screens at night
- Lack of integration of the different systems - respirator, face shield, night vision, drinking system, voice communication - into each other
Several different electronic devices must be combined into one, and in doing so, weight and dimensions must be reduced, and freedom of movement must not be restricted. Cables that disturb and endanger the soldier must be inside the devices. High-strength materials and component resistance to water, dust, heat, cold, shock, and vibration should enable the performance of all combat missions. When wearing the device for extended periods, the comfort of the wearer must be ensured. This includes easy breathing through the mask for more than 24 hours, sufficient ventilation of the head and face, and pressure on the soft tissues of the head that does not affect the blood supply. The visor must be protected against fogging. The operating time with a single battery must be more than 24 hours. A drinking system must be built into the mask. The mask must have a ballistic helmet suspension system that can be easily attached and removed with one hand.
The soldier must not be visible at night because of the glowing screen. During the day, the visor must not dazzle in the sun. An important technical solution for the modern soldier's equipment is also the integration of respiratory protection, face protection, visual protection, an integrated drinking system, night vision, and all kinds of communication. In this way, it is equipped for combat operations in different environments and under different threats for long periods of time.
5. Lack of important additional electronic functions:
- Written encrypted communication
- Silent voice communication (acoustic voice isolation)
- Real-time transmission and viewing of images from the drone or robot on each participant's screen
- Transmission and viewing of images from external devices outside the body contour
6. High cost of modern equipment:
- Night vision and night vision scope
- Thermographic sight
- Optical binoculars and close combat optics
- Radio with encrypted voice transmission
- Navigation device and compass
- Respiratory protection, face protection and hearing protection
- Helmet and body protection
- Uniforms, footwear, equipment, ammunition
- Armament and first aid equipment
Key factors for Cross-Domain Interaction (CDI)
So the main factors for the CDI concept should be -
- A multiplication of communication through secure communication protocols, not through increased voice communication, but through the exchange of digital data about positions, events, tasks, and execution reports. Primarily written, symbolic, and graphical data that requires less traffic is more objective and understandable in a multilingual environment and is more easily processed by machines, including artificial intelligence (AI).
- The role of a tactical unit commander should not include the role of a communications center. They can focus more on unit coordination. Communication hubs are now machines.
- On the other hand, by following AGILE principles, each combatant, without having to expend additional forces, will not only be able to be a valuable source of data for all levels of command, but also, based on a broader range of processed objective information from other sources, including drones, satellites, and radars, presented in concise form, will be able to make more effective decisions independently without waiting for unnecessary approvals.
- The split between multichannel and machine processing will reduce channel congestion problems and increase the speed of exchanges and decision-making.
- In addition, the fighter's local cognitive superpowers, which are also processed by machines, will enable them to see, hear, and recognize what was previously inaccessible to most people at a lower level. This enables an immediate response both to themselves and to other participants in the same domain and in other domains.
The development of such Cross-Domain Solutions requires:
- Wearable individual helmets with head-up display, sensors, computing modules, SDR, and WLAN
- Adapted protocols for secure multi-channel communication
- New protocols for interaction and decision-making at all levels in various domains, including AI algorithms for big data analysis
- New training protocols for fighters, gunners, technicians, engineers, pilots and commanders using virtualization technology
Business Model
Answer.
Answer.
How will you make money? How much does customer acquisition cost? How many users are paying?
Market
Competition
What competition do you fear most? Who are your competitors? Who might become competitors? Why won’t a huge corporation build something like this? Compared to your competition, how do you compete with respect to price, features, and performance? What are the barriers to entry?
Competitive Advantage
What do you understand that others don’t? What’s new about what you make? Why isn’t someone already doing this? What, exactly, makes you different from existing options? What are the key things about your field that outsiders don’t understand? What do you know about this space/product others don’t know? How is your product different?
Customer
What are the top things users want? Who needs what you’re making? Who would use your product? What resistance will customers have to trying you and how will you overcome it? How are you meeting customers? How are you understanding customer needs? What do you understand about your users? Who is going to be your first paying customer? How do you know customers need what you are building? What makes new users try you? Why do the reluctant ones hold back?
Financials
What is your burn rate? What are the company’s three-year projections? What are the key assumptions underlying your projections? What future equity or debt financing will be necessary? How much of a stock option pool is being set aside for employees? When will the company get to profitability? How much burn will occur until the company gets to profitability? What are your unit economics? What are the factors that limit faster growth? What are the key metrics that the management team focuses on?
Fundraising
Have you raised funding? How much equity and debt has the company raised; what is the capitalization structure? How long can you go before funding? How much is your company valued at? Do you prefer debt or equity? How much is being raised in this round? What is the company’s desired pre-money valuation? Will existing investors participate in the round? What is the planned use of proceeds from this round? What milestones will the financing get you to?
Growth & Marketing
Why do the reluctant users hold back? Where do new users come from? How many users do you have? How will customers and/or users find out about you? What is your distribution strategy? What is your user growth rate? What is your growth like? What makes new users try you? What’s the conversion rate? How much does customer acquisition cost? How do you define success for you and your company? What is the projected lifetime value of a customer? What advertising will you be doing? What is the typical sales cycle between initial customer contact and closing of a sale?
Idea
So, what are you working on? Why did you pick this idea to work on? Are you open to changing your idea? Someone just showed us an idea like this right before you guys. I don’t like it. What else do you have? Have you considered various mutations of your idea?
Legal
Have you incorporated, or formed any legal entity (like an LLC) yet? What kind of entity and in what state or country was the entity formed? Will you reincorporate as a US company? Please describe the breakdown of the equity ownership in percentages among the founders, employees, and any other stockholders. Are any of the founders covered by noncompetes or intellectual property agreements that overlap with your project? Who writes code, or does other technical work on your product? Was any of it done by a non-founder? Is there anything else we should know about your company? What key intellectual property does the company have (patents, patents pending, copyrights, trade secrets, trademarks, domain names)? What comfort do you have that the company’s intellectual property does not violate the rights of a third party? How was the company’s intellectual property developed? Would any prior employers of a team member have a potential claim to the company’s intellectual property?
Market
Who needs what you’re making? How big of an opportunity is there? If your startup succeeds, what additional areas might you be able to expand into? How much money could you make in one year (in 5 years)?
Market Validation
How do you know customers need what you’re making? How do you know people want this? What part of your project are you going to build first?
Product & Technology
What is the next step in product evolution? How does your product work in more detail? What’s the conversion rate? What has surprised you about user behavior? How is your product different? What is rocket science here? What are the major product milestones? What are the key differentiated features of your product or service? What have you learned from early versions of the product or service? Provide a demonstration of the product or service. What are the two or three key features you plan to add?
Recruiting
Who would be your next hire? Who would you hire or how would you add to your team? How many employees do you have?
Roadmap
What are you going to do next? Six months from now, what’s going to be your biggest problem?
Team
Who is “the boss”? Will your team stick at this? How did your team meet? Who in your team does what? What domain expertise do you have? Why did your team get together? In what ways are you resourceful? Would you relocate to X? What will you do if we don’t fund you? How do we know your team will stick together?
Team Experience
What else have you created together? What’s the worst thing that has happened? What’s an impressive thing you have done? Tell us something surprising you have done? What problems/hurdles are you anticipating? What obstacles will you face and how will you overcome them? What’s the funniest thing that has happened to you? What systems have you hacked? What’s the biggest mistake you have made? Tell us about a tough problem you solved? What’s the funniest thing that has happened to you?
Timing
Why hasn’t this worked before?
See also
Answer.
References
- 7-min pitch
- Pitch Deck for Business Angels
- Calculations
- Business Processes Flowchart
- Production Scheme