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 and strategic capabilities 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
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Wearable individual helmets
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Adapted protocols for secure communication
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New protocols for interaction
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New training protocols
In addition, several strategic opportunities are also part of the problem. In the constant competition for superiority over a potential enemy, this is an important element of the problem assessment.
7. Visual communication:
- Exchange of digital position data for fast navigation
- Exchange of symbolic data for quick understanding
- Exchange of graphical information from drones and robots, a transmission of camera images to other units and participants
The location of positions and probable positions are success factors in tactical tasks. However, since the positions of friendly and enemy units can change unpredictably and very quickly, commanders do not always have complete and detailed information, especially for smaller units. It is important that each warrior in each squad group knows in advance what environment he will be in one hour. The most important thing is to be able to distinguish between friendly and enemy units before contact occurs. The concept of "friendly fire" should be abandoned. It is also important to support allied units that are suddenly ambushed and urgently need help from nearby units.
In order to report and receive the information for such navigation in real-time, it must be displayed exclusively in graphical form. It is even more convenient to have the navigation grid constantly in front of one's eyes without disturbing the overall view. The same applies to information collected not only by humans but also by drones. Part of the reconnaissance information must be processed in real-time and forwarded via common channels to
everyone within a certain radius.
- Enemy firing ranges
- Heat and smoke trails from missile trajectories with an estimation of launch positions
- Faces and objects from a distance
Modern computer vision systems are able to detect objects faster and better than humans by comparing them to previous images. Once an activity has been detected, the machines can analyze firearm flashes, aircraft trajectories, vehicle movements, and ballistic trajectories, as well as examine the heat and smoke trail of missiles in real-time and with high accuracy.
Neural networks can learn very quickly from a relevant data set. The more data, the more accurate the analysis. Progress with these technologies is measured in months, not years. As a rule, high image sharpness is not required for accurate recognition and the algorithms work efficiently even with images and videos of average quality.
Another area for recognition using computer vision is human faces. When patrolling and interacting with civilians, it is important to be able to recognize terrorists and enemy soldiers in civilian clothing. Emotion recognition capabilities are particularly noteworthy. Every human emotion has a wide range of gradations. Beyond that, however, it is usually important to evaluate the combination of emotions.
9. Noise filtering and detection for better orientation and observation
Human hearing is many times less informative than that of animals. At the same time, external microphones and bandpass filters have long been able to pick up and isolate individual sounds, even quiet ones. But this used to be the competence of sound engineers with good experience and developed hearing.
Neural networks are now quickly trained to recognize the right sounds and noises and transmit the results quickly. And it doesn't require much computing power. In practice, such super capabilities as part of a soldier's personal kit will enable even inexperienced personnel to perform reconnaissance tasks much more effectively.
9. Electronic management of tasks (automatic tracking, delegation, proof of completion)
Digitization has permeated all areas of human life. The military units are still lagging behind. The main obstacle is the working conditions of military personnel. They don't always work indoors, have dangerous environments, and don't use electronic devices as much as civilians. But the need and necessity are great. Do it all on the go with the augmented reality helmet, which features a graphical interface, voice-to-text conversion, hand gesture control, and the familiar joystick.
The next technology, which has long been used for civilian purposes, is auto-tracking. The system uses sensors to record the result itself and sends an automatic report on execution without requiring human intervention. This can be taking a position, suppressing enemy fire, leaving the firing zone, apprehending the enemy, recording patrol results, and many other tasks that will not require human intervention. Each soldier just needs to have a computer and turn it on.
10. Electronic ballistic calculation, aiming assistance and correction, instant exchange of enemy positions, and distributed target control
Ballistic calculations have been performed by specialists for decades. And for many sophisticated weapons, computer calculations have also been used for a long time. However, for soldiers not sitting in front of a fire control monitor, for small arms, including snipers, for machine gunners and grenade launchers, for mortar fire, ballistic calculation functions and aids in aiming as well as correction can be useful. Ballistic calculations often use more than 10 parameters, such as range, target location angle (sight line height), wind speed and direction, upward air flows, temperature, relative humidity, precipitation, altitude, barometric pressure, caliber, and type of ballistic projectile. In addition, there are a number of other factors that are rarely considered.
Since the calculation of distances over 400 meters is already a complex task, it is difficult to solve it simply in your head. It is common for professionals to be trained to use tables and correction tables. A computer algorithm makes it possible to use much more accurate results of numerical integration of a system of differential equations. Another task that can be done better with a high-tech assistant is aiming. When not shooting from a closed position, it is much easier for a person to use a digital laser pointer sight integrated into an augmented reality helmet. The shooter aims the laser's crosshairs at the target and, taking corrections into account, immediately sees the likely point of impact.
Business Model
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Market
Competition
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Competitive Advantage
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Financials
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Growth & Marketing
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Idea
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Legal
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Market
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Market Validation
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Product & Technology
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Roadmap
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Team
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Timing
Why hasn’t this worked before?
See also
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