Android’s Future is so Bright, Soldiers Gotta Wear HMD’s

The Head/Helmet Mounted Display (HMD) has been around for a while now. We’ve all seen it in various configurations of the Army’s future warrior that they’ve been playing with for years. While the program names have changed and the systems have evolved, the HMD “monocular” seems to be ever present.

Recently I had the opportunity to talk with Steve and Clark of Vuzix, a company that develops Helmet Mounted Displays for the US Military. It was a great conversation. We talked about some of their products, how they enhance a soldiers’ capabilities as well as potential future applications of the technology. Oh, and I’m told they play well with Android.

Early in our conversation the guys at Vuzix were quick to point out that their displays solve three key problems related to handheld devices and we discussed a fourth later on.

Anyone that’s tried to view the screen on your handheld or tablet in bright daylight knows it can be difficult if not impossible to read at times. This is not a problem with the screen right in front of your eye.

Another issue at the opposite end of the spectrum is during night time operations, the screen can be too bright and illuminate you and your position. Again this problem is solved by the HMD.

Next we have situational awareness. It’s dificult to be scanning your sector for bad guys if your head is down looking at your device. The HMD allows you to keep an eye on the action while still being able to monitor data being fed to you by the computer.

Finally we have the problem of battery life on handhelds. The main draw on power for your device is typically the screen. By using the HMD with it’s own power source, that drain is cut down dramatically.

Now this isn’t to say these are the only problems solved by the HMD, but they’re the ones that usually jump right out at you when evaluating a handheld device for field use. That’s also not to say that the currently fielded HMD’s aren’t without their drawbacks. But when you start to study the technology and where it’s headed, the future looks bright.

TacEye LT with Controller and Computer

The model we’re most familiar is the TacEye LT. Basically a little black box that goes in front of the solders non-dominant eye. Inside is a high-contrast SVGA display that can feed images from a weapons sight, mobile device, unmanned surveillance platforms, virtually any video device. One of the problems with the current system is pretty obvious, you have a little black box obstructing the view from one of your eyes. Well the next gen TacEye aims to solve that problem.

TacEye ST See Through Monocular

Back in May Vuzix announced its next gen TacEye monocular, the TacEye ST, a see through augmented reality enabled monocular. This is a huge step forward not only in regards to situational awareness, it also adds a new dimension to the augmented reality (AR) capability in a soldiers tool box. According to their press release:

The Tac-Eye ST is a ruggedized monocular see-through head mounted display for defense, security, surveillance and industrial applications. Designed to clip-on  to safety glasses or helmets, the monocular display will improve the user’s situational awareness over current monocular models. Part of Vuzix’ Tac-Eye product line, the unit will also provide unprecedented connectivity,  connecting to any device with VGA or composite video out capability. The Tac Eye ST is a SVGA monocular with a 32-degree field of view (FOV).  It will ship with an optional tracker for full AR capability

AR is a potential game changer. Think of traditional map overlays, where you mark up a series of clear pieces of acetate and add or remove them over the map as needed. Well take this idea and project computer generated “overlays” across what you are looking at in real time, identifying various things like friendly units, suspected or known enemy positions, heading, distance to the objective, you name it.  You can play with a good example of this technology made for the civilian market and called Layar. By using GPS data and position sensors built into the HMD, the computer (Android powered device?) knows where you are and where you’re looking at and will feed the appropriate data to the screen. Pretty amazing stuff

Some other interesting uses may come with the integration of other sensors like cameras.  The individual may be able to do things like on the fly translation of text, weapons vehicle and other equipment identification, bio-metrics like facial recognition, download technical data to allow non-specialist personnel to conduct emergency repairs in the field. Aain the sky is the limit. In combined arms environments you may be able to get on the fly battle damage assessment predictions prior to initiating a strike on a target to help minimize collateral damage.

Obviously the key to AR being effective on the battlefield is to feed the soldier only the information he needs to conduct his mission and prevent information overload as well as limit distracting clutter on the screen.

Where are we heading...

The DoD certainly realizes the value of augmented reality and Vuzix was recently awarded a 1 million dollar research contract from DARPA for their Persistent Close Air Support (PCAS) Program which we understand is incorporating various aspects of the technology. The research can bring some really interesting advancements and if you think the EyeTac ST is cool, Vuzix has even more up their sleeve. They’re working with full goggle prototypes that will provide binocular data delivery that’s even more streamlined  and compact.

I want to thank Steve and Clark for taking the time to talk with us and look forward to seeing what the future holds for this technology and it’s integration with Android.

Check out their website at http://www.vuzix.com