Friday, August 3, 2018

How Augmented Reality Military Helps The Army

By Jerry Burns


Presently, several industries hoping to expand with technology have begun working on the idea of augmented reality. Unlike virtual reality that totally shifts the perception of users and their surroundings, augmented reality only builds around the actual real life setting that a user is in. Augmented reality military, marketing, medicine, video games, social media, and television include the long list of industries that are taking advantage of the applications of AR.

One common application of AR that most people recognize is the photo filter. When a person takes a photo with a social media application, different animations like glasses, dog ears, or hearts pop up as if they were actually in the background when the person took the photo. Apart from photo filters, other applications of AR also enhance medical procedures, marketing and promotion, and training exercises.

One of the most helpful functions of AR is providing real life simulations of war for soldiers and military personnel during their training exercises. Before soldiers can be deployed, they first have to go through rigorous training. This training involves lots of physical exercises, endurance tests, aiming at targets, and team competitions.

Obviously, these exercises do not come close to what they are about to experience in battle. A million stories can be told about bullets ricocheting everywhere or bombs exploding a few feet away, but these are only stories incapable of replicating the actual events. The closest they can come to an actual battle is through augmented reality.

The military has been trying to come up with augmented reality interfaces for years. The first applications of AR for troops were used in flight training where map overlays of satellite tracks were relayed to fighter pilots. Today, wearable equipment like glasses and headsets that will provide key information involving parameters and movements of allied troops and enemy forces are currently in development.

Vital information can be relayed without shrouding the vision of ground troops so they can maintain awareness of their physical environment while processing important data. Even military vehicles can be installed with AR. Troops inside tanks can go to sensitive locations and brace for impact ahead of time if the software detects any bombs nearby. They can also control the tank from inside without ever opening the top cover and leaving them exposed to grenades or gunfire.

The HUD serves as the first ever augmented reality system available for testing in 2019 by the U. S. Army. The HUD features a system mounted onto a helmet that projects technical information onto the perspective of the soldier. Even under stressful situations, soldiers can determine their exact location and even the rest of the unit, as well as, enemy troops.

This can allow teams to carefully plan out strategies and carry them out swiftly during combat. Nighttime operations can also benefit from this technology. The arrangements of the data presented as well as the toughness of the display are some of the concerns still being addressed.

Scientific research and funding are currently being pumped out to improve further applications of AR in the military or elsewhere. While many people like to point out the cons of technology, they fail to realize how much it has enhanced all aspects of all industries. In fact, it is rather a great privilege to look forward to a future with advanced technology in it.




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