Most Effective Capabilities of Head Mounted Displays for Dismounted Soldier Training Using Augmented Reality
(Room S320B)
28 Nov 17
2:30 PM
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3:00 PM
Within training, the Department of Defense (DoD) has a strong interest in augmented reality (AR) for its ability to combine live and virtual assets to reduce cost, increase safety, and to mitigate unavailability of needed live assets. During the past two years, a rapid increase of interest in AR for consumer use has spawned a multitude of innovations for head mounted displays (HMD). Increased fields of view (FOV), tetherless computing, integrated depth-sensing, external spatial audio, and simultaneous location and mapping (SLAM) are just a few features that have become a boon for military use, such as dismounted Soldier training. However, the usefulness of these features varies for the dismounted Soldier training use case. This paper examines features from nearly a dozen of today’s consumer AR HMDs and contrasts the tradeoffs required to reap their benefits. We evaluated these HMDs primarily against key tactics and skills required in ATP 3-21.8 ‘The Infantry Rifle Platoon and Squad’ doctrinal framework – specifically employing fires, offensive operations, defensive operations, and patrolling. Finally, this paper explores what features are missing or are suboptimal on these HMDs for dismounted Soldier training use.