Soldier Targeting Goggles “Augment” Human 3-D Vision Tracking

Video: Networked Army Radar Destroys 2 Maneuvering Cruise Missiles

byKris Osborn– Warrior Maven

(Washington D.C.) Imagine this land-war scenario: An enemy fighter is several hundred yards away, another is attacking from one mile while yet third fires from a nearby room in a close-quarters urban warfare circumstance, when U.S. Army soldiers apprehend, integrate, and quickly map the locations of multiple targets at once in 3D, all while knowing the range and distance of the enemy forces.

How could something like this be possible, one might wonder, given the nuances in perspective, range, navigational circumstances and the limitations of a human eye?

These complexities form the conceptual basis upon which the Army is fast-tracking its Integrated Visual Augmentation System (IVAS), soldier-worn combat goggle engineered with advanced sensors able to overcome some of the limitations of human vision and quickly organize target data.

“We take all soldiers who have IVAS and turn them into a sensor collecting data to share with a greater network. The screen can chart a path and tell you where a reported adversary is. You can see through heat and augment existing light,” Gen. Joseph Martin, Vice Chief of Staff of the Army, told an audience during an event at the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies. “If you have been dismounted, you know it can be lonely. You want to have a link to your fellow soldiers. This is what IVAS is delivering to our formation.”

Martin explained that the IVAS system is being quickly improved and upgraded with new software by virtue of a “soldier touchpoint” collaborative process wherein soldiers exercise with the goggle and offer feedback to developers.