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Army wants fused 3-D imagery for aviators

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An MQ-9 remotely piloted aircraft operated by the New York Air National Guard’s 174th Attack Wing takes to the air from the runway at Syracuse Hancock International Airport in Syracuse, N.Y. on Wednesday, Dec. 16, 2015. This was the first time a military RPA operated from an air field used by both military and civilian aircraft. Hancock Field Air National Guard Base, the home of the 174th shares the field with the commercial airport. Until now, the wing has only flown its MQ-9 Reaper aircraft from Wheeler Sack Army Airfield at Fort Drum, N.Y. (U.S. Army National Guard photo by Master Sgt. Raymond Drumsta/Released)

The Army wants to fuse 3-D imagery to enable its aviators to control manned and unmanned aircraft.

The goal is to help UAV operators as they “transition from their current roles actively piloting vehicles to serve instead as Mission Commanders (MC) supervising highly intelligent autonomous systems,” according to the Army Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) solicitation.

So tThe Army wants to fuse imagery from multiple sensors into a single 3-D view that can display flight paths, line-of-sight and weapon ranges. “The resulting three-dimensional database will be presented to the MC utilizing existing display hardware, such as a panel-mounted display or a stereoscopic head-mounted display (HMD) such as the Microsoft HoloLens,” said the Army, which describes the concept as a virtual “sand table.”

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Michael Peck is a correspondent for Defense News and a columnist for the Center for European Policy Analysis. He holds an M.A. in political science from Rutgers University. Find him at theuncommondefense.com. His email is mikedefense1@gmail.com.