Honeywell [HON] officials said the Army will continue testing its advanced helmet visioning system to create a virtual line of sight on Bradley fighting vehicles, with potential interest in integrating the system as a component on its next-generation combat vehicle (NGCV).
Gerhard Schroter, senior business development manager for Honeywell Aerospace, told Defense Daily at last week’s Association of the United States Army (AUSA) conference the company has successfully demonstrated virtual imaging capabilities for manned-unmanned vehicle teaming and solved earlier perception issues to eliminate potential soldier nausea.
“We really want to get 360-degree situational awareness sensor fusion through this platform. This would be the delivery platform for that for the soldier. We demonstrated that we could integrate this into a vehicle for prototype and demonstration within a matter of months,” Schroter said.
Honeywell agreed to a developmental deal with the Army’s Tank Automotive Research, Development and Engineering Center (TARDEC) in February to test the system on Bradleys from July to September at Camp Grayling in Michigan. Further tests will take place this year, with dates to still be determined.
The Ground X-Vehicle Technologies (GXV) Helmet Mounted Display (HMD), developed by the company in partnership with DARPA, uses augmented and virtual reality technologies to create a full-view image for operators driving closed-hatch vehicles.
Honeywell has completed demonstrations with DARPA’s GXV-T test vehicle.
Schroter cited the soldier safety as the key aspect for the Army’s interest, and pointed to the potential of using robotic ground vehicles teamed up with manned vehicles to provide improved situational awareness for soldiers driving Bradleys or the future NGCV.
“You would have the manned fighting vehicle and then these two robotic combat vehicles out there. You’re actually then able through a beyond line of sight pipeline feed images back from what the robotic combat vehicles are seeing, just like we would do for a UAV operator. It puts the human in the loop for potentially those lethal killshots,” Schroter said.
The recent demonstrations also showcased the elimination of nausea with soldiers from lagging images and latency issues with earlier virtual systems the Army tested, according the Schroter.
“There is, I would say, some keen interest, in what we have out there. Specifically, because we’ve gone through enough testing with TARDEC so it gives it that credibility aspect. There are some competitors out there, but some of their struggles still are around combining that stable image and how do you eliminate that nausea,” Schroter said. “You get that natural vision feeling of how your brain perceives images.”
As the Army looks to ramp up its NGCV effort to replace its Bradleys with a future optionally manned fighting vehicle, Schroter said there is expected to be interest in acquiring virtual imaging displays to meet potential situational awareness requirements.
“I’m optimistic we can get there because we’ve demonstrated that it works. There are already prototypes in hardening. And we’re increasing capabilities from the soldier feedback,” Schroter said.
The next step for GXV HMD development will work toward increasing the system’s modularity to take on customizable icons and displays and blue force tracker technology.
“We solved the hard part, getting a stable platform and a stable system that then you could feed things into. So it’s like we’ve built the house and now we’re working to put the furniture in,” Schroter told Defense Daily.