QWAKE TECHNOLOGIES, LLC — Department of Defense SBIR Phase I: AF203-CSO1

Description

Air Force Special Operations Command (AFSOC) operators routinely perform high-altitude low-opening (HALO) and high-altitude high-opening (HAHO) jumps (Figure 1), some at night, to support special operations missions. Additionally, the U.S. Forest service routinely uses Smokejumpers to support U.S. firefighting activities. Maintaining situational awareness and accurate insertion into austere operating environments are a challenge for both of these activities. Thus, Qwake Technologies and RSA propose to develop a C-THRU FREEFALL: A Geospatial Augmented Reality AFSOC/Smokejumper Helmet to provide situational awareness during free-fall, canopy piloting, and landing activities. Together, they will analyze commercial satellite imagery to produce geospatial metrics, which will be transmitted to an augmented reality helmet to be worn by AFSOC parachutists and Smokejumpers. C-THRU FREEFALL is based on the existing C-THRU system that is currently being developed by firefighters to aid in navigating firefighting hazard zones by combining an augmented reality Head-Up Display (AR HUD), thermal imaging cameras (TICs), wireless network technologies, camera tracking, GPS localization, sensor fusion, and data collection.