CHARLES RIVER ANALYTICS, INC. — Department of Defense SBIR Phase II: A16-038

Description

In recent years, Augmented Reality (AR) technologies have seen more prolific application across a range of domains (e.g., maintenance, architecture, gaming, social interaction, navigation). To date, however, no AR approaches have been developed to support Mission Command (MC), despite the importance of MC to all Army missions. To apply AR in support of MC, Charles River Analytics conducted a Phase I effort to research, define requirements, and design and develop an approach for prototyping Mission Command Augmented Reality Technologies to enhance Human User Readiness (MCARTHUR). Under this Phase I effort, we first conducted a scoped AR Trade Study to analyze the readiness, gaps, and opportunities of COTS/GOTS AR technologies. Second, we developed a prototype AR Human-Computer Interaction (HCI) Prototyping Suite designed to support rapid generation of experimental AR information displays and interaction techniques. Third, we executed a limited MC Work Domain Analysis to identify salient opportunities for AR to impact MC. In Phase II, we will extend the AR HCI Prototyping Suite and use it to execute targeted empirical studies, which, in turn, will inform the design, implementation, and validation of AR capabilities to enhance Commander and staff situation awareness in MC.