FUTURE DEFINING

www.avinc.comCopyright © 2020 AeroVironment, Inc. - All rights reserved. AeroVironmentTM

Throughout human history, technology has shaped the battlefield. From longbows to rifles to tanks and missiles, those who have adopted new technologies have effectively enjoyed an advantage. The application of technologies such as unmanned systems to the battlefield is creating new concepts for combining humans and machines to deliver improved situational awareness and operational superiority. Manned and unmanned combat teams in the air and on the ground will work together in a rapid and dynamic environment to quickly and precisely hit their targets. Sensors will collect and analyze information at lightning speeds and then disseminate actionable data, seamlessly integrating robotic systems with humans.

AeroVironment plans to meet the challenges of the future with innovative technologies and superior capabilities that help our customers achieve their goals with unprecedented speed, autonomy, accuracy and certainty. As a technology solutions provider, we position ourselves at the intersection of future-defining capabilities that include robotics, sensors, software analytics and connectivity.

Augmented reality (AR) is a superior capability and could provide critical advantages

on tomorrow’s battlefield. AeroVironment’s Creative Director Stan Nowak and Industrial Designer Aharon Williamson are hard at work developing concepts to integrate AR technology with the company’s products.

After Microsoft began working with the U.S. Army on AR headsets (Microsoft created HoloLens) for soldiers in 2018, Nowak quickly concluded that the future state of AeroVironment’s command and control software could follow this same path.

“I wanted to be proactive, and I realized that this is the future of the battlefield – increased situational awareness and aircraft control through augmented reality,” said Nowak. “Once I had the idea, I enlisted Aharon’s help to take it further.”

Referring to the conceptual idea as “Battlefield AR,” Nowak and Williamson developed a PowerPoint presentation that identified AeroVironment’s proposed AR solutions for the soldier on the battlefield. With the assistance of Errol Farr, AeroVironment’s senior director of business development for domestic sales, the team scheduled a meeting with an Army customer in August 2019, and the response to the conceptual future state was positive, so they

moved forward. “The intent of Battlefield AR is to

conceptually present how Crysalis, our next generation user experience, could evolve and integrate with Microsoft HoloLens technology and Tactical Helmet Design for the purpose of utilizing augmented reality for command and control of unmanned systems on the battlefield,” stated Nowak.

Here’s how it works.

Through the use of a battlefield AR lens (shown in image below), a soldier can receive input from an aircraft and landscape sensors to enhance his or her situational awareness and control and navigate the aircraft.

Battlefield Augmented Reality (AR)AeroVironment Creates Conceptual Approach for Integrating Products with AR

By Alyce Moncourtois, Content Marketing

PROCEED WITH CERTAINTY

www.avinc.comCopyright © 2020 AeroVironment, Inc. - All rights reserved. AeroVironmentTM

In Case You Were Wondering

Stan Nowak’s history at AeroVironment gives him a unique perspective and inspiration for pursuing conceptual product initiatives. Nowak was hired in 2003 as a designer/drafter within the Product Engineering group. He designed and documented parts for Raven, Dragon Eye, Pointer and GCS. When he moved to Marketing in 2005, he used his knowledge and skills learned in engineering to develop a stronger connection to our customers.

As the conceptual design evolved, Nowak realized he was entering unchartered territory.

“While working through the concept and figuring out how it would work on the battlefield, I realized we had never discussed how to navigate an aircraft without a tablet — it all had to be done with hand gestures.”

They created hand signals that would direct the aircraft and its sensors (as shown in the image below).

“This concept really took us outside the box,” states Nowak. “It opens the pathway to develop new ways of interacting with our systems, such as gestural hand movements to navigate through an augmented reality user interface.”

The next step was to demonstrate a scenario where a soldier interacts with an AR

user interface. A vision of the user interface and hand gestures are shown in the image below.

According to Nowak, this project is a great example of a User Centric Design approach where “we request the needs, wants, and desires of our customers and fold that feedback into our product development process.” This approach removes any second-guessing of what the customer really wants.

The vision of AR enhanced situational awareness looks something like the image below. Sensors in the lens and information coming from the aircraft give the soldier a heightened look and clear path of what lies ahead.

Full implementation would require a custom integration of HoloLens technology with the soldier’s tactical helmet design and would involve research on size, weight, and power constraints. This vision is depicted in the image below.

Ultimately, Nowak would like to advance this conceptual work and create a pitch that lands a teaming arrangement with Microsoft and the Army on the future state of AR.

Image Credit: AeroVironment and Route 66