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1. Cover Sheet (Appendix A)

2. Project Summary (Appendix B)

A remote-sighting device connected to a soldier carried weapon could protect the soldier from combat dangers. Being able to point the weapon accurately without placing one’s head in a compromised location could greatly increase the safety to soldiers. It will also allow them to fire or return fire in instances where they normally would stay behind safety barriers. This aimed fire should be significantly more effective than unaimed, blind suppressive fire. A scope and miniature camera device will be attached to the weapon. A flip-up monocle display will be used to present the image to the soldier.

3. Identification & Significance

Overview Iron sights, military grade optical and night vision scopes have been designed and used effectively on military weapons. However, the use of them all requires the soldier to place his head in an exposed position. An accurate sighting system that allows for the soldier’s body, and most significantly his head, to reside behind the protection of a wall or foxhole would be a very useful addition to improve the safety and effectiveness of soldiers. An optical and/or night vision scope will be the front end of the system with miniature camera attached to it. This scope/camera combination need not be mounted on top the weapon as standard because the ergonomics of lining up with the soldier’s eye would be achieved via remote sighting. It could be located, as on an M16 M203 Grenade launcher, under the barrel out of the way or even integral in the hand guard under or beside the gas return. The flexibility of where to mount the system is now quite open. However, we will make the prototype attach to the top of a standard M16 scope rail for comparisons.

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Schematic, abbreviated, of Remote Sighting System

OICW Optical/Electronic Rifle

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Many technologies put into the rigors of the field tend not to perform as well as predicted from laboratory tests. Much effort will be put into the practical side of a rugged and unobtrusive display system for the soldier. The display for the soldier will be a monocle device with a miniature, flip-up display. Ruggedness and unobtrusiveness will a large thrust of the design effort.

Detail

Scope Two scopes will be used to test the effectiveness of the system. An ITT night vision scope will be used as the night vision core while a Colt Industries standard optical scope will be used as the core for daytime viewing. Experimentation on the magnification powers of the scope required to resolve and identify a human sized object at different distances with the pixel limitation of the camera and Head Mounted Display (HMD) will also be performed. The camera used will be a miniature, high-resolution remote head system. No camera can match the resolution of the human eye; however, CCD cameras without IR filters can see in the shorter wavelength of the IR band. This should aid the soldier in spotting targets in dimly lit areas. For nighttime use, a night vision scope will be swapped in which a high-resolution black and white camera will be integrated . A cable will need to be connected between the weapon and the soldier. Even though a wireless system is possible, especially with the short range of less than a meter from transmitter (scope) to receiver (HMD). The scope of the Phase I research precludes this implementation. As tests have shown ruggedized electronics for soldier combat use can be made to withstand the riggers inflicted in these severe environments. The Objective Individual Combat Weapon (OICW) project is an example of a highly integrated optical/electronic system successfully integrated into a combat rifle.1

HMD Full, binocular HMDs are not popular with soldiers in the field and for good reason: soldier’s trust their eyes and an HMD that gives a comparatively low resolution images by blinding both eyes is unacceptable in combat. Full stereo night vision goggles are used when it actually does increase the capability of seeing what the naked eye cannot. Pilots augment targeting information on optical see-through HMDs and this is acceptable for it allows the real world at eye resolution to come through.

1 AAI Corporation’s Defense Systems Objective Individual Combat Weapon

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OICW Electronic Ranging Scope

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The display for the soldier would be a non-see-through monocle HMD. Of all the HMD cores available, two displays currently fit the required parameters of light-weight, rugged and low power. These are offerings from Kaiser Electroptics and from Displaytech. Kaiser uses transmissive LCDs and Displaytech uses Ferro Reflective LCDs that require less than a watt for the entire 640x480 full color display engine. Our researchers have been involved with the design and building of almost 1 dozen different HMDs and purchased and modified more. At the time of this proposal writing, these two systems seemed the most appropriate considering the time constraints of a Phase I restricting the possibility of designing one from scratch. Other display engines are being introduced and may be more appropriate by the time of actual Phase I or II work and they will be investigated.

Integration Battery power will be required for both the camera and HMD display. This will be provided locally or located on a small pack on the soldier for the Phase I prototype where strong effort will be on the implementation. A small pack for the display electronic will need to be carried on the soldier, in backpack, on helmet, or belt, and the batteries for the low power display will be kept here. Communication for the prototype will be by a cable between the weapon and the soldier’s waist. Information on the adaptability for a very short range (1 meter) wireless transmitter will be addressed in the report but will not be implemented on the Phase I prototype. Phase II will implement and build a very low power wireless communication link between the weapon and soldier for better mobility. The prototype remote sighting system will be designed to attach to the scope rail of a standard M16/AR15. However, a discussion will be included about future versions evaluating the benefits of mounting the scope/imaging system at other locations on the weapon system such as under the barrel or even integrated into the hand guard.

4. Phase I Technical Objectives

The overall objective of the proposal is to develop an effective remote viewing scope system for a soldier portable weapon system. The specific objectives of the program can be enumerated as follows:

1.Calculate optimum target recognition with available pixels in camera/display and determine optimal magnifications for scopes versus distances. 2.Modify and adapt a miniature CCD camera onto an military grade optical scope and night vision scope. Special modifications will be made to the camera to withstand the high G loads from weapons fire. 3.Identify most appropriate display engine for monocle HMD. 4.Build flip up HMD to withstand the rigors of in the field soldiers.

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Electronic Scope Mounting Location

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5.Integrate the electronics into a small unit capable of being clipped onto a belt or placed into a pocket on a backpack. 6.Evaluate prototype remote viewing system on M16/AR15 weapon system.

5. Phase I Work Plan

5.1 Task I In this task, evaluation of the latest HMD display technologies and HMDs will be evaluated and tested for the most appropriate for the Remote Sighting System. Ergonomics and ease-of-use will be included in the evaluation and selection process. Additionally, night vision and optical scopes will be evaluated for their adaptability to the high resolution video camera and special optics required for the remote scope (electronic scope). It is anticipated that a semi-custom optic or lens set will be needed between the two apparatuses. Methods to reduce the possible lag generated from frame grabbers used in HMDs display engines and the video camera will be explored. A single frame adds 33ms of lag and a two frame delay could cause aiming problems from the feedback delay, or swimming. It is anticipated that the single frame delay in the proposed system will cause little, if any performance degradation. Currently, the use of a Pulnix progressive scan, remote head camera (IK-7XD) seems to be the best choice. Other models and manufactures will be reinvestigated when research is initiated. The use of progressive scan will avoid blurry or “teared” images from the movement of the weapon. Additionally, the frame rate is a full 60 frames/sec. instead of an interlaced 30 frames/sec.

5.2 Task II This task will involve the integration of the parts including the remote battery pack and electronics. The scope and HMD will be ruggedized to withstand the rigors of the field. However, the remote electronics may not be fully ruggedized because the board may need to be relayed out which is beyond the scope of this Phase I. Testing will also be in Task II. The electronic scope will be attached to an AR15 on the standard scope rail. The HMD will be tested with the video output from the electronic scope to the belt or fanny pack electronics. Accuracy and ergonomics using the Remote Sighting System will be evaluated between standard, military scope, iron sights and the Remote Sighting System.

5.3 Reporting Several items will be included in the final report for this Phase I evaluation. First will be the evaluations of applicable components and their comparable specifications for the Phase I unit:

Head Mounted Displays (resolution, weight, power requirements, ruggedness, etc.) Miniature Cameras (Color/mono versions, pixel count, light levels, ruggedness, etc.) Scopes (Night vision & Optical, size, weight, image quality, linearity, etc.)

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Discussion of design methods and custom parts needed to build unit, along with drawings. Test evaluation between scope, iron sights and Remote Sighting System. Discussion of the advantages and disadvantages of built system. An overall discussion will be presented about the perceived usefulness of the Remote Sighting System. What we found to work well; what needs improvement; what should be rethought; and what worked better than expected.

Discussion topics towards Phase II transition: Wireless communication between electronic scope and HMD. This will include

discussion on power levels, signaling strategies and other implementation issues Discussion on relative effective distance on target recognition with pixel limited

imagers (use of zoomable scopes may increase useability beyond short range for rifles).

Interim progress reports will be submitted to the Program Monitor.

6. RELATED WORK The senior engineer has six years experience in the design and implementation of HMDs and their uses including the world’s smallest video see through. The same miniaturization approach (although with newer technology) will be used in the design of the Remote Weapon Sighting System. A stereo version of a previously designed full VGA display is shown to the right. Three previous designs of miniature monocular displays are shown below. However, we will use a modified commercial unit for this application to speed up development time. Other work related directly to the Remote Sighting System is a project performed by Arun Neelamkavil and Kurtis Keller in the design and build of a virtual shotgun2 at the University of North Carolina Computer Science Department. This non-firing weapon had the addition of an optical tracker along with the immersive HMD. The weapon and its sights were calibrated to each other and replicated virtually in the HMD. The wearer was able to aim and fire the shotgun accurately all from inside the HMD. The optical tracker was also designed by a UNC team with Kurtis Keller designing the compact optical mounts, mechanicals and design miniaturization of the system3. This system is shown below:2 http://www.cs.unc.edu/~keller/Tracker/shotgun2.html3 http://www.cs.unc.edu/~tracker/

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Stereo Flip-up HMD

Three Miniature Monocular Displays

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The camera matched to the optical system will need to be modified and ruggedized to meet the high G load pulses that a rifle or other weapon system will produce. Kurtis Keller designed the military grade computer board ruggedization techniques used by Matrix Corporation along with computer enclosures designed for military helicopter and submarines (depth charge tests). Some of these ruggedization techniques will be applied to the Remote Sensing Weapons System components.

7. RELATIONSHIP WITH FUTURE RESEARCH OR RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT

Remote sighting of weapon systems will offer greater safety for the individual soldier and should improve the accuracy of suppression and aimed type firing. The proposed Phase I work will determine feasibility of the proposed systems, evaluate the state of the art of components available, and make and build a real system and evaluate it on a real weapon system. This information will lead directly into Phase II designs for a more combat acceptable package with further miniaturization, increased ruggedness and wireless design.

8. POTENTIAL POST APPLICATIONS The use of a Remote Sighting Weapons System will not only be useful for soldiers in combat situations but also to the law enforcement community. The advantages to having a remote camera connected to their weapon when peering through windows or doors when serving warrants will allow the officer(s) to scan the room before entering and if trouble does arise, they are still protected behind a wall with their weapon aimable onto the subject.

9. KEY PERSONNELKURTIS KELLER Senior Research Engineer

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Virtual Shotgun with Optical Tracker

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Education:BS Mechanical Engineering, North Carolina State UniversityMS Integrated Mfg. Systems Engineering, North Carolina State University

WORK EXPERIENCE1983 – 1984 President, Kwest Robotics Incorporated, Mebane, NC. 1984 – 1987 Machining, CNC programming, Kamtec Incorporated, Mebane, NC, Summers.1988 – 1992 Mechanical Engineer, Matrix Corporation, Raleigh North Carolina.1992 – present Research Engineer, Microelectronic Systems Laboratory, Department of

Computer Science, University of North Carolina Chapel Hill.1997 – present Senior Research Engineer / board member, Duval Research Inc. North Carolina.

RELATED WORK PROJECTS

1997 - present Ultrasound. Designed mounts and apparatus for ultrasound registration for 3D realtime display of breast biopsies including co-design of video see-through HMD (head mounted display).

1997 - present Laproscopic Surgery. Designed hardware for structured light 3D laproscopic imaging.

1997 -present Multiview. Designed multi-camera 180o FOV shared nodal point camera system.

1993 - 1997 Head Mounted Displays. Designer and co-designer of 5 HMDs including optical and video see-through and 12 display Very WFOV Kaiser HMD.

1993 - 1995 UNC Ceiling Tracker. PC design, layout and mechanical design of world’s largest accurate virtual/augmented reality tracker.

JOSEPH DAVIS Senior Researcher

Education:BS Mechanical Engineering, North Carolina State UniversityMS Industrial Engineering, North Carolina State UniversityPhD Industrial Engineering (ergonomics) , North Carolina State University

WORK EXPERIENCE

1978 – 1992 Industrial/ergonomics engineer and manager of International Business Machines (IBM) Advanced Manufacturing Engineering Department for the development and implementation of strategic technologies for the production of computer products. IBM Corporation Research Triangle Park (RTP), NC

1992 – 1995 Consultant Ergonomist/Engineer, Graduate Research Assistant, Ergonomic Engineering Inc. & Ergonomics Laboratory Raleigh, NC North Carolina State University

1995 – present Industrial Ergonomist/Engineer, Industrial Extension Service, North Carolina State University

1996 – present Adjunct researcher, Duval Research Inc. Hubert, NC

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PATENTSErgonomic Tool Handle U. S. Patent Application 29/059,086 filed 9/3/96 and scheduled to be issued 6/30/98.

PROFESSIONAL REGISTRATIONS

1982 - Tested/registered as Professional Engineer (PE), North Carolina registration #11016

1994 - Board certified as Certified Professional Ergonomist (CPE), USA registration #254

1995 - Tested/certified as Certified Safety Professional (CSP), USA registration #13262

ROBERT A. KELLER CFO

WORK EXPERIENCE1974 – 1979 Purchasing Manager, 1979 – 1982 Purchasing Manager, C & K Inc. Burlington, NC. 1983 – 1996 President, Kamtec Inc. Mebane, NC.1998 – 1996 CFO, Duval Research Inc. Hubert, NC

10. FACILITIES/EQUIPMENT

10.1 MSL The University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill’s Microelectronic System’s Laboratory has an advanced optics laboratory that may be needed for assembly and testing of the optics. The duration of use of this facility will be determined on the difficulty of the optical design. This is the same laboratory where the “miniature shotgun” tracked VR device was designed and built. The MSL is the lab where almost a dozen HMD have been designed and built over the last several years. Their expertise and specialized equipment will be especially useful in the initial testing and assembling of parts.

10.2 Duval Research Inc. facilities Where the MSL’s laboratory and instrumentation will be instrumental in the initial testing of the individual parts and component assembly, Duval Research’s shop will be where designs and final assembly will be performed. Duval has full machine shop facilities available, licensing and test gear required for the tests and tweaking. Additionally, Duval Research has access and owns a variety of test weapon systems including an AKM(semi), AR15(semi) and BATF licensed 9mm submachine gun.

10.3 Mebane target range (50 & 100 meter targets) Testing will be performed at a range in Mebane, NC. Or, if SOCOM would arrange with Camp Lejune Marine base, 3 miles from Duval Research Inc., tests could be performed there. Although it is not necessary for the Phase I prototype, we believe during a Phase II that a close tie with an active military wing would be beneficial.

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11. CONSULTANTSRick A. Daves. - Former US Army armor officer stationed at Fort Brag, North Carolina.

Will provide product and design feedback stemming from his extensive field experience to assist the researchers and designers.

D’nardo Colucci – PhD. In optics. Designer of several HMDs. Will assist in adapting optics for scope and HMD related questions.

University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill. Microelectronic Systems Laboratory – will provide laboratory use for assembling and testing optics.

12. PRIOR, CURRENT OR PENDING SUPPORTDuval Research Inc. has no prior, current or pending support for a similar proposal.

13. COST PROPOSALSee “Appendix C”, attached.

14. REFERENCESColucci, D’nardo, Vern Chi, “Computer Glasses: A Compact, Lightweight, and Cost Effective Display for Monocular and Tiled Wide Field-of –View Systems”, Proceedings of SPIE 1995, Vol 2537, pp. 61-70.

Edwards, Emily K., Jannick P. Rolland and Kurtis Keller, "Video See-through Design for Merging of Real and Virtual Environments", Proceedings of VRAIS '93, 1993

Ferrin, Frank, “Current Issues in Helmet Mounted Display Systems for Military Applications”, Helmet and Head Mounted Displays III, SPIE Aerosense, 1998, pp. 71-79.

Holloway, R., Registration Errors in Augmented Reality Systems, Ph.D., dissertation, University of North Carolina Chapel Hill.

Keller, Kurtis, D'nardo Colucci, "Perception in HMDs, What Really Makes them all so Terrible", Helmet and Head Mounted Displays III, SPIE Aerosense, 1998, pp. 46-53.

Newman U., M. Brajura, “Dynamic Registration Correction in Video-based Augmented Reality Systems”; IEEE Computer Graphics and Applications (Sept. 1995), pp. 52-60.

Viljoen, G.T., “Comparative Study of Target Acquisition Performance Between an Eye-Slaved Helmet Mounted Display and Unaided Human Vision”, Helmet and Head Mounted Displays III, SPIE Aerosense, 1998, pp. 54-65.

Wilson, G.C., R.J. McFarlane, “Development of an Aviator’s Helmet-Mounted Night-Vision Goggle System”, Helmet and Head Mounted Displays II, 1990, pp.128-139.

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Appendix B Project Summary

A remote-sighting device connected to a soldier carried weapon could protect the soldier from combat dangers. Being able to point the weapon accurately without placing one’s head in a compromised location could greatly increase the safety to soldiers. It will also allow them to fire or return fire in instances where they normally would stay behind safety barriers. This aimed fire should be significantly more effective than unaimed, blind suppressive fire. A scope and miniature camera device will be attached to the weapon. A flip-up monocle display will be used to present the image to the soldier.

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Appendix C Cost Proposal

1. Offeror: Duval Research Incorporated,

2. Office: 1604 Skye Dr. Chapel Hill, NC 27516

3. Work will be performed at: 104 Leslie Drive, Hubert, NC 28539

4. Title of effort: "Remote Sighting System"

5. Employer Identification number: EIN 56-2010320CAGE code: no code assigned.

6. Topic number and title: SOCOM 99-003 - Remote Sighting System for Weapons

7. Dollar Amount of Proposal: $92,400

8. Direct Material Costs:

Purchased parts:

a. IR Scope 2,000b. Optical Scopes (2) 900c. Progressive scan camera (Pulnix) 2,000d. Adapter lenses 600e. HMD (flip-up) 9,000f. Scope rail mounts 200g. Misc. cables, power supplies, etc… 800h. Test rounds and targets 100i. Custom optic mounts (anti shock) 1200

Total Direct Material $16,800

9. Material Overhead (rate 25%) $4,200

10. Direct Labor Costs:

a. CFO 200 hrs @ $40.00 $8,000

b. Senior Research Engineer300 hrs @ $40.00

$12,000c. Senior Researcher:

300 hrs @ $40.00 $12,000

Total estimated direct labor: $32,000

11. Labor overhead (rate 40%)$12,800

12. Special Testing: see subcontracts

13. Special Equipment: none

14. Travel: included in Labor overhead

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15. Subcontracts

a. University of North Carolina: $10,000

b. Dr. D’nardo Colucci20 Hrs @ $60 $1,200

c. Rick A. Daves20 Hrs @ $40 $800

$12,000

subtotal: $77,80016. Other Direct Costs: none

17. General and Administrative Expense (%10) $7,780

subtotal: $85,58018. Royalties: none

19. Fee or Profit (8%) $6,847

20. Total Estimate $92,40021. Officer of Duval Research Incorporated

22. Required Questionnaire:

a) Has any executive agency of the United States Government performed any review of your accounts or records in connection with any other government prime contract or subcontract within the past twelve months?: No.

b) Will you require the use of any government property in the performance of this proposal?: No.

c) Do you require government contract financing to perform this proposed contract?: No.

23. Type of contract proposed: Firm-fixed-price.

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