Military Applications of Augmented Reality

This chapter reviews military benefits and requirements that have led to a series of research efforts in augmented reality (AR) and related systems over the past few decades, beginning with the DARPA-funded research of Ivan Sutherland that initiated the field of interactive computer graphics. We will briefly highlight a few of the research projects that have advanced the field over the past five decades. We will then examine in detail the Battlefield Augmented Reality System at the Naval Research Laboratory, which was the first system developed to meet the needs of the dismounted warfighter. Developing this system has required advances, in particular in the user interface (UI) and human factors. We summarize our research and place it in the context of the field. Military operations are becoming increasingly diverse in their nature. To cope with new and more demanding tasks, the military has researched new tools for use during operations and during training for these operations. There have been numerous goals driving this research over the past several decades. Many of the military requirements and capabilities have specifically driven development of AR systems. Thus we begin this chapter by discussing some military needs and challenges for which AR has been proposed to help. The following sections review some specific military applications of AR and examine some of the critical issues limiting the incorporation of AR in military applications. We conclude with a discussion of implications for the field of AR.