September 13, 2023
HOLOGRAPHICS FOR DEFENsE
Planning, preparation, and effective decision making are key factors to protect assets, minimize losses, and ensure successful outcomes on the battlefield.
Battlespace situational awareness (SA) and establishing a common operating picture (COP) are some of the most critical operational objectives for warfighters today - especially those responsible for strategic and tactical decision making.
For years, these functions have been supported by traditional tools such as paper maps and verbal communication from the field, and more recently supplemented by 2D digital displays. While reliable, these tools are outdated and offer limited advantages over opposing forces, but innovative tools such as light field displays can offer significant advantages. Across all branches of the military, battlespace visualization applications are the most commonly identified use case for holographic and light field displays.
Modern warfare is fought in both the physical and cognitive domains. Technology offers a tremendous amount of raw data, but processing, filtering, and presenting this information as efficiently as possible without overwhelming the user is challenging. To achieve cognitive dominance, we must optimize the presentation of battlespace data to manage the users’ cognitive load - and light field displays do exactly that.
Light Field Displays (LFDs) paint an accurate, detailed 3D picture of the battlespace, including all assets and targets within range. This allows decision makers to see the battlefield from all angles, including assets and targets in the air, on the surface, and underwater. Without the need for accessories like headsets, entire teams can view the same battlefield visualization to make decisions collaboratively without the fatigue associated with many AR and VR tools. By reducing cognitive load while communicating more information more efficiently than is possible with a 2D display, light field displays offer tangible cognitive advantages to warfighters, particularly when facing high-tempo, mission-critical decisions.
Some of the first R&D in this area was sponsored by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) and the US Air Force Research Lab (AFRL). There is strong interest in tools that efficiently and effectively represent relationships between air, land, sea, space, and cyber assets.
Avalon’s technology, when integrated with an appropriate battlespace management system and dataset, can offer distinct tactical and strategic advantages to warfighters.
white paper: holographic situational awareness
To learn more about how our displays increase cognitive dominance in the battlefield, contact us using the form below to arrange a demonstration and discussion.
Testimonials
“Avalon Holographics’ R&D efforts squarely address our technical branch’s desire to support the Digital Navy Initiative; specifically in the domains of 3D Visualization and Immersive Experiences in the pursuit of Cognitive Dominance. By reducing cognitive load and enabling collaborative decision-making, 3D holographic displays can create efficiencies and provide crucial advantages in critical scenarios. This technology may in the future also address various warfare domains and use cases yet to be determined.”
“I feel like I’m looking at the very first steps of a technology that will one day be as commonplace as LCD monitors or seatbelts.”
“You can tell when a company knows it has succeeded in developing something that is ground-breaking, and in this case, world-class ground-breaking. My professional opinion is that Avalon Holographics is out front in this field at this point… This technology will not only place Canada in a commanding position in establishing Cognitive Dominance for our Naval forces, but will combine that with commercial success that in itself, is advantageous for the country.”