Projects
U.S. Air Force
The US Air Force awarded CMC several contracts to develop an Augmented Reality (AR) demonstrator for an Optimized Information Display for Tactical Air Control Parties (TACP). The TACPs currently use a “heads down” Android application that keeps their eyes and head focused down. This led to significant muscle fatigue, resulting from supporting a helmet and night vision goggles, and severe reduction in situational awareness. CMC developed, in conjunction with Dr. Mica Endsley, a customized information display philosophy and AR display system to meet the TACP’s requirements.
For the hardware, CMC developed an ultrabright, 45° field of view, high contrast display that integrated directly with the TACP’s helmet, and with or without the night vision gear. There were no off the shelf displays, nor any custom solutions other than CMC’s that met the TACP’s requirements for size, brightness, and contrast. The software consisted of over a year of interviews, custom user interface development and design, and testing. A result was one senior TACP exclaiming, “I have waited for this system for 10 years! This would have made my job much easier and saved lives.” CMC is continuing to mature the technology into a long term program.
U.S. Marines Force-on-Force Training
The Office of Naval Research (ONR) awarded CMC a multi-year effort to develop an ultra-wide field of view (FOV) of 180° Augmented Reality (AR) display that was sunlight readable without using sunshades. CMC was chosen over competitors due to the performance of our displays in outdoor environments. Our unmatched FOV combined with not needing sunshades enables several advantages to the warfighter: 1. Their natural vision is preserved for high dynamic range scenes, i.e., bright city scenes with dark alleys. 2. The FOV enables their peripheral vision to be engaged for training. 3. The displays integrate with minimal conflicts to current kit and procedures leading to more natural training and no extra equipment necessary.
ULtra-wide View AR Display
CMC was chosen over several incumbents and existing equipment to develop a wide field of display (110°) using our imageguide displays that would integrate with advanced augmented vision systems. The system was extremely compact to fit within very tight space limitations, while also operating in bright sunlight. In addition, CMC developed and delivered a compact processing system integrating the Movidius (Intel) Myriad that included the ability to process 7 simultaneous video feeds, perform image processing, accelerated AI algorithms, and general Augmented Reality information handling and rendering. Finally, CMC created the AR human factors interface, including the display philosophy, menu system, human interface devices, and headtracking.
Adaptive User Interface
NASA challenged CMC with a contract award to develop custom space Augmented Reality (AR) hardware and an Adaptive User Interface to accompany astronauts for a long duration Mars mission. The system needed to interface to a NASA designed Artificial Intelligence (AI) system that would assist the astronauts with their day-to-day activities and adapt the user interface to events around them, such as responding to a major injury during the mission. CMC developed an extensive software framework that considered not only a flexible methodology 3rd parties could use to develop AR display interfaces to the astronauts, but also a general API for the future AI system to integrate into the AR display and drive it.
U.S. Army DATA Display Overlay
CMC was chosen for their advanced imageguide technology to integrate in the next generation of scopes and direct view optics due to their unrivaled performance, including blocking less light than traditional optics.
In addition to the displays, the U.S. Army Armament Research, Development, and Engineering Center (ARDEC) is interested in CMC integrating existing Artificial Intelligence and Image Processing mobile chipsets into the devices. The current solutions are extremely large and power hungry. CMC, using past designs, has a solution to reduce the board sizes by 90% and power requirements by 25x, while giving expansion space to develop future capabilities into the system.
EyeFire™
EyeFire™ is a revolutionary enhanced vision system for firefighters and first responders. Creative Micro integrated its latest low cost see-through display technology with a lightweight thermal imager to give firefighters and others improved and smoke piercing vision for situational awareness. The system enables the firefighter to see through smoke and obscurants with overlaid imagery in their natural field of view, while keeping their hands free and their eyes where they are needed. There is no need to hold a camera or look down at a tiny display trying to piece it all together when seconds count and there is no room for errors.
The EyeFire™ can be developed into a stand-alone product or integrated directly into headgear. The system’s advanced display and camera make it small and lightweight, lending to minimal impact to the already burdened firefighter.
See Through Smoke
At the core of the EyeFire™ is the latest thermal imaging technology available. The camera sees in wavelengths the human eye cannot, detecting subtle variations in heat and seeing through smoke. This gives the firefighter an edge when time counts the most.
Hands Free
What good is seeing through smoke if you need to hold a large bulky camera? EyeFire’s™ lightweight designs enables the entire system to be self-contained in a small, low weight package that attaches to the side of headgear leaving the firefighter’s hands free and imagery always available.
Natural Field of View
EyeFire’s™ proprietary display overlays the thermal camera’s image directly over the firefighter’s vision. This not only significantly increases situational awareness and reduces decision times compared to hand-held or look-down systems, it also provides a natural inclusion into their activities reducing training time.
The EyeFire™ offers several other critical capabilities for situational awareness including:
· Ability for overlay of augmented reality information, such as heading, text status updates, and georectified graphics.
· Negligible impact on performing activities on failure due to minimal design.
· Future expansion capabilities for moving map, breadcrumbs, and smart route with additional technology integration.
Creative Micro is currently seeking partners to integrate our EyeFire™ technology into next-generation firefighter headgear. If you have an potential project, please contact us at sales@creativemicro.com to get in touch with our EyeFire™ team.