Military and Civilian Air Traffic Management Information Exchange and Visualization

This proposal outlines a comprehensive plan to apply an emerging technology, augmented reality (AR), to provide military and civilian air traffic controllers with the capability to integrate information from various data sources in ways that are easily and rapidly interpretable. The ultimate objective of this project is to present controllers with an effective, reliable tool with which they can maintain situational awareness and make rapid, accurate decisions in their potentially high-stakes, high stress work environments. The proposal describes the methodology for defining the need, then sets out how the proposer, Information in Place, Inc., (IIPI) will design and build a prototype system and interface to exploit the advantages of augmented reality. AR can electronically overlay the real environment with information via see-through head-worn displays. To the user, this information appears to exist in the same three-dimensional space as the real world objects it identifies and highlights. This capability has the potential to greatly simplify the controller's most challenging tasks. The proposing organization, Information in Place, Inc., is uniquely qualified to perform this project because of its strengths in augmented reality software development, human factors engineering, and aviation subject matter expertise.