Air Tasking Order Viosualization-Application of VR to AOCs

AVI proposes to develop a software tool that will greatly improve the efficiency of Air Operations Center (AOC) activities. The software will provide an interactive, navigable, 3D model of Air Tasking Orders (ATOs) as they are generated. It will transform the textual data into structures compatible with the Virtual Reality Modeling Language (VRML) standard, then feed them into a real-time viewing engine, similar in functionality to current web browsers. The complex tasking and coordination aspects of the ATO can then be viewed in a virtual world environment, allowing the operator to visualize not only the data structures themselves, but to comprehend the information in a more instinctive and natural way. The main goal of the proposed Phase I effort will be to demonstrate the ability of such a system to improve the ease and speed of ATO production and review. During the project, interface software will be developed to translate MIL-STD-5040 Air Tasking Order data components into VRML scene elements. Intuitive visual metaphors will be developed to illustrate ATO information content and interaction. The results will be demonstrated using a VRML testbed developed under a prior Air Force SBIR project.