Compact Portable Data Wall for Command and Control Applications

"The modern battlefield can encompass a vast area of terrain and involve land, naval, and air forces. Managing this complex environment requires that situational awareness displays portray the battle space in a way that quickly and effectively conveysknowledge to the user. Providing such information in an appropriate format typically calls for a fully-interactive multi-projector display which meets exacting standards. In addressing these standards, careful attention must be paid to the spatialalignment and registration of multiple projectors and to the balancing of image brightness over a large viewing volume. Meanwhile, the size and weight of the display must be consistent with ease of transport. Responding to this need, we have devised apanoramic Command and Control display that is both compact and portable. Supplemental features of the display include a means for implementing multiple laser pointers, together with a wireless control that is based upon Bluetooth technology. We also haveidentified a rear-projection screen structure that offers to eliminate many of the disadvantages associated with multi-projector displays. Our phase I program includes a detailed review of Air Force display requirements, the evaluation / test of allcritical components and the preliminary design of a Phase II prototypical system. Successful development of the proposed multi-projector panoramic display will involve significant advances in the fields of