DEVELOPMENT OF A NEW SYSTEM ARCHITECTURE FOR GENERATING IMAGERY USING HEAD-WORN DISPLAYS

DEVELOPMENT OF A SYSTEM ARCHITECTURE TARGETED SPECIFICALLY FOR HEAD MOUNTED DISPLAYS AND A PERSONAL SYNTHETIC ENVIRONMENT (VIRTUAL WORLD) INTERFACE IS PROPOSED. THIS NEW ARCHITECTURE WILL ELIMINATE MANY OF THE TRADITIONAL PROBLEMS ASSOCIATED WITH HMDS. PHASE 1 WILL INCLUDE, AS PROOF-OF-PRINCIPLE, RAPID PROTOTYPING OF A LIGHTWEIGHT, MAN-PORTABLE ASSEMBLY USING COMMERCIAL OFF THE SHELF (COTS) SENSORS, COMPUTER IMAGE GENERATORS (CIGS), AND A HEAD MOUNTED DISPLAY (HMD). THIS SYSTEM WILL THEN BE LINKED TO A HOST SYSTEM FOR INTERFACE INTO A DISTRIBUTED INTERACTIVE SIMULATION ENVIRONMENT. THE MOST SIGNIFICANT FEATURE OF THE SYSTEM ARCHITECTURE IS THAT THE ENTIRE USER INTERFACE LOOP REMAINS PHYSICALLY LOCAL TO THE USER. BY PHYSICALLY REMOVING ALL COMPONENTS FOR THE USER INTERFACE FROM THE HOST, THE ENTIRE INTERFACE BECOMES DECENTRALIZED. THIS WILL ENABLE A PARADIGM SHIFT IN THE WAYS IN WHICH USERS INTERFACE TO SYNTHETIC ENVIRONMENTS. IMPLEMENTATIONS OF THIS NEW ARCHITECTURE WHICH UTILIZE EXISTING GRAPHICS STANDARDS (PHIGS, GKS, CGI) WILL HAVE WIDESPREAD IMPACT. THE PHASE 1 WORK PLAN EXPLOITS COTS HARDWARE, EXISTING SOFTWARE AND A HIGHLY VISIBLE MILITARY SYNTHETIC ENVIRONMENT TO DEMONSTRATE THIS REVOLUTIONARY NEW SYSTEM ARCHITECTURE. ANTICIPATED BENEFITS/POTENTIAL APPLICATIONS - THIS EFFORT WILL HAVE SHORT TERM BENEFITS IN THAT IT WILL PROVIDE A PROOF-OF-PRINCIPLE FOR A NEW, REVOLUTIONARY SYSTEM ARCHITECTURE. THE EFFORT WILL HAVE LONG TERM IMPACT RESULTING FROM THE PARADIGM SHIFT ENABLED BY THE NEW SYSTEM ARCHITECTURE, AND ITS EXECUTION USING AN OPEN SYSTEM, STANDARDS BASED APPROACH.