Innovative Training Solutions (e.g. AR, VR, MR)

For more than a decade, the promise of augmented, virtual, and mixed reality technologies has been to provide the means to enhance training, while significantly reducing costs. While incremental improvements have been made, it is the recent advances in high capability hardware (stereo cameras, head-mounted displays, and motion tracking) that bridge the technology gap encountered in previous approaches. Furthermore, these technologies are now available commercial-off-the-shelf (COTS) at much lower cost than a decade ago. Addressing the training needs of the USAF as outlined in SBIR Topic AF183-006, Systems Technology, Inc. (STI) proposes to develop B-Real Flight, a Blended-Reality solution for in-flight pilot training based on STIs patented Fused Reality technology. Building upon successful in-flight Fused Reality demonstrations conducted for NASA, the proposed B-Real Flight system will apply the new low-cost COTS hardware to create an in-flight training experience that allows for virtual objects including other aircraft to be placed out-of-the-cockpit-window as part of combined virtual and real-world video scene viewed through a head-mounted display. Pilots will maintain situational awareness via a virtual head-up display. Furthermore, the combined video image will support scans of the actual cockpit instruments and inceptors.