EagleEye, the new super soldier helmet for the US Army that allows you to 'see' through walls

EagleEye, the new super soldier helmet for the US Army that allows you to ‘see’ through walls

The American defense company Anduril has presented EagleEyea modular system that uses artificial intelligence and is designed to integrate command, control and battlefield awareness into a single architecture for US forces. For practical purposes, this super soldier helmet uses sensors, viewers and an augmented reality interface which looks like you are playing a video game and grants multiple abilities, including ‘seeing’ through walls or other objects.

Anduril, founded in 2017is known for products such as drones for military use and missiles, but it has a previous history that directly links it to this system that the United States Army is going to evaluate and, perhaps, I managed to succeed where Microsoft He didn’t do it. Palmer LuckeyCEO and co-founder of Anduril, created the company in 2012 Oculus VR which, funded through a Kickstarter campaign, developed the virtual reality helmet Oculus Rift. Facebook paid $2 billion in 2014 to acquire the company that currently manufactures headsets like the Goal Quest and that Luckey left in 2017 to enter the defense sector. It seems that now the circle is closed.

Before Anduril, Microsoft spent years trying to make its glasses HoloLens could be used by American soldiers on the battlefield. The agreement started in 2018, then under the program VAT (Integrated Visual Augmentation System or Integrated Visual Augmentation System), was transferred this year to Anduril without Microsoft having been able to solve problems such as dizziness caused by its use.

EagleEye.Anduril.

‘I’ve solved this shit’

Now, about EagleEye’s candidacy for the Soldier Borne Mission Command program (SBMC) or mission command in charge of a soldier, Luckey ensures that ‘I’ve solved this shit… I’ve done it before. I’ve done it more or less perfectly.. It’s very clear that we’re going to have to… save the situation with this. And I’m very happy that everything seems to be going well.’

‘We don’t want to give the military a new tool; We are giving them a new companion. The idea of ​​an AI partner built into your screen has been imagined for decades. EagleEye is the first time it’s real‘, says the CEO of Anduril.

At the core of EagleEye is a three-dimensional collaborative mission planning interface that allows troops rehearse operations and view terrain using live video feeds and sensor data. The system provides a shared operational picture before and during missions, allowing faster coordination between ground units and unmanned systems.

The EagleEye HUD overlays digital information directly on top of the operator’s real view. Integrated friendly force tracking allows soldiers accurately locate the position of your companionsnot just as points on a map, but inside buildings or on the ground.

The system connects to the network Lattice by Anduril. This distributed sensor mesh manages data from drones, ground vehicles and other assets of the battlefield in real time to detect and track threats beyond soldiers’ direct line of sight.

Sensors mounted on the back and sides of the system give operators a 360-degree view, while Spatial audio and radio frequency detection alert them to nearby or hidden threats.

The system consolidates the soldier’s communications, connectivity and command tools into a single wearable unit, allowing operators direct unmanned aerial systems, call for indirect fire, and coordinate robotic companionsall while maintaining mobility on the ground. Lattice ensures that EagleEye remains functional in degraded or jammed environments.

A modular system that can be helmets, visors or glasses

EagleEye is not a single helmet but consists of a modular system with 4 different devicesaccording to needs, which can be helmets, visors or glasses. Two of them were presented last week in AUSAthe largest land defense conference in the world that is held every year in Washington DC and where the US Army presents its programs and needs to industry and companies with its technologies, equipment and systems intended for military use. The other two are in development.

EagleEye.
EagleEye.Anduril.

‘We have been working on augmented reality technology for warfighters practically since the beginning of Anduril. It was one of the first things we started investing in, primarily building the back-end software that could properly power a combat scope.‘ says Luckey.

EagleEye is developed in collaboration with companies such as Goal, Qualcomm and Oakley. The plan is to integrate even more partners into a helmet with modular capabilities that can be customized depending on the mission.

EagleEye has variants for day or night operations, as well as different levels of ballistic protection. ‘I don’t have to have different variants for each type of user. I can have a parent element and then the changes are just -Well, that guy has somewhat different sensors, those get hooked. That other one uses a different display system- You can just use that one instead of the other one.. So we’re looking for around 90% compatibility with modularity,’ Luckey said.

For example, a hyperspectral camera It would be a great feature for a bomb disposal technician looking for bomb residue, but it’s not something every soldier needs. That specialist can attach it to EagleEye, but there won’t be a universal set of sensors for everyone..

The version of EagleEye that Luckey considers the best candidate for SBMC is a set of augmented reality glasses that integrate with the helmetso the processor and battery pack are carried on it and not in front of the eyes, making them feel much lighter than other VR glasses by distributing the weight around the head.

‘I would probably call it the main variant right now, given that it has the clearest path to large-scale deployment with a large customer. And when I say large scale, I mean the scale that matters to me, which are hundreds of thousands of units‘ says Luckey.

Also ballistic and explosion protection

The other variant is ‘a full-face ballistic and blast-protected helmet with a night-oriented mixed reality reprojection system. It’s not optically transparent, because we’re trying to build a ballistic visor that’s gunshot and fragmentation rated all the way, so there will be no cracks through which people can shoot at your eyes‘, he adds. According to Luckey, the fully sealed helmet should also offer better protection against traumatic brain injuries.

In addition to competing to manufacture the hardware for SBMC, Anduril already has the Soldier Borne Mission Command-Architecture contract for manage the software that controls the helmets.

‘My dream is that, perhaps in 10 years, there will be dozens of different suppliers making EagleEye compatible helmetsand that they can all share a common architecture, a common data format, many of the same interconnectors and standards around power and data transmission. And if we can achieve that, I really think We will be able to bring augmented reality to the army in a way that makes it useful for the first timefor the people who are really on the ground,’ says Luckey.