Microsoft to make 120,000 enhanced AR headsets for US Army

The Redmond technology giant, Microsoft has announced that it has entered into a contract with the US army that could be worth up to $22 billion over the course of a decade. The contract mandates the delivery of 120,000 AR headsets which will be especially enhanced for warfare applications.

Announcing the deal with a blog post, Microsoft’s Alex Kipman wrote, The IVAS headset, based on HoloLens and augmented by Microsoft Azure cloud services, delivers a platform that will keep Soldiers safer and make them more effective.”

IVAS stands for Integrated Visual Augmented System and the headset using it will be based on Microsoft’s HoloLens technology with assistance from Azure cloud services.

The announcement marks Microsoft’s transition from prototyping these devices over the period of last two years to full-scale production and deployment on the field.

How exactly does it work?

The IVAS headset uses Augmented Reality to project a 3D terrain map over real-life surroundings. This helps the soldiers in a lot of ways. For example – It makes it easier for them to maintain sight in the dark or through the smoke.

This is done through high-resolution sensors placed on the headset that collect and then send information to a unified Heads-Up Display (HUD) that gives the soldiers valuable information to work with. It improves their situational awareness by giving them information about their surroundings, improving target engagement.

This information could range from something as simple as language translation which can help quickly translate signs in another language to English out in the hostile battlefield for better navigation. It also has Realtime 3D map capabilities which can display the terrain holographically in front of the soldier’s eyes, so he never has to take his eyes off the battlefield.

It can float a targeting reticule in the HUD for enemy tracking and engagement. IVAS is also capable of facial recognition helping a soldier distinguish between friend and foe in the heat of a battlefield. The system can also pass information from one soldier to the next in real-time among squads or small groups. The troops can also access something known as an ‘after-battle review’ which they can use fine-tune strategies using information from one encounter to come up with plans for a second.

There are training applications for this system too. Soldiers can run through live field courses with holographic projections of enemies and other hazards helping them train. These can be pre-programmed into the headset itself giving them a battlefield as true to life as possible to train on.

In a statement to Tech crunch, a Microsoft spokesperson said that the technology will provide troops with the ability to make better decisions. It is hard not to see why.

What is most exciting about this technology is the impact it could have on consumer AR devices down the line. Imagine Google Maps running in parallel with a 3D terrain map of the environment to show you real-time directions that help you navigate indoors.