Anduril develops AI mixed reality helmets for US Army to boost battlefield awarenessThe soldier of the future may win battles without ever looking at a screen, as Anduril’s AI-driven mixed reality helmet reshapes how warfighters sense and share the battlefield.Grant McHerronAnduril’s AI-powered EagleEye helmet and eyewear. Picture: AndurilGift this article3 min read1 hours agoThe modern soldier operates in small, dispersed, highly mobile teams, while carrying a collection of electronic equipment and processing a high level of information. New, AI-enabled systems are facilitating this transition.Lessons learned from recent combat operations and exercises in Europe are showing that past methods of operating have a reduced likelihood of providing successful outcomes. Advances in drones, electronic warfare and surveillance capabilities are allowing troops to increase their ability to identify targets then subsequently reduce the time to engage them, while also disrupting their adversary’s communications. In this environment, soldiers require lightweight hardware, resilient networks, and AI-enabled software to operate successfully without increasing their physical and cognitive burdens.“Warfighters need to be able to sense and perceive what’s happening beyond their organic field of view,” said Anduril warfighter systems vice president Quay Barnett. “They need the advantage of sensing the enemy earlier to give them more time to prepare. This is one of the main focuses of these new capabilities that provides a decisive advantage going into the next wave of warfare.” Anduril is working with the US Army to develop an advanced helmet-mounted mixed reality system that will provide soldiers with better situational awareness and communications without increasing their thermal and electromagnetic signatures. Barnett says modern electronics and developments in commercially available virtual reality and augmented reality systems are allowing Anduril to deliver more powerful tools without increasing the weight a soldier must carry.EagleEye helmet and eyewear by Anduril. Picture: AndurilWarfighters need the advantage of sensing the enemy earlier to give them more time to prepare. Picture: Anduril“Our systems incorporate AI to help the warfighter gain quicker situational awareness,” said Barnett. “Then by starting with a fully integrated design from the ground up, we identify options where components can be placed in ergonomic locations, achieve optimal shielding, or obtain a more advantageous reduction in signature. We can optimise the warfighter as a system, not a series of attachments competing for power.”The onboard AI helps to manage power usage, offering graceful degradation of functionality as available energy decreases, while also presenting information to the soldier without increasing their workload or cluttering their vision. Eye and head movements are tracked to ensure information is where the soldier needs it while also helping to reduce issues with latency and jitter that can lead to nausea. “We want to bring data to them in a way that they’re used to perceiving the battlefield, which for most of us is in the horizontal field of view,” said Barnett. “I can look up to see compass information with threats and friendlies identified, or I can look down for more detailed information. It also ensures that whatever I’m perceiving is the same thing that someone adjacent to me is perceiving.”Providing sufficient information to assist when and where it is required helps soldiers make decisions faster and ensures human judgment and a soldier’s intuition are not lost due to cognitive overload. The system’s prioritisation of information and its facilitation of shared awareness help provide soldiers with an advantage over their enemies, increasing their likelihood of success.To support shared awareness, resilient communications networks ensure information can be communicated even in contested environments, and without significantly increasing the soldier’s electromagnetic signature. It can also function when communications are unavailable or deactivated.“We design with the understanding that disconnected is your first principle,” said Barnett. “The system will work with minimal bandwidth and throughput, noting that even when you do have network connectivity, it may be very limited.”The US Army is progressing the technology through iterative development cycles. Anduril and soldiers are working together to refine not only the technology, but also the tactics, techniques and procedures required to leverage it. From the Australian perspective, the work being performed under Army’s Project Land 4140 provides a foundation that can support the integration of such a system into the resulting updated Command and Control systems. “Anduril brings a deep technical knowledge to the team through our subject matter expertise from staff who have experienced the pain points and are now leveraging new technologies to resolve them,” said Barnett. Read related topics:Artificial IntelligenceMore related storiesLand ForcesConverting innovation to capability means quicker thinking, adaptationAustralia’s defence innovation is not the problem – a leading industry executive says slow decision-making is what stops capability reaching the battlefield in time.Read moreLand ForcesMore than a supplier, defence industry must prepare before a crisisAustralia’s defence industrial base risks being outpaced by a future crisis unless government and industry commit to shared risk and long-term strategic partnership now, a top executive warns.Read more