As part of a larger contract awarded to SAIC by the Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL), daytaOhio has completed a $350,000 subcontract related to Combat Search and Rescue (CSAR), focused on developing an integrated visualization platform (IVP) to improve human performance and the use of sensor information in search and rescue situations.
In previous work, Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) scientists using a five-sided virtual visualization space (floor and four sides) were learning how directional audio could be used to improve the performance and safety of CSAR teams in combat situations. For example, in a maze of city streets, rescuers could wear headphones emitting directional tones to help navigate or signal an imminent threat.
In early 2007, Terry Rapoch, President of daytaOhio, approached the AFRL Sensor and Human Effectiveness Directorates at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base with an idea to enhance the existing research effort based on his work with both directorates. He proposed adding a second virtual environment to provide different views of a rescue mission; from a building, a helicopter or an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV), and a large, multi-screen display to allow commanders to see what is going on in the virtual environments and then integrate that with sensor and other information before passing it on in the form of directional audio signals.
“This is a real data integration problem of the kind especially suited to daytaOhio. It’s all about bringing together multiple sources of data in a way that it can be integrated and understood and then provided to individuals and groups to improve their performance,” said Rapoch.
To complete the initial development of the IVP, daytaOhio worked with SAIC and a multidisciplinary team beginning in May 2007. The team included researchers from the Sensors and Human Effectiveness Directorates of AFRL. These organization led by Directors Joe Sciabica and Dr. Henk Ruck, respectively, are gaining significant additional missions at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base as a result of the Base Realignment and Closure (BRAC) legislation and the work on IVP addresses some of new areas. Other members of the team included Dr. Robert Gilkey and Jeff Cowgill from Wright State University and developers from SAIC and other commercial partners, including Lucrum Systems, Mak Technologies and Presagis.
The IVP will simulate sophisticated research and training environments with the primary goal of enhancing individual and group performance by integrating complex information from layered sensors and other sources and effectively communicating these to military personnel. Through different software setups, the IVP can also be used by first responders and other emergency groups. Other goals for work in the IVP include understanding how best to collect, assimilate and relay sensor-based information to ground personnel and manage sensors of different types and capabilities so that ground forces can “see” what they otherwise cannot, such as enemy troops, casualties or other targets.
Sciabica of the Sensors Directorate, AFRL, stated: “The daytaOhio IVP research is a splendid example of the cooperative federal-state exchange of science and technology information under the State’s Third Frontier program that, in this case, involved aero-medicine and sensing systems. Through partnerships between the academic, industrial and government sectors, as exemplified by daytaOhio, WCSSE, and IDCAST, we will be able to create a world class advanced sensor technology institute here in the Dayton region that will benefit the entire State and nation.”
Rapoch wants to expand the types of sensors technologies that can be adapted and integrated in the IVP’s virtual environments. Beyond that, there is also the opportunity to do the same for new sensors by collaborating with two other Ohio Wright Centers developing these technologies – the Wright Center for Sensor Systems Engineering (WCSSE) at Cleveland State and the Institute for Development and Commercialization of Advanced Sensor Technology (IDCAST) at the University of Dayton Research Institute.
“While work in the IVP also draws on the dramatic advances in video gaming,” Rapoch said, “the environments are far more sophisticated and the issues much more challenging. What people do in here must transfer effectively to the real world, reflect real physical models and improve performance in situations where real lives are at stake.”
About daytaOhio
daytaOhio (www.daytaOhio.org), Ohio’s Wright Center for Data, is one of eight Wright Centers of Innovation in the state of Ohio funded by the Third Frontier Program and the only one focused on information technology. daytaOhio’s mission is to collaborate with innovators and enable them to demonstrate the market value of their ideas about new ways of delivering complex information from sensors and other sources that enhance the performance of organizations and individuals. These collaborations create opportunities for economic development in the Dayton region and Ohio – new investments, business growth and job creation – and support the center’s operations along with funds and services from its 40 industry, academic, government, and non-profit partners