Raytheon BBN Technologies is developing situational awareness for DARPA's Ground X-Vehicle Technologies (GXV-T) tank program.
Raytheon will use lidar data "to create a 3D model of the environment, employing high-definition video to produce a detailed, natural rendering of the surroundings," according to a company announcement. "Additional sensors provide the precise location of any incoming hostile fire, while blue-force position updates locate friendly forces. Presenting all this sensor data in a natural, intuitive interface improves situational awareness while reducing the workload for the crew and allowing them to focus on the most relevant threats and challenges."
"Our team is developing a virtual experience that gives the crews of armored military vehicles greater awareness of what's going on outside the vehicle, while also reducing their vulnerability to attack," Raytheon's GXV-T program manager, David Diller, said. "We're creating a three-dimensional model of the environment in real time that gives users views of their outside environment that would not normally be possible from inside the vehicle."
GXV-T aims to create smaller, lighter vehicles that can survive on the battlefield without the weight of additional armor.