Microsoft’s HoloLens augmented-reality headsets have been used to fight video-game aliens in space, but now they’ve been enlisted for wargames on Earth as well.
The HoloLens system was incorporated into a platform known as the Augmented Immersive Team Trainer that lets Marines plan missions and conduct “what-if” simulations while looking at a real-world terrain.
The wargaming software, which is called Interactive Tactical Decision Game, or I-TDG, can overlay a view of the environment with virtual objects ranging from ground vehicles and aircraft to explosions and other battlefield effects.
The system was used in November during a training exercise at Camp Lejeune, N.C., conducted by the 2nd Battalion, 6th Marlnes – 2/6, also known as “the Spartans.”
“For me, the best part of I-TDG was recreating simulated battles we conducted during past field exercises and using the system as a debrief on what we did wrong and how we could be better,” Lt. Andrew Veal said in a news release. “Like athletes watching game film, you really experienced that ‘aha’ moment.”
Meanwhile, the Army Research Laboratory in Maryland has been showing off a HoloLens application that lets researchers explore simulated under-body blasts, such as the explosions caused by improvised explosive devices (a.k.a. IEDs) in Iraq and Afghanistan.
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Source: Geek Wire