The US Military Is Reportedly Developing AR Night Vision Goggles

It is cool to have better graphics or a 360-degree experience for gamers, researchers and educational programmers. However, to implement AR technologies in the life-and-death situation for the soldiers, it a different story.

The U.S military has been developing a night vision goggles that are filled with AR properties. There have been some AR features that one might expect from military goggles, for example, a targeting system or a compass system that is built inside the goggles. However, the U.S military’s goggles and AR ambitions are more determined. This may also suggest that the U.S military infantries could expect a major upgrade amongst themselves.

The goggles go with the name of Integrated Visual Augmentation System or simply IVAS, which is said to enhance soldiers’ combat capabilities by providing them with better thermal and night vision. Also, the goggles are expected to give soldiers a new tailored way to coordinate and communicate with one another.

IVAS is created based on a custom version of Microsoft’s HoloLens headset. The device was the final outcome of a 480 million dollar military arrangement, which was rumored to have caused an internal protest within Microsoft.

As mentioned before, the IVAS’s developers are expecting more from the device, so IVAS will have more features that almost feel like they are taken out from video games.

For example, a soldier when using the goggles will have the ability to locate certain points on the map, and there will be beacons that show where that location is while they are scouting their surroundings. There will also be outlines that indicate other ally soldiers in order that the users will know where their teammates are at any time given, even if they do not directly look at one another.

Army Undersecretary Ryan McCarthy stated that there has not been any equipment that has had such an impact ever since the introduction of night vision, and this takes the night vision to the level of Ph.D.