When it comes to headsets, the first thing that comes to everyone's mind is Apple's Vision Pro or Meta's Quest?
IVAS, or Integrated Visual Augmentation System, is a night-vision/thermal augmented reality and situational awareness tool based on Microsoft's HoloLens headset, which is installed on a helmet and is said to have a research budget of up to $22 billion.
A U.S. Army official said the main use of the IVAS headset is for military training to help soldiers better learn Xi and master new technologies.
Microsoft delivered 20 IVAS1.2 prototypes in mid-2023 and field-tested them in August last year with soldiers of the 1st Brigade Combat Team of the 10th Mountain Division in Drenburg, New York. It is understood that in order to improve the actual combat performance, IVAS has added a flip-up helmet mount, making it as convenient as using night vision devices. Key features of the device include the ability to wirelessly connect to a soldier's weapon scope, allowing the weapon-mounted camera and the device's head-up display to be picture-in-picture.
At a demonstration at Fort Belvoir, Virginia, IVAS 1.2 demonstrated the software capabilities it is equipped with, a device that enables soldiers to see through obstacles such as fog or dust and shoot behind shelter through thermal vision technology.
It also has navigation and training applications that allow users to map the terrain in 3D and track compass points on a heads-up display while identifying the location of friendly and enemy forces.
In tactical scenarios, the device can be loaded with an internal map or a "sand table" at the shooting range. It also records the position of soldiers moving around the team for post-mortem review after shooting training. Soldiers can also use IVAS to fly micro-drones for reconnaissance and send target images to tactical cloud packets for a 3D map of the terrain.
Such a sci-fi headset, do you like it?