Nations vying for a strategic upper hand must recognize the power of technology, both in the economy and on the battlegrounds. Where Infantry weapons have undergone significant improvements in recent years, focusing on increasing accuracy, reducing weight, and strengthening overall performance, nobody can deny the immense potential of the Integrated Visual Augmentation System (IVAS), an astounding evolution of technology development and intelligent designs.
Integrated Visual Augmentation System (IVAS) has been supported by the U.S. Army Chief of Staff Gen. James McConville, who once compared the gradual improvement of IVAS to the evolution of the cell phone, explaining how it once began with a bulky phone stuck on a wall. Still, today it is a smartphone that can play movies, take pictures, and provide navigation. IVAS' core technology was initially based on gaming platforms and has been built into the augmented reality goggle, Microsoft HoloLens. As it adapts the technology to military requirements, the company has worked with the Army since at least 2018, adding new cameras and sensors and integrating the device with current Army equipment.
The IVAS, a combined thermal and night vision device, provides the user with information on navigation, position, and a variety of other things. The augmented reality features of the spectacles are designed to assist soldiers in the field. The technology can detect and highlight friendly troops, distinguish them from enemy forces, and have night vision capabilities. Additionally, it can translate other languages and draw a map of the battlefield so that soldiers may assess the situation before getting out of their vehicles. The IVAS can be used for training scenarios in addition to warfare, simulating a dangerous environment for soldiers to travel through.
In simple terms, IVAS is taking the firefighting prowess of soldiers beyond their human powers. However, there is a constant need for investment, research, and development, and a constant eye on emerging threats, and adapting to the ever-changing needs of the Army based on the changing trends of modern warfare.
Robert Douglas, an American inventor, and former Lieutenant Colonel who served two combat assignments as a Ranger in the Vietnam War, is another exceptional proponent of the IVAS technology. Douglas was assigned as an analyst to the Under Secretary of the Air Force for Space Systems, served as a Platoon Leader and Company Executive Officer of the 187th Airborne Infantry 101st Airborne Division, and as Company Commander and Infantry Battalion S-3 Americal Division in Vietnam. As the Founder of Douglas Labs, Inc., he has invented, designed, manufactured, and tested an array of 3D technologies.
Robert Douglas provided additional IVAS improvements. He patented an automatic target recognition (ATR) coupled with a digital object to draw the soldiers' attention and a corresponding movable high-resolution field of view display. In his patent, US 11,380,065, imagery collected from a soldier's headset is segmented into discrete objects in real time. The headset's eye-tracking system determines precisely which discrete object the soldier is looking at. The soldier will see other targets in his field of view with associated digital things indicating that other soldiers are targeting those targets.
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