Synthetic Vision

oniony writes "Ars Technica has a link to a story on new goggles being developed for/by the military. The new device uses satellite imaging and land profiling to build a 3D representation of the world in a soldier's goggles in real-time. This would enable troops to see through sand storms and oil smoke of the kind currently hampering operations in the Gulf. I imagine one could also remove mountains to allow remote viewing of approaching territory."

Comments

Wait a second.

[tcd004]

This seems a bit ambitious. From what I understand the holdup in flying in the sandstorms is the fear of hitting electrical lines. Is this tech gonna provide a level of resolution that can show a powerline? No way.

A guide to the war's talking heads

tcd004

Re:Wait a second.

[p4ul13]

I thought the problem with flying in sandstorms was that the flying sand can quickly grind down the spinning turbines and such parts?

Heinlein?

[zoward]

This reminds me of the power armor in Robert A Heinlein's early novel Starship Troopers. It described in detail the experience of fighting in a suit with virtual enhancements to a solider's regular senses. A great read.

Hrmmm...

[}InFuZeD{]

Do these satellites actually detect small changes such as people and tanks?

Otherwise, why not just use a map and a laptop?

Civilian uses

[Cyclopedian]

I would LOVE to see this type of technology for the general public. It would make life a lot easier, especially for someone like me.

Examples:

Driving through a snow storm at night in the middle of nowhere? Overlay location info, along with roadside markings in the goggles so you KNOW where the road is and not drive into a ditch.

Driving from New York to SF for the first time? Can't read a map? Have the goggles map it all out for you connections to GPS for real time roadside updates.

Part of this technology can be used in conjunction with speech-to-text software/hardware to overlay real-time closed captioning so that I know what the damn radio DJ's are saying on my morning commute. At least Satellite radio provides the song info.

These are just some of the possibilities that I can think off the top of my head.
-Cyc

Re:Civilian uses

[Lumpy]

Examples:

Driving through a snow storm at night in the middle of nowhere? Overlay location info, along with roadside markings in the goggles so you KNOW where the road is and not drive into a ditch.
Driving from New York to SF for the first time? Can't read a map? Have the goggles map it all out for you connections to GPS for real time roadside updates.
Part of this technology can be used in conjunction with speech-to-text software/hardware to overlay real-time closed captioning so that I know what the damn radio DJ's are saying on my morning commute. At least Satellite radio provides the song info.

No thank you. it would be pure idiocy to put it on goggles.

On the windshield? Yes... In fact go rent a Cadillac that is loaded for a weekend, the Infared vision system works in a snowstorm. I could see the roadway and markers AND the other cars showed up very obviousally that could not be seen visually.

Driving directions? a small map is OK but I much prefer voice prompting.. had both of these cince 1998 in my Kia Sephia with a stereo called the AutoPC.

So for the vehicle, everything you want has been around for years. you just havent taken the time to spend your money to get it.

Re:Unproven = untrustworthy

[diablobynight]

I think it gets its data directly from live feeds on satalites, not old pictures, the reason why you see old pictures when you go to the sattelite pictures that can be found online is because that is released technology, at this point we have halos of real time down looking satelites in space. My only problem with this, is that there is bound to be some lag, which in current VR systems, is known to cause sudden, horrible vomiting, because the feelings of Gs your feeling are not changing at the same pace your vision is getting new data.

Reservations

[Hortensia Patel]

The trouble with goggles, or anything that fills a large angle of view (e.g. IMAX) is that they're compelling and immersive in a way that smaller displays can't really match. Which is great for entertainment, but potentially very dangerous in situations where the augmented stuff is not 100% trustworthy and ought to be treated with some degree of healthy scepticism. Maybe the AR overlays could be drawn in luminous flamingo pink or something, just to make damn sure you didn't forget what was what.

I remember a driver in Germany a couple of years back who drove though a couple of barriers, past several yelling workmen and into a river. All because his in-car GPS navigation was telling him that there was a completed bridge there. And that was a just a teeny little display.

(Side note: "removing" mountains sounds like a truly horrible idea. I have vivid memories of playing the excellent flight sim EF2000 - this was back in the days of software rendering when depth-buffering was still something to be avoided. So the engine just drew the terrain first, and buildings afterward, because, hey, buildings are on top of terrain, right? Unfortunately this didn't cope with occlusion, and I lost count of the number of times I crashed into a bleedin' great hill while on a bee-line for an airfield that was clearly visible right in front of me...)