Marine Fire Support Teams (FiSTs) consist of four or five Marines who direct aircraft, artillery, mortar, and naval fire in support of friendly troops on the ground. Historically, FiST training has been hindered by high costs and a limited availability of range time and associated supporting arms. Augmented reality (AR) is a technology that inserts computer-generated virtual objects in the user’s real-world environment. A portion of the Office of Naval Research 3D Warfighter Augmented Reality (3D WAR) program aims to provide Marine FiSTs with the “sets and reps” required to develop and maintain proficiency by prototyping an affordable AR field simulator. The Marine Augmented Reality Team Trainer (MARTT) is made entirely from commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) components and allows Marine FiSTs in a field exercise to train with virtual entities and battlefield effects in their actual environment. Users wear an occlusive head-mounted display (HMD) while a camera inserts the real-world view onto the screen. High-performance computer vision-based tracking algorithms monitor user’s position and orientation and, in conjunction with a detailed terrain model, accurately insert virtual objects into the scene. Each FiST member is linked via Wi-Fi or other IP network, giving all users the ability to see the same virtual scene from their own perspective.

In this paper, we will discuss how a previously designed custom AR system has been ported to relatively inexpensive COTS components. The resulting MARTT system maintains performance and allows for affordable experimentation with FiST-scale training. We will discuss the technologies that were designed and developed for this effort, along with the benefits and limitations of exclusively using COTS components. Finally, the paper includes initial reactions from trial use at several Marine Corps locations.

Keywords
3D,AUGMENTED AND VIRTUAL REALITY (AR/VR),IMMERSIVE,SIMULATIONS,SPATIAL NAVIGATION,TEAM TRAINING

Additional Keywords
commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) hardware