TOPICS & CATEGORIES
By Kate Finkel, Staff Writer
The National Training and Simulation Association (NTSA) conducted the webinar, “Extended Reality for Government and Military: Securing the Future with Immersive Technology,” Sept. 25.
The webinar focused on the strategic implementation of extended reality (XR) technologies in government and military sectors. The session also covered how attendees will gain insight on how to use XR for secure communications, advanced data visualization, and collaborative planning. The panel also discussed the significance of the “authority to operate,” a comment in managing the security and compliance of information systems, important considerations for end users, and solution providers when choosing a VR/XR technology provider. The webinar offered participants knowledge to have a better understanding of the available tools to make informed decisions in their tech implementations.
Eliot Winer, Ph.D., moderated the webinar. The speakers included Dan O’Brien, HTC VIVE president for the Americas; Dave Dwyer, Mass Virtual chief operating officer; and Doug Patton, chief of the Air Force’s Sims Innovation Cell.
Early in the discussion, Winer asked the panel how they felt the hardware for XR is meeting the demands and needs for collaborative technology, as well as the needs of training simulations in general.
“I think we are really making a lot of great progress,” O’Brien said. “We have gone from the days of one user/one experience to progress massively towards collaborative training with multiple people from multiple locations, globally in a training session at one time. The platforms and security have matured, the headsets are getting lighter, so yes, we have made a lot of progress, but we are going to keep pushing it forward.”
The discussion later turned to real-time physical measurements (heart rate, eye tracking, etc.) and the possibility of integrating them into XR headsets to enhance the user experience, improve monitoring, and personalize feedback, particularly in applications such as Air Force pilot training and virtual training. Winer asked the participants if their systems allow for such integration, and what the challenges are to make that happen.
“Eye tracking will probably become a requirement for flight training when it comes to XR just because it is such an easy-to-use and necessary thing… to really understand if people are really paying attention to where they should be,” Patton said. “Other stuff might be difficult from a security aspect. The eye tracking alone might creep some people out, but once they see the training benefits from it, they agree it is an absolute must.”
As the discussion closed, Winer had the panel take a user’s point of view, and asked what developers could do to simplify the technology, or its use, to provide a better experience for a beginner-level user.
“From the start, we design from a beginner-level approach,” Dwyer said. “The user experience needs to be thought out from the start. You can’t be designing the interface of a product that you have, and then down the line say, ‘Oh wait, how is the user going to interact with this?’ It needs to be a stand-alone product where it is simple for users to be able to use its functions on their own.”
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