IVAS (Integrated Visual Augmentation System) is a headset developed by Microsoft for the US army, based on the ‘HoloLens 2’. In 2021 Microsoft received over “$21 billion in funding to produce up to 120,000 units” according to PCMag.
What Is IVAS?
The US Army released a statement in 2021 outlining a major application. It outlined the ability to “allow the soldier to fight, rehearse and train” specific situations to enhance the likelihood of a successful outcome. Essentially it aims to provide soldiers equipped with it a tactical edge.
$21 billion is a lot of funding, there is no question about it. You may have concerns about well why do governments spend so much on defence and not on other industries like healthcare? One might argue the answer to be is that without investment in defence, you leave your nation vulnerable to attack. To improve other industries, you need a secure nation. There is a level of balance that must be maintained by ensuring not all the money is pumped into defence, but it is easily a priority. After all, if any conflict were to escalate would you not want to be the most prepared?
Development Costs
Part of the reasoning behind such a significant investment in the headsets is not only the modification for military use, but also for the development of the headset itself. For example, the base model HoloLens 2 headset has a restricted field of view of 43 x 29 degrees which for military purposes was not suitable. One of the initial objectives was to be “able to detect a target 900 meters away” according to UploadVR. To do this a large clunky headset was needed as the further distance you want to see, the larger the aperture required. Upon feedback from the testing soldiers, this design was not suitable.
Therefore the IVAS headset has been altered to fit a wider field of view of 80 degrees. To achieve this the distance the headset can see to detect a target has now been dropped “from 900 to 300 meters.” This upgrade from 40 to 80 degrees is huge as peripheral view is vital for a soldier. The work around behind the drop in distance view was while IVAS could no longer see that far, FWS-I gun sights could. Once linked wirelessly to IVAS, the soldiers could then get the best of both worlds.
While yes $21 billion in funding is a lot, it is important to develop and innovate technology to keep soldiers safe. This in turn provides another layer of deterrence against emerging threats.
More more information about emerging technology consider reading Connection Between Web3 And The Metaverse.
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