The JBLM deployment is part of a $600 million investment by the Department of Defense (DOD) to test 5G at five U.S. military sites. According to a recent DOD press release, this represents “the largest full-scale 5G test for dual-use applications in the world.” Planned projects include implementing 5G-enabled augmented reality/virtual reality platforms for equipment maintenance and repairs, mission planning and training, and use in smart warehouses.

“The JBLM project is an innovative collaboration between 5G providers and AR category leaders like Taqtile,” stated Chris Christou, Vice President at Booz Allen Hamilton. “We expect this project to set a new standard for deploying advanced wireless applications on military installations.”

“We will break new ground through our work with Booz Allen Hamilton, demonstrating the advanced capabilities and tangible benefits of 5G and the Manifest AR platform on a military base,” said Dirck Schou, CEO, Taqtile. “The ability to use Manifest and 5G to put knowledge at the fingertips of frontline military personnel will make them exponentially more efficient and effective at their tasks.”

Manifest can serve as a digital repository for maintenance and repair information, including video and audio “notes,” and related documents. Equipment-specific repair information can be seamlessly transferred between personnel, reducing delays and the risk of human error. Manifest can also automatically upload all saved documents to a centralized maintenance queue for quick access to accurate materials.

This project further deepens a strategic partnership between Taqtile and Booz Allen Hamilton in terms of driving XR capabilities into DoD. “Booz Allen is committed to remaining on the edge, integrating and deploying advanced capabilities for the warfighter,” stated Eric Billies, Booz Allen’s Principal guiding business in the Pacific Northwest that includes delivering immersive solutions for multiple defense clients. “That is why partnering with companies like Taqtile is so valuable – combining applications like Manifest with other technologies including 5G, AI/ML and cybersecurity helps our clients realize the power of XR for mission execution.”

Participation in the JBLM 5G initiative is the latest endeavor Taqtile has been contracted to implement with the U.S. military. The company has been awarded a U.S. Army Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase 1 contract, providing the opportunity for the Army to evaluate Taqtile’s Manifest AR platform in use by motor-pool personnel. Taqtile also recently supported a study with the Air Force Institute of Technology (AFIT) measuring the impact of its AR platform on technician performance. Among the confirmed benefits was a 53-percent reduction in errors and discrepancies by technicians using the Manifest platform.

Read Taqtile’s AREA member profile here.

Global software company TeamViewer (who recently acquired AREA member Upskill) which has just become Mercedes’ third biggest sponsor in its $300 million (USD) total portfolio, works with many industry partners in helping provide Augmented Reality solutions.

Mercedes believes there is scope for AR to help improve the speed of problem solving at grand prix events, help ramp up processes and also reduce expenditure in the cost cap era by it not requiring so many staff to travel to races.

The idea is that the AR systems would allow a direct live contact between personnel working at the track and related staff at factory that would provide a vital link on F1 race weekends.

Asked about the potential benefits by Motorsport.com, Mercedes team boss Toto Wolff said: “Formula 1 is a sport that travels around the globe. And in the same way as we have our race support room, where we have around 30 people that monitor the car, that work in the simulator, and in the wind tunnel to enhance the performance on track, we need to inspect high tech parts, such as the power unit hydraulics components and gearboxes.

“I think having remote access from the factory through the augmented reality possibilities that TeamViewer provide is going to give us an edge.

“The benefits are also that the remote work that we all have experienced in the last 12 months is also helping us to reduce our carbon footprint. We will be able to take less people to the racetrack, because the remote access will allow us to have exactly the same kind of potential in working with our engineers on the track even when they are back at base.” TeamViewer CEO Oliver Steil said that AR had been a huge help in other industries, so was something that could certainly offer opportunities in F1.

“In manufacturing, logistics, repair, inspection, testing healthcare, we have solutions where the worker wears glasses and gets step by step instructions on those glasses,” he explained.

“When you have a very, very complex inspection of an aircraft engine for example, then you can have somebody on call who is a trained engineer but working in a different location – and they work together to solve a problem.

“We have many different use cases. It is really gaining momentum now across industries in a way, to either help people perform more complex tasks or to upskill existing workforces. Or you can just have higher quality, and a faster understanding, of what has worked and how the parts flow works.

“It’s what we’re offering many customers around the world, mostly large enterprises that are deploying the solution. I think over the years, there will certainly be an opportunity to discuss this also in the sports arena.”

Becht was awarded a project to perform a “Repair versus Replace” analysis of failing coke drums at an Indian Refinery.  Due to travel restrictions, the Becht team was unable to travel to the site for field walk-downs and inspections.

Becht utilized an in-country sub-contractor (Ingenero) to perform the walk-down utilizing the RealWear glasses which allowed the Becht experts to be there virtually for important field visits in the absence of being able to visit on site.

Utilizing RealWear smart glasses gave the Becht team a better perspective than drawings and photos ever could.

Read the original case study on Becht’s website.

Read RealWear’s AREA member profile.

Through the use of Area Targets, industrial organisations can create AR interfaces within their facilities to enable employees to better engage with machinery and understand how the environment is being utilised.

More information can be found here https://library.vuforia.com/features/environments/area-targets.html

PTC says that with support from Matterport and Leica 3D scanners, along with NavVis’s indoor mobile mapping systems, Area Targets users can generate “photorealistic, survey-grade digital twins, empowering them to create digital canvases of spaces such as factories, malls, or offices for advanced spatial computing applications”.

As one of the leading emerging technologies, spatial computing powers digital twin renderings to support the activities of machines and people, as well as environments in which they operate.

When deployed across the industrial enterprise, spatial computing enables seamless interactions between employees through AR, enabling companies to close the loop on performance management, improve machine learning capabilities with spatial analytics, and optimise design and factory floor operations,” notes PTC.

“Vuforia Engine Area Targets is a one-of-a-kind solution for large, persistent AR experiences,” said Mike Campbell, Executive Vice President and General Manager of Augmented Reality, PTC.

“Whether users are looking to add navigation to their office building or view in-context data on a factory floor, Area Targets is the answer. We’re pleased to be expanding such a key capability and component of PTC’s spatial computing vision.”

The release of Vuforia Engine Area Targets marks the second Vuforia offering to deploy spatial computing in the form of area targets within the industrial setting, the first being the Vuforia Spatial Toolbox platform.

Combined with the Vuforia Chalk, Vuforia Expert Capture, and Vuforia Studio AR products, the Vuforia AR Enterprise Platform provides what PTC says is a “robust set of offerings that enables users to increase workforce safety and efficiency, improve customer experiences, and reduce costs”.

CooperVision has successfully deployed Vuzix M400 Smart Glasses equipped with LogistiVIEW’s Vision+ augmented reality warehouse software to provide hands-free picking guidance at their 275,000 square foot West Henrietta, New York distribution site, which at any given time stores more than 120,000 different contact lens products.

LogistiVIEW’s Vision+ Software Automation Platform combines the best of traditional picking tools including augmented reality PTL, visual instructions, voice interaction, gesture control, and RF scanning, into a single system.

The combined set of instructions are delivered to the worker intuitively and hands-free through Vuzix M400 AR Smart Glasses, avoiding the need for any bolted down infrastructure. AI and computer vision add an intelligence layer to the process, optimizing tasks and pick sequence for the best possible efficiency.

At the CooperVision warehouse, employees are now using Vuzix Smart Glasses to assist with order picking.

Vuzix’ M400 Smart Glasses equipped with LogistiVIEW’s Vision+ software provides a hands-free solution that is delivering efficiency gains in our operations,” said Michele Bosa, Vice President, Americas Distribution of CooperVision.

“The ability to offer LogistiVIEW’s patented computer vision and AR visualizations on Vuzix Smart Glasses provides customers like CooperVision with a highly flexible solution to boost the efficiency and accuracy of their operations,” said Seth Patin, Founder and CEO of LogistiVIEW.

“The versatility of our M400 Smart Glasses continues to drive customer demand across a wide range of industry verticals and it’s great to see CooperVision using Vuzix M400 Smart Glasses in their Upstate New York distribution center to deliver hands-free productivity gains in their operations,” said Paul Travers, President and CEO of Vuzix.

Read the original Vuzix press release about CooperVision here.

Microsoft will fulfil an order for 120,000 AR headsets for the Army based on their Integrated Visual Augmentation System (IVAS) design. The modified design upgrades the capabilities of the HoloLens 2 for the needs of soldiers in the field.

“The program delivers enhanced situational awareness, enabling information sharing and decision-making in a variety of scenarios,” says Microsoft’s Alex Kipman.

Microsoft says this announcement marks the transition from prototyping these designs to producing and rolling them out in the field.  This is a huge step for Augmented Reality technology.

According to the US Army, the IVAS system is designed to streamline existing vision-enhancing and immersive training capabilities into a single platform.

“The suite of capabilities leverages existing high-resolution night, thermal, and Soldier-borne sensors integrated into a unified Heads Up Display to provide the improved situational awareness, target engagement, and informed decision-making necessary to achieve overmatch against current and future adversaries,” the US Army writes. “The system also leverages augmented reality and machine learning to enable a life-like mixed reality training environment so the Close Combat Force can rehearse before engaging any adversaries.”

Read further information on Microsoft’s Blog

See Microsoft’s AREA profile. 

Through the use of Area Targets, industrial organizations can create AR interfaces within their facilities to enable employees to better engage with machinery and understand how the environment is being utilized.

With support from Matterport and Leica 3D scanners, along with NavVis’s indoor mobile-mapping systems, Area Targets users can generate photorealistic, survey-grade digital twins, empowering them to create digital canvases of spaces such as factories, malls, or offices for advanced spatial computing applications.

As one of the leading emerging technologies, spatial computing powers digital twin renderings to support the activities of machines and people, as well as environments in which they operate. When deployed across the industrial enterprise, spatial computing enables seamless interactions between employees through AR, enabling companies to close the loop on performance management, improve machine-learning capabilities with spatial analytics, and optimize design and factory floor operations.

Read more at the original article. 

The Company has granted the underwriters an option for a period of 30 days to purchase up to an additional 621,951 shares of common stock at the public offering price, less underwriting discounts and commissions. The offering is expected to close on or about March 30, 2021, subject to satisfaction of customary closing conditions. The gross proceeds to the Company from the offering, excluding any exercise by the underwriters of their option to purchase additional shares, are expected to be approximately $85 million, before deducting underwriting discounts and commissions and other offering expenses payable by the Company.

Read the Full press release. 

This looked at how XR technologies can be used to help groups on engineers review their design data collaboratively, at full scale and in-context, from anywhere.

We also showed a video demonstration of Theorem-XR’s Design Review experience, with examples such as manipulating models and capturing design changes live.

If you missed it, you can watch the webinar here.

Through the partnership Arvizio and Sight Power will offer stakeholders a seamless integration of mining data, 3D models and LiDAR scans to be shared between Sight Power’s Digital Mine platform and Arvizio’s Immerse 3D augmented reality solution. The combination will provide the mining industry with an integrated suite of mining operations software and AR to help optimize the mining process by reducing costs, improving efficiencies, increasing productivity, and enhancing safety, according to Arvizio.

Augmented reality technology represents an important aspect of the mining industry’s digital transformation and it is increasingly emerging as a key component to incorporate and visualize mine planning data in the design, operations, resource management, and investor relations processes.

Sight Power’s Digital Mine platform is a system for collecting and processing detailed information relating to all operations and work processes in the mining enterprise. This information, when merged with modeling, monitoring, and distributed sensor systems, offers a cohesive solution to automate daily, routine operations for geologists, mining engineers, mine surveyors, and other specialists, which can help to increase labor productivity and reduce technical errors, according to the company.

Arvizio’s Immerse 3D solution allows 3D models and LiDAR scans to be visualized in AR. Combined with Digital Mine, the two platforms allow for the visualization of LiDAR scans and geological models from mining operations that may cover many miles/kilometers and include multiple layers. Furthermore, Immerse 3D enhances the Digital Mine platform by extending its capabilities to include multi-user, multi-location AR visualization and collaboration in fully synchronized sessions utilizing web meeting platforms such as Microsoft Teams and Zoom.

“Our work with leading mining companies using Digital Mine demonstrated that combining operational technology, monitoring systems, devices and spatial datasets into a single workflow system, streamlines mining operations at every phase,” said Sergey Reznichenko, CEO at Sight Power. “We are delighted to team with Arvizio to integrate Immerse 3D AR visualization into our workflows and use augmented reality to empower stakeholders around the world for a more efficient exchange of information, problem solving, verification of key operations and safety systems in their mining projects.”

Arvizio stated that its Immerse 3D platform extension enhances the capabilities of Sight Power’s Digital Mine technology and can be applied to the following use cases:

• Supporting staff training and equipment repairs to reduce operational costs and downtime;
• Extending Digital Twin capabilities for processing plants for real-time monitoring;
• Real-time virtual presence at mining sites;
• On-going evaluation of mine evolution models to identify issues and avoid costly overruns.