b'Partner News Autumn 2023 37CorporateAugmentedThe technology was put to the test in sea trials carried out with Southampton University, one of the Combat Systems strategic partners, using their research vessel Callista and its on-board navigation Reality at sea and sensors. Our Combat Systems Technologist in Naval Ships at BAE Systems, explains more: To show you the correct information, AR glasses need to know where youre facing, as well as your movement in relation to your surroundings. On a ship, youre also moving through the water, turning to port or starboard, as well as pitching and rolling How technology by BAE Systems could transform the with the movement of the sea, so youve got way Royal Navy officers keep watch an extra set of axes to consider. AR headsets are typically used in static environments, but we were able to overlay tactical picture information on the view Recent sea trials carried out by BAEFocusing on the digital advantage through the headset and show that it Systems have proven that AugmentedThe Combat Systems team at BAE Systemstracked objects while both the user and the Reality (AR) can advance the way Royalhas been investing in the application ofvessel were moving.Navy officers keep watch on a shipsAR to the Naval domain as part of a wider bridge. investment in combat systems technology.While there is some further work before this Their approach uses the Microsoft HoloLenssystem can move into the operational world, A watch officer on the bridge bears a2 headset integrated with their own controlit shows that AR can address complex huge responsibility. Theyre entrustedand visualisation software, to provide achallenges at sea and that the potential with the ships safety and navigating itsuser-friendly solution in demanding seato use it in different applications across a safe passage in all circumstances andconditions. Naval ship is enormous.conditions. But their role can be a difficult one, requiring timely and accurate decision making. This decision making is often hindered by poor weather and restricted visibility and officers are heavily reliant on information from their operations team located elsewhere on the ship.AR has tremendous potential for overcoming many of these obstacles. When an officer looks out of the window at a real-world object, they can use the AR headset to interact with the combat management system in real time to find out critical information about what theyre seeing.It means the officer can spend more time maintaining a heads-up visual lookout without having to refer to a fixed console or rely on clarifications from the operations team. Crucially it gives them better situational awareness to deal with difficult and rapidly changing situations more effectively.Despite this game-changing technology, its hard to make something flexible enough that works well in challenging maritime environments. Thats why the recent sea trials offer a huge step forward.'