I/ITSEC 2024 Day 3: Ukraine A Central Theme Among Exhibitors

This I/ITSEC convened as the Ukraine-Russia war continued and the US and many of its allies and partners were enhancing their cooperation in the Indo-Pacific region. 

Simulation and training companies are responding to lessons learned from this war and other conflicts, and are meeting defense forces’ requirements to increase their services’ training readiness.

On cue, MVRsimulation has unveiled a FPV UAV Simulator to allow training audiences to learn and rehearse skills to operate a quadcopter attack drone on the battlefield. Bert Haselden of the company completed several scenarios for the author that permitted the UAV to engage and defeat targets in a contested battlespace. 

MVRsimulation’s Virtual Reality Screen Generator provided the high-fidelity environment. Bihrle’s high-performance physics-based model, hosted in the company’s DSix environment, was configured to provide the quad-rotor with a forward-facing FPV camera and attached payload – all the makings of a lethal platform!

Brad Barnard, vice president and general manager of Land Systems of Saab, Inc., noted that his company is responding to the US Marine Corps’ two-fold requirement to strengthen its live training capabilities and enhance the training of the services’ forces in the Western Pacific. 

The executive said during Saab’s annual S&T portfolio update that, in one case, his team will install MCTIS  at Marine Corps Base Quantico, Virginia in 2025 and the system on Guam and Okinawa in the next 18-24 months.

Not for Defense Only

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Jeremy Patterson, crane training specialist and product manger at GlobalSim, told the author that a crane operator simulator being demonstrated at the booth helps meet the demand for aspiring operators to “rapidly and efficiently learn – going from zero skills to being qualified.” 

The Sandy, Utah-based company provides this and other simulators to military and commercial customers around the globe.

Vive Focus Vision Meets 2024 I/ITSEC

This October, HTC VIVE released VIVE Focus Vision. Aaron Friedman, marketing manager at the company, said the new headset is an upgrade of the Focus 3 that was released in 2019.

“We have updated this to have mixed reality capabilities,” he initially emphasized.

The Focus Vision’s main attributes include 2448 x 2448 pixels per eye resolution, a 90Hz refresh rate and up to 120 degrees field-of-view. The new device has other notable features including an infrared flood light sensor to support simulations in the dark and eye tracking. The VIVE Focus Vision should find favor with military enterprises eyeing their migration from 4G to 5G networks.

The new headset has private, portable 5G solutions to allow military training that requires high fidelity and low latency. “Our G Reigns solution acts as a pipe to be able to stream 30 headsets as once. This is different from WiFi which can only support three or four,” the executive explained.

AI and Haptics Helping EMPACT III Make an Impact

HTX Labs introduced EMPACT III at I/ITSEC 2024, showcasing a platform designed to support the DoD’s training modernization initiatives. AI is one key underpinning of the latest EMPACT version. Javier Fadul, director of design and innovation at the company, called attention to several uses of AI in EMPACT III. In one instance, AI is being used as an assistant, to empower and not replace, the subject matter expert in the instruction process. “This is hybrid intelligence, giving them the tools to emphasize their knowledge. It allows them to capture it and drive it further,” the executive explained.

A second EMPACT III technology thrust has seen HTX Labs partner with HaptX to take the dynamics of feeling and put it into the EMPACT environment. Andres "Dre" Fournier, vice president of business development at HTX, said his team is trying to create an open environment that allows for other peripherals to be a part of EMPACT. “This is our first foray into that, in addition to hand-tracking and other capabilities we have been working on. HaptX is one of many companies we have been working with to provide actual feeling in these virtual environments.”

First Time Exhibitors with a History

A number of companies were first-time I/ITSEC exhibitors. One company in today’s report was Barcelona, Spain-based Kinnetek, a provider of motion systems. The company’s portfolio includes being the motion base supplier for Entrol’s first full-flight simulator and FAST’s eVTOL simulator, according to Victor Hagstedt, co-founder and CTO and Sergi Vulart de Torres, co-founder and CEO.