January 23, 2021 –
The US Army Combat Capabilities Development Command (DEVCOM), Army Research Laboratory (ARL), has recently announced that it is employing the use of augmented reality (AR) overlays in its research for the detection of roadside explosive hazards, such as improvised explosive devices (IEDs), unexploded ordnance and landmines.
Route reconnaissance in support of convoy operations remains a critical function to keep Soldiers safe from such hazards, which continue to threaten operations abroad and continually prove to be an evolving and problematic adversarial tactic. To combat this problem, ARL and other research collaborators were funded by the Defense Threat Reduction Agency, via the ‘Blood Hound Gang Program’, which focuses on a system-of-systems approach to standoff explosive hazard detection.