Enhancing reality: Adaptation strategies for AR in the field

Situational awareness is a crucial aspect for the survivability of combat vehicles and soldiers in the battlefield, as well as for the prevention of fratricide and collateral damage. Optical, radio and acoustic sensors for monitoring the battlefield can significantly increase situational awareness by providing further information to the crew. However, in time-critical situations, a crew can encounter problems when attempting to make meaningful use of this information, as cognitive resources are otherwise occupied during other operations, e.g. controlling a vehicle. Research from various fields clearly indicates that the correct use of Augmented Reality (AR) enables the crew to pay significantly greater attention to the current tasks, while maintaining an overview of the tactical situation. Adaptation strategies for presenting AR symbols as well as a multi modal approach can be used to distribute the workload. This paper deals with the use of AR in the Field, especially in a military context. It describes the practical use of AR, the exploratory methodology for creating new cues and gives an outlook on further possible uses.