Coda Octopus has been awarded a follow-on sub-contract from the Applied Research Laboratory (ARL) at Penn State as part of a Naval Sea Systems Command (NAVSEA) program.
The award is for the development of a prototype real-time 3D Head Up Display solution for divers, coined the “3D HUD System”.
The 3D HUD System will feature both real-time 3D sonar imaging hardware and real-time 3D augmented visualization software by Coda Octopus.
The 3D HUD System will feed directly into the Divers Augmented Vision Display (DAVD), a head-up display permitting advanced visualization while underwater at any depth, which was created at the Naval Surface Warfare Center Panama City Division (NSWC PCD).
The DAVD is a high-resolution see-through head-up display (HUD) embedded directly inside the diving helmet. According to Coda Octopus, this new combined capability enabled by its 3D real-time sonar technology – 3D HUD System feeding DAVD – should advance diving operations and missions and bring increased productivity gains and health and safety benefits to these subsea naval operations.
The 3D HUD System prototype is expected to be ready for NAVSEA testing in the second quarter of 2018.
“This application of Coda Octopus’s real-time 3D sonar imaging will provide comprehensive underwater scene awareness and management information in real time, irrespective of low or zero visibility conditions. Further, the 3D subsea information will be delivered in real time to multiple parties involved in the operations, including divers in the water and supervisors on the surface. This represents a first, for both the Navy and sonar industry. The Coda Octopus software will also permit a mixed reality 3D view of the subsea world delivering real-time diver location with head tracking, virtual real-time modeling, and on-demand mission data delivery to the diver supervisor on the surface,” the company explained.