[Popular Science of Chinese Military Technology] How does armor perspective technology allow tank soldiers to use "hacks"?

With the progress of the times, the wide area and multi-dimensional characteristics of the battlefield are becoming more and more obvious, and the threat objects are diversified and the firepower strikes are diversified. Only by continuously improving the situational awareness and target detection capabilities of weapons and equipment, and discovering, aiming at, and striking the enemy first, can we gain asymmetric combat advantages on land battlefields. The armored perspective technology that enables armored soldiers to have "eyes of perspective" is one of the "plug-ins" that many countries are currently focusing on developing.

Perspective technology transplanted on fighter planes

Armored soldiers sitting in thick armored vehicles have always had more security than ordinary infantry, but as the saying goes, "a needle cannot be sharp at both ends", being surrounded by steel plates has greatly limited the vision of the members in the vehicle. At present, when the armored equipment in service in various countries needs to close the windows for combat, the crew basically observes the battlefield and identifies targets through periscopes, sights, commander's periscopes and other observation and aiming equipment. Not only is the visual field small and the observation means are single, resulting in weak detection and identification capabilities for large-scale multi-targets, but also the personnel need to stick close to the eyepiece of the observation and aiming device for a long time to operate, the continuous combat capability is insufficient, and the intelligent level of automatic target tracking and identification is low.

This is very dangerous in a complex battlefield environment. In previous wars (especially those in urban areas), there are many examples of armored vehicles being destroyed after the enemy personnel went around their visual blind spots, and vehicle accidents caused by the same reason are also endless.

Pictured: The narrow space inside an armored vehicle (Photo source: NetEase)

Armor perspective technology can effectively solve the above dilemma. This technology is actually transplanted from the sky. In modern air combat, in order to solve the problem of limited vision in the cockpit of pilots, the "photoelectric distributed aperture system" came into being. The system uses multiple photoelectric sensors and helmet displays arranged around the fighter to make the pilot feel like he is in a "VR" world. The cockpit becomes completely transparent, and the line of sight can penetrate the deck at any time, and the situation in front, behind, left, right and below can be seen at a glance.

The same technology can also be used on more down-to-earth armored soldiers. Armored perspective technology uses vehicle-mounted distributed sensor systems and uses information fusion, virtual/augmented reality, communication navigation and other technologies to project battlefield information onto helmet displays or vehicle-mounted displays, allowing armored equipment crew members to gain real-time perception of the external environment through the vehicle armor in a closed or even windowless passenger cabin, and complete tasks such as driving the vehicle and commanding operations.

The magic weapon of armored soldiers to keep an eye on all directions

Pictured: The helmet developed by an Israeli defense giant can provide a virtual 360° panoramic view of the battlefield. (Photo source: Sohu)

Since armor perspective technology can greatly improve the survivability of vehicle crews and the comprehensive combat capability of vehicles, various countries have conducted research on it in recent years and achieved many results. For example, in 2017, the British Aerospace Systems (BAE System) company developed the "Battlefield View 360" helmet display system, which uses a smart helmet and a single transparent glasses display. Through a digital mapping system, 3D map data is integrated with other battlefield information, and a panoramic view of the battlefield is generated synchronously with the movement of the head.

The "Iron Vision" helmet system developed by Israel in 2017 is based on aircraft sensors and system architecture, integrating British commercial helmet displays, perception, C4I and warning technologies, which can collect information from different information sources inside and around the vehicle, and display and track target features of interest to the crew. In July 2018, the US Army Tank Research and Development Engineering Center and Honeywell Aerospace jointly developed a new helmet-mounted stereoscopic vision system. The helmet display system uses cutting-edge technologies such as high-resolution 360° situational awareness sensors, advanced communications, and unmanned aerial vehicles to improve the vehicle platform, replace the windows with helmet-mounted displays, and provide data to the on-board computer through cameras and sensors fixed on the vehicle, which are spliced ​​into coherent images and displayed on the helmet display. It also uses augmented reality technology to superimpose key information from various information sources to enhance the driver's vision.

It is not difficult to see that with the continuous development of technologies such as artificial intelligence, mixed reality, and fusion perception, the application of armored perspective technology will inevitably bring information asymmetry advantages to future combat in complex environments, allowing armored soldiers in the vehicle to see and hear all directions.

About the author: Lan Shunzheng specializes in research and theoretical writing on space strategy, military strategy, and international relations. While serving in the army, he edited and published his first military theory book, "Random Thoughts on National Defense by an Army Sergeant - Soldiers Going Out of the Frontier". While studying for a master's degree at the School of International Relations, he focused on space strategy. Now he often publishes related articles on online media and military magazines. In addition, his second monograph, "Zhenxing Dinghai - Building China's Future Space Military Strategy", has also been published.

Produced by: Science Popularization China

Producer: Guangming Online Science Department

Author: Lan Shunzheng (military science writer)

Scientific review: Fei Boyu (senior military content editor)

Planning: Jin He