Australian Army Receives Mixed Reality Situational Awareness Solution

To enhance its sensor systems, the Australian Army has been supplied with Vegvisir’s Mixed Reality based situational awareness solution.

This will enable the army to explore whether mixed reality improves the efficiency of platforms that it has converted to uncrewed and optionally crewed vehicles.

Vegvisir’s situational awareness system uses vehicle-mounted cameras, an immersive headset, and supplementary data overlay capability to provide operators a comprehensive ultra-low latency 360-degree view of the surrounding environment.

The Estonian-Croatian Defence Tech start-up provided Army with Vegvisir Remote situational awareness solution equipped with thermal sensors. The system is designed for both remote operation as well as enhancing visibility of crewed platforms. 

The systems provided to Army supported multiple operators managing a fleet of vehicles from a single platform. Among other features, the user interface allows bitrate limitation for each camera, network quality assessment, and custom driving aid lines.

Initial user reports suggest that Vegvisir’s system performed very well, enabling soldiers to have an excellent situational awareness of the battlespace. Vegvisir assesses that the heightened awareness provided by the system enables troops with the tools to navigate complex scenarios and make well-informed decisions on the battlefield.

Vegvisir is available in two versions – Vegvisir Core for manned vehicles and Vegvisir Remote for unmanned or optionally manned ground platforms.

Vegvisir recently showcased its solutions at MSPO, the largest military equipment trade fair in Central and Eastern Europe, where the team provided demonstrations and interviews.

According to Vegvisir’s CEO Ingvar Pärnamäe, there is an untapped innovative potential of retrofitting novel technologies to out-of-service or outdated equipment, adding significant value.

“Instead of sending the obsolete equipment to the junkyard, its life-span can be extended. With hundreds of thousands of armoured platforms produced and phased out globally, there exists a substantial market opportunity to repurpose these assets for uncrewed or optionally crewed capabilities,” he said.

He added that the engagement with the Australian Army is a sign of recognition of the innovation that Vegvisir brings to the battlefield, “Our technology’s ability to integrate with existing platforms like the M113 APC is proof of the versatility and reliability of our solution. We are excited to see our systems support the Australian Army’s mission. 

“Their readiness to invest in modernising their military technology shows that the Australian market is, and will continue to be, a very attractive landscape for defence startups like Vegvisir.”