NATO - Virtual Reality State of Military Research and Applications in Member Countries (2003)

Abstract

NATO Research Study Group 28 RSG 28, flow Human Factors and Medicine, HFM-2l, was established to 1 identify human factors issues involved in the use of VR technology for military purposes 2 determine the state of knowledge with regard to those issues and 3 recommend a research agenda that will address critical questions and enable effective products to be produced to meet the militarys needs. HFM-21 has adopted the following definition for its use of the term Virtual Reality Virtual Reality is the experience of being in a synthetic environment and the perceiving and interacting through sensors and effectors, actively and passively, with it and the objects in it, as if they were real. Virtual Reality technology allows the user to perceive and experience sensory contact and interact dynamically with such contact in any or all modalities. This is the final report of the Research Study Group RSG on Virtual Reality Applications. A summary is presented of three conferences Workshop on Human Performance Metrics, at Chertsey, Surrey, UK, 15 October 1996 Conference on The Capability Of Virtual Reality To Meet Military Requirements, at Orlando, Florida, USA on 4, 5 8 December 1997 and Conference on Industry Capability at The Hague, The Netherlands on 13 - 15 April 2000. Conclusions are drawn and recommendations presented in this report. In addition, member nations present a summary of where they were in VR when RSG-28 was established, and where they are as HFM-21 draws to a close.