Dayton Daily News

FAIRBORN - Dayta-Ohio, a state-supported center for information technology, said it helped the Air Force Research Laboratory develop a visual data-viewing platform to improve performance by military per-sonnel in combat search and rescue situations.

The center did the work this year under a $350,000 subcontract, part of a larger contract that the Air Force lab awarded to defense contractor Science Applications International Corp., said Terry Rapoch, the center's president.

In previous work, AFRL researchers used a five-sided "virtual visualization space" (with a "floor" and four "sides") to help see and imagine how directional audio signals could be used to help combat search-and-rescue teams. For example, in a maze of city streets, rescuers could wear headphones emitting directional tones to help navigate or to be alerted to a potential threat.

DaytaOhio researchers proposed adding a second virtual environment to provide additional views of a rescue environment, from a building, helicopter or unmanned aerial vehicle, and a multi-screen display to allow commanders to see what is happening in the virtual environments.

DaytaOhio is one of eight Wright Centers for Innovation in Ohio, funded by the state's Third Frontier technology development program. DaytaOhio is located at Wright State University. The center specializes in visual integration of data to help government and commercial customers assess and solve problems.
- John Nolan, Staff writer