The Evolution of Army Wearable Computers
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WEARABLE COMPUTING The Evolution of Army Wearable Computers In 1989, the US Army envisioned a small wearable computer to assist soldiers with battlefield tasks. The concept has since grown from preliminary prototypes and a demonstration Soldier’s Computer into the current Land Warrior program and proposals for future systems. earable computers will soon data transmission, image capture, integrated Global become a reality on the battle- Positioning System (GPS) receivers, and menu- field for frontline troops, under driven software. the US Army’s Land Warrior In 1990, Schoening and Zieniewicz teamed up program. Here, we trace the with John Flatt, Sal Barone, and Almon Gillette to Wevolution of Army wearable computers, from the ini- demonstrate an early surrogate system, the Soldier’s tial concept and first prototype, through downsiz- Computer, at the Army Material Command’s first ing and improvements, to future product directions. trade show in Aberdeen, Maryland (see Figure 1). We focus on two major programs central to the The Soldier’s Computer employed an Agilis brick- Army’s development of wearable type 386-based computer with an integrated packet Matthew J. Zieniewicz, Douglas C. computers: the Soldier Integrated radio system, which soldiers could load into their Johnson, Douglas C. Wong, and Protective Ensemble (SIPE) and backpacks. The system was relatively lightweight John D. Flatt the Land Warrior system. As the for the time, at approximately 10 pounds. It also Research, Development, and Engineering Land Warrior program nears included software for creating reports and display- Center, US Army Communications fruition, the Army continues to ing battlefield situation maps. Electronic Command advance the state of the art for In addition, a serial interface to an external GPS wearable battlefield computers. receiver let soldiers see their position on a map. The map was displayed on a ruggedized (metal case) hel- Early beginnings: The Soldier’s met-mounted quasi-VGA (720 × 280) display Computer (Reflection Technologies’ Private Eye display). It The history of Army wearable computers has its used a vibrating mirror and red LEDs to compose a roots in 1989 with James Schoening, a research ana- virtual 14-inch monochromatic (red-on-black) dis- lyst working at the US Army Communications Elec- play. Soldiers used a trackball for input and could tronics Command (CECOM), Research Develop- enter and transmit simple reports to other units. ment and Engineering Center (RDEC). (See the The system was a resounding success in demon- “Glossary” sidebar for terms used in this article.) strations to senior Army leaders and congressional Schoening envisioned a small wearable computer, staff members. integrated with a wireless link and helmet-mounted The next iteration of the Soldier’s Computer shifted display (HMD), that could help individual soldiers from a proprietary brick design to an open sys- on the frontline. Working with Matt Zieniewicz, tem–bus wearable design. The Natick Soldier Center Schoening transformed his idea into a system archi- in Massachusetts incorporated this concept as a tecture with targeted technologies, such as wireless key component of its SIPE Advanced-Technology 30 PERVASIVEcomputing US Government Work Not Protected by US Copyright Glossary C4ISR Communications, command and control, computing, intelligence, Demonstration. The SIPE project, led by sensors, and reconnaissance Carol Fitzgerald, was the first time the Army CECOM Communications Electronics Command treated the various combat equipment com- HMD Helmet-mounted display ponents for the individual soldier as one IPT Integrated process teams integrated system rather than as a con- JCF AWE Joint Contingency Force Army Warfighting Experiment glomeration of individual components MDSE Mission Data Support Equipment (SIPE also included other advanced com- ORD Operational Requirements Document ponents in the areas of the fighting uniform, RDEC Research Development and Engineering Center load-bearing equipment, weaponry, and SIPE Soldier Integrated Protective Ensemble thermal imaging).1 TWS Thermal Weapon Sight The prototype design for the SIPE pro- WSS Weapon subsystem ject began in earnest in the spring of 1990. At that time, wearable computers were in their infancy. Steve Mann at MIT had pro- Figure 1. The Soldier’s Computer at the duced some early wearable computers,2 Army Material Command’s first trade show and during the summer of 1991, Carnegie in 1990. Note the small helmet-mounted Mellon University developed its VuMan VGA display. The visible cord is the VGA project,3 but the SIPE computer approach feed from the computer to the display. differed from the typical research project. The military still uses this monocular As part of a new digitized battlefield con- concept in an improved form. (The small cept, it aimed to implement desired battle- stub antenna for the integrated spread- field functions through technical means spectrum packet radio is not visible.) rather than explore an advanced technol- ogy and then develop an application for it. This key difference influenced the entire design process. Functionality and requirements The design team (see the “Soldier’s Com- Because this was the Army’s first attempt puter Design Team” sidebar) had to to bring computing devices to the individ- develop features (such as video capture) ual soldier, there were no preset system that could operate in a rugged environment. requirements, and users did not have spe- In simulated war-game exercises, actual sol- cific functions in mind. Initial brainstorming diers planned to test the system (10 proto- with the Infantry School—led by the sys- types) over several weeks in various out- portable display unit, preferably helmet tem’s software engineer, William Sanchez— door environments and during live-fire mounted. The time frame for developing developed key desired functions (listed in exercises. With this in mind from the out- the system was 24 months, with the last the next paragraph). At the time, none of set, the design team aimed to develop a three months reserved for field testing and the functions were commercially available portable, wearable battery-powered com- demonstrations. The budget for the com- in portable computers, but most were avail- puter with suitable battlefield applications puter-radio-GPS portion (exclusive of the able through various stand-alone electronic software. The computer needed to include helmet display unit) was US$500,000, or computer components. The challenge image capture, an integrated radio for including all labor, materials, software was to integrate these piecemeal compo- transmitting data between soldiers, and a development, and prototype construction. nents into a lightweight package that could Soldier’s Computer Design Team umerous engineers lent their support throughout the Sol- James Wright, project leader; Almon Gillette, packaging, electrical, N dier’s Computer effort, but certain key personnel ensured and mechanical interfaces; and Eric Hall, networking. In addition, the success of developing the computer-radio-GPS system. The Carl Klatsky provided valuable assistance during the final prototype core technical team members were Matt Zieniewicz, project construction and system checkout phase, and James Schoening leader, system architect, and video capture and compression spe- continued to work with the Infantry School on requirements; his cialist; William Sanchez, chief applications development software guidance and insight were essential throughout the project to engineer; John Flatt, networking and communications engineer; develop system concepts. OCTOBER–DECEMBER 2002 PERVASIVEcomputing 31 WEARABLE COMPUTING achieve the desired result without being too Engineering Laboratory, and Natick engi- minute intervals, along with digital reports bulky and cumbersome or requiring too neers and project leaders. Fortunately, the and captured still images, to a central gate- much power. The team decided early on to initial software’s functionality proved very way unit over an FM packet radio with a evaluate the best commercial components useful, and in fact, the Army later used it as range of up to one mile. At this fixed-gate- in each area (video capture, GPS, data com- the basis for the Land Warrior production way base station, messages were relayed munications, networking software, storage systems. (between two fixed, not mobile, stations) media, operating systems, programming to the Novell server over a wireless link languages, bus interfaces, and processor System architecture using a wireless LAN card. The soldiers boards) and then make trade-offs to arrive To satisfy the functionality required for used the FM radio because it offered an at the best possible system architecture. the Soldier’s Computer and its electronics increased range over a wireless LAN sys- They incorporated the functionally derived subsystem, the system team included the tem, and the packet mode better compen- hardware requirements in a custom hous- following key hardware components: a sated for intermittent connectivity. (LANs ing, developed within RDEC’s drafting, computer processor with memory, a GPS did not operate well under intermittent design, and fabrication division. receiver, a data radio, a video capture sys- conditions at that time, owing to the net- The new system aimed to digitize basic tem, a digital compass, a miniature color working technology’s limitations.) During battlefield operations to help soldiers camera, a video controller subsystem,