By the Viewpointsystem Editorial Team
Soldiers, special forces, police officers – anyone in the field – often have only fractions of a second to make decisions. With the help of advanced mobile eye tracking, operational forces can train their attention and enhance perception. Nils Berger, Founder & CEO of Viewpointsystem, explains how the technology leads to a better understanding of human perception, as well as increased efficiency and security during operations.
EDITORIAL TEAM: IN WHICH WAY DOES EYE TRACKING SUPPORT THE TRAINING OF OPERATIONAL FORCES?
Nils Berger: With our technology, we help understand if people – regardless of whether they are police officers, bodyguards, or special forces – perceive things in stressful and dangerous situations, or not. This knowledge allows individuals to optimize their behavior during training and education.
During critical situations, much depends on whether we can recognize dangers early or quickly assess scenarios accurately. Unfortunately, our perception is often impaired under stress and in complex situations. Our gaze jumps around, and frequent blinking occurs. However, this is trainable. In stressful situations, it is not always important to perceive as much as possible, but rather to see the right things.
WHAT ARE THE APPLICATIONS?
There are countless possibilities, especially because our smart glasses work in all lighting conditions and are not limited to a specific environment. This allows for practicing hostage rescue scenarios in real-world settings, for example. The same system can also be used in flight simulators without adaptations. In both cases, our technology displays the trainee’s gaze behavior, making it analyzable and interpretable. Thus, we provide users and trainers with an important basis for optimizing their gaze behavior.
Furthermore, our technology is also used for remote support purposes, similar to the industrial sector. For example, remote experts and professionals can assist less technically skilled individuals in repairing vehicles or other equipment.
VIEWPOINTSYSTEM RECENTLY SIGNED AN AGREEMENT WITH GUARDIARIS, A SLOVENIAN PROVIDER OF TRAINING SIMULATORS, FOR THE INTERNATIONAL DISTRIBUTION OF YOUR SMART GLASSES IN THE MILITARY SECTOR. HOW DID THIS COME ABOUT?
We got to know and appreciate each other through the “Advanced Biometrics In Training and Simulation” (ABITS) research project, which is funded by the European Defence Fund (EDF). Guardiaris is a global player and has been active in the field of security authorities and defence for 15 years with incredibly well-designed simulators and platforms. With our capabilities, we can perfectly complement these simulators with the human perspective and integrate our technology into Guardiaris’ offerings – a natural match.
Nils Berger (Viewpointsystem) with Primož Peterca, CEO of Guardiaris, at IT2EC 2023, Rotterdam.
FOR THE ABITS RESEARCH PROJECT, YOU AND YOUR PROJECT PARTNERS RECEIVED €2.23 MILLION FROM THE EUROPEAN DEFENCE FUND. WHAT EXACTLY IS THE PROJECT ABOUT?
Through the EDF, the EU is investing for the first time in industrial, pan-European cooperation projects in the defence sector. A total of €1.2 billion is allocated to 61 research and development projects, including areas such as AI, cyberspace, and semiconductors.
In the ABITS project, together with Guardiaris and Smartex (Italy), we are developing a high-end data-driven indoor training solution. Our technology will be combined with biometric data from other sensors, providing valuable insights into factors such as attention, stress, and cognitive load of the trainee. This allows us to obtain a comprehensive picture of the psychophysical state, which is then integrated back into the training simulation cycle.
The project is conducted in cooperation with the defense ministries of Austria, Slovenia, and Denmark.
A longer version of the interview can be found in the current issue of the magazine “Militär Aktuell“.
