Lockheed Martin and Verizon have tested a 5G-enabled 3D streaming solution that projects real-time visualization content to devices supporting US Department of Defense (DoD) sustainment missions.
The demonstration is part of Lockheed’s “Maintainer as a Node” concept, a strategy to relay all maintenance-related information to corresponding personnel in latency-sensitive environments.
During the trial, the consortium validated the technology’s prime functions, including complex visualization through augmented, virtual, and extended reality, real-time 3D content streaming, and data transmission to “edge” equipment such as head-mounted displays, tablets, and mobile devices.
The simulation involved a multi-user augmented reality projection of a large 3D computer-aided design airspace to multiple geolocations streaming in real time.
Display receivers comprised a HoloLens integrated with Verizon’s proprietary 5G Edge platform. The company leveraged existing networks to establish communications for the test.
Supporting Future Military Sustainment
According to Lockheed, the demonstration illustrates the importance of streaming methods to enhance future sustainment tasks, accompanying data security, and content efficacy and effectiveness.
“This effort demonstrates how Verizon’s partnership with Lockheed Martin leverages the immense capabilities of 5G and edge computing to transform data streaming and [augmented reality] experiences to produce advanced capabilities for military sustainment operations,” Verizon Product Strategy and Innovation VP Chris Halton stated.
The consortium’s 3D streaming effort coincides with Lockheed and Verizon’s broader partnership to modernize vital 5G-based data-sharing applications for the DoD.
This initiative combines commercial and government technology to improve ”security, resiliency, interoperability and performance” for US military users.
“Streaming is the future, and through our strategic collaboration with Verizon, together we’re advancing crucial 21st Century Security technologies that drive speed, efficiency, quality and reliability where our customers need it most,” Lockheed Martin Skunk Works Virtual Prototyping Senior Manager Marc O’Brien said.
Recent Tactical 5G Projects
The Lockheed-Verizon team conducted a separate test last year to assess their joint 5G-powered drone project.
This demonstration exhibited four rotary-wing drones, corresponding high-speed intelligence surveillance, and reconnaissance data connection designed to detect and geolocate threats.
In March 2022, Lockheed announced it would develop 5G technology to connect communication networks between military vehicles on the battlefield.
The solution’s hardware is similar to a laptop computer with the weight and size of a car battery.