"Eagle Overlook: Compact Recon-Strike System"

·Reading time:
20Min+

·Project production time:
3 months and 8 days.

This project is inspired by the reality of the local war between Russia and Ukraine, in which tactical coordination and ultra-low altitude reconnaissance are found to be very necessary in local wars.
During the research process, it has been found that there are already tactical cell phone based software like ATAK, RAFAEL, TACTICALNAV, and there are also related types of APPs designed for mountaineers and search and rescue personnel, and the latter APPs can be used in military after a little adjustment, and the following is the basic research of this kind of APPs.

·Resarch Question

Affected Groups:
- Military personnel in complex terrains like plains, hills, and jungles.
- Athletes needing real-time location sharing in mountains and forests.
- Search and rescue teams during collaborative missions.

Problem Statement:
- Inadequate real-time communication and information sharing.
- Imprecise real-time location tracking.
- Lack of real-time health monitoring systems.

Problem Context:
- Occurs mainly in battlefields and during sports or rescue missions in challenging terrains.

Incidence Timing:
- During military operations, sports events, or search and rescue missions in complex environments.

Problem Significance:
- Arises due to equipment maladaptation or environmental complexity.
- Crucial for mission success, safety, and health risk mitigation.

Research Outcome:
- Software targeting a niche market, advancing military use of AI, robotics, XR/VR/AR, and wireless communications.

·Further development research

·Data Research

It is concluded that the use of various devices and technological equipment, including but not limited to drones, AI, and military robots, in the military field is increasing year by year, and as of now, the use of high technology in the military field is becoming more and more intense, as exemplified by the high-tech wars found in the current situation of the Russo-Ukrainian war.

·User Research

·Basic personal information of the user

Based on the above application of high-tech technology in war, the author conducts research on users (military commanders or other relevant military personnel) with a sample capacity of 86 (people); and all of them are paramilitary or retired or reserve personnel (retired personnel retired for less than 2 years).

·Functional Requirements Research

·Equipment priority rationing & existing equipment issues:

·indicative price

·Research Context and Findings:

1.Uneven Benefits of Technological Innovation:·Despite significant advancements in war technology, about 25.1% of soldiers in China have not yet benefited from these high-tech innovations.
·There is a substantial demand among soldiers for the application of advanced technology in combat scenarios.
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2.Issues with Current Equipment:Soldiers have encountered problems with the existing hardware and software, including:
a. Excessive weight (50%)
b. Overly complex systems (31.3%)
c. Limited battery life (25%)
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3.Preferences for Technological Updates:·43.8% of military personnel emphasize the need to upgrade tactical mobile phones or their software.·Over 50% value improvements in specific features on tactical mobile phones, particularly regarding supply delivery routes/timings and mission command/unit coordination (50% and 56.3%, respectively).
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4.Budget Considerations for Equipment:·The research indicates a tolerance for equipment costs, with 43.75% suggesting a reasonable price range of 4001 to 7000 RMB.

·Competitive Analysis

At the same time, several brands and companies with the same direction and content as the project were collated and summarised in relation to the direction of the project objectives. We also conducted a series of research on these target companies and brands and produced a corresponding User journey to pave the way for the follow-up work.

·ATAK-CIV (Civil Use)

·Tactical NAV

·Persona

Based on the above, the output of the persona that corresponds to the type of software will be produced in the context of this project.

·Basic design (VI design):

Based on the relevant features of the competitor software after the analysis of the competitor, design the watch, mobile phone App Logo design and peripheral design that meets the original project intent and more effectively expresses the direction and function of the software application.

·Below is a reference to competing logos：

·The relevant designs are as follows：

·Related peripheral VI design:

·UX/UI design results:

·Reference Designs：

·wireframes：

Based on the above case, the software for this project is designed with corresponding wireframes and prepared for further design and polishing in the following.

·Software design for Apple Watch:

In order to ensure the smooth exchange of information between the units in the team, so the design of the watch side of the software.
The port is mainly responsible for the soldiers' individual physical quality score, whether the soldiers in the team are online, the terminal task is issued and other basic related content, which is convenient for the soldiers to retrieve quickly, and at the same time, it provides the commanders of the command headquarters with information on the percentage of feasibility possibilities of the task, and provides basic information for the future battlefield for research and judgement.

·Tactical mobile phone software design:

Based on the above data research and user questionnaire, we know that the demand of relevant users (soldiers and officers) for tasking and viewing, physical status of soldiers, map coordinates determination, air fire or ground fire support is relatively strong.In order to fulfil this kind of demand, we also set up "emergency mode" for soldiers to enter the "emergency state", and then by entering the customised PIN code, we can unlock the application of the emergency mode, and during the emergency mode, the device can't be used and can't be withdrawn. During Emergency Mode, the device cannot be used, nor can it be exited to view other functions of the tactical mobile phone or issue commands.

·Software design for AR/XR end:

(This end-path design is still in the validation phase)

·Reference:

1.BCG. (2018). Global spending on military robotics from 2000 to 2025 (in billion U.S. dollars). Statista. Statista Inc.. Accessed: August 11, 2023. https://www.statista.com/statistics/441960/forecast-for-military-robotic-market-spending-worldwide/

2.Teal Group. (2013). Estimated worldwide production volume for unmanned aerial vehicles (military drones) from 2013 to 2022. Statista. Statista Inc.. Accessed: August 11, 2023. https://www.statista.com/statistics/428911/global-production-volume-forecast-for-unmanned-aerial-systems-or-drones/

3.Next Move Strategy Consulting. (2022). Global revenue of the defense tactical radio market in 2020 and 2021, with a forecast for 2022 to 2030 (in billion U.S. dollars). Statista. Statista Inc.. Accessed: August 11, 2023. https://www.statista.com/statistics/1255861/global-defense-tactical-radio-market-revenue/

4.Perkins Coie. (2019). XR/AR/VR/MR technology and content investment focus worldwide from 2016 to 2019. Statista. Statista Inc.. Accessed: August 11, 2023. https://www.statista.com/statistics/829729/investments-focus-vr-augmented-reality-worldwide/

5.BIS Research. (2021). Military artificial intelligence (AI) and cybernetics market revenue worldwide in 2018 and 2024, by service (in million U.S. dollars). Statista. Statista Inc.. Accessed: August 11, 2023. https://www.statista.com/statistics/1238530/worldwide-military-artificial-intelligence-cybernetics-revenue-by-service/

6.AskCI Consulting. (2022). Breakdown of the Chinese specialized robotics industry in 2021, by segment. Statista. Statista Inc.. Accessed: August 12, 2023. https://www.statista.com/statistics/1350549/china-breakdown-of-specialized-robotics-by-segment/

7.T.REX ARMS, 2020. Move, Shoot, and Communicate with ATAK (and alternatives). [video] YouTube. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WXuQERL_e8M [Accessed 28 July 2023].

8.Springer, J.J., 2023. Offline Maps in Tactical NAV | Tutorial [video]. YouTube. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6n6JzeE4dbs [Accessed 30 July 2023

·Reading time: 20Min+

·Project production time: 3 months and 8 days.