The Royal Canadian Navy (RCN) is to test augmented reality (AR) to maintain and repair its ships. This is a significant step forward for the RCN, as AR can technologically revolutionize and financially provide economies of scale in the defense market, says GlobalData, a leading data and analytics company.

According to GlobalData’s latest report: ‘Virtual and Augmented Reality in Aerospace and Defense – Thematic Research’ the aerospace and defense industry is prone to develop Virtual Reality (VR)/AR technologies.

Nicolas Jouan, Aerospace and Defense Analyst at GlobalData comments, “AR, IoT and AI technologies have a lot to bring to defense such as reducing maintenance costs and time, thus improving readiness; by minimizing overreliance in cumbersome manuals and improving training in terms of quality and cost. Engineers and technicians can benefit from VR rooms to simulate systems and platforms designs before starting to fabricate the first piece of hardware.”

RCN’s marine and weapons engineering technicians will test Kognitiv Spark’s software for the Mixed Reality Remote Assistant Support (MIRRAS) solution combined with Microsoft’s HoloLens goggles.

The device will allow RCN’s technical staff to train and maintain and repair the ships. That can be done either with the help of an expert, anywhere in the world, who can see through the HoloLens and communicate with real-time voice and video, 3D holograms and content, as well as live IoT data. If that option is unavailable the technician can access locally-stored data.

Jouan concludes, “With the cost of HoloLenses estimated at $3,000, the economic advantages are significant when compared to the cost of an advanced simulator and the overall cost of training. The time and costs associated with expediting a broken item to a maintenance depot, results in increased combat capabilities, especially when a naval unit is thousands of miles away from its base.”