We’ve all seen the dangers of war, whether it be in the news, movies or in video games where we get to virtually immerse ourselves in simulated military operations. 通过A和B、X和O键的各种组合，我们可以制定行动策略，向目标移动并消灭对手。
在我们日益数字化的世界中，威尼斯人娱乐城的一位教授正在探索如何最大限度地利用虚拟体验为现实生活中的军事行动服务。
朱力副教授是著名的人工现实和虚拟现实（AVR）研究专家，他正在利用位于罗伯特W.石膏自由企业和研究中心的新AVR空间，帮助将虚拟战争带入现实。
It’s only fitting that as a war history buff – he can identify nearly every WWII aircraft – Li would be working with the United States Department of Defense and the U.S. Air Force to develop a 3D technology to give soldiers a new set of eyes on the battlefield. Using point cloud compression and communication — a way of compressing and transmitting volumetric visual data to present the real world in 3D — soldiers will be able to literally see the enemy from a mile away.
“The idea is to virtualize special forces in warfare because soldiers get air dropped into hostile-raging situations,” Li says. “Normally there’s no way to tell what they’re getting into, but with this new equipment soldiers don’t have to risk their own life. They send an unmanned aerial vehicle, or drone, with 360 cameras and 3D sensors, and the soldier can navigate the cameras and find the target based on information transmitted back.”
为了实现这一点，无人机需要3D传感、信息捕获和压缩以及通信，以便将其实时呈现给不同的设备。 It’s the same kind of technology used in military[1]themed video games — goggles included — but reconfigured for real-life scenarios.
“It’s like they’ll have virtual eyes and ears in the battlefield. … They can be anywhere on the battlefield and have precise 3D information about the situations, buildings, vehicles, people, everything,” says Li, comparing it to Google Maps’ street view with added 3D elements.
Having a 360-degree view gives soldiers the freedom to navigate the virtual world and be able to walk around and scope out what’s ahead.
“Number one, it’s safer and, two, it’s more effective because human eyes and perceptions are limited. 有了这项新技术，你可以看得更远，更容易识别目标。 You have more accurate positioning,” Li says.
He’s still doing the algorithm research, so it will be another three to five years before it’s sent off to produce a prototype. 但是，李说，去石膏中心最先进的3D和AR/VR技术将使他能够进一步开展这项研究。