Air C2 Center of the future: 3D immersive approach for air operations

Thales is developing a new way of displaying and sharing complex Air C2 situations, using full 3D immersion technology, to better enhance collaborative work.

What is it?

The Air C2 Center is a new way of displaying information in real-time in fully immersive environments. The system not only displays particular environments, but also enables you to interact with all of the objects contained within these environments. On top of this, the environments and situations can also be shared with other actors situated thousands of kilometres away.

How does it work?

Thales works with a partner, TechViz, who help create the 3D immersive environments based on scenarios and information supplied by Thales. Our system can be connected to 3D screens and to immersive headsets that enable other decision makers to follow the action and make decisions, even if they are not in the same location as other commanders. Users wear 3D glasses, and have a point and click joystick to interact with objects.

What is its purpose?

The system lets operational units at military air operations centres work in a fully immersive 3D environment to strengthen collaboration between operators. Here the operators are not observers, but are real actors in the scene. Being fully immersed they can see exactly what is happening and make the appropriate decisions in real time.

Although we are demonstrating an Air C2 environment today, this technology is also applicable to other armed forces and even to civilian markets. In fact, it can be used anywhere where there is a necessity for command-and-control support.