Editing Augmented reality (section)

===Military===
[[File:ARC4 AR System.jpg|thumb|alt= Photograph of an Augmented Reality System for Soldier ARC4. |Augmented reality system for soldier ARC4 (U.S. Army 2017)]]
An interesting early application of AR occurred when [[Rockwell International]] created video map overlays of satellite and orbital debris tracks to aid in space observations at Air Force Maui Optical System. In their 1993 paper "Debris Correlation Using the Rockwell WorldView System" the authors describe the use of map overlays applied to video from space surveillance telescopes. The map overlays indicated the trajectories of various objects in geographic coordinates. This allowed telescope operators to identify satellites, and also to identify and catalog potentially dangerous space debris.<ref name="ABER93">Abernathy, M., Houchard, J., Puccetti, M., and Lambert, J,"Debris Correlation Using the Rockwell WorldView System", Proceedings of 1993 Space Surveillance Workshop 30 March to 1 April 1993, pages 189–195</ref>

Starting in 2003 the US Army integrated the SmartCam3D augmented reality system into the Shadow Unmanned Aerial System to aid sensor operators using telescopic cameras to locate people or points of interest. The system combined fixed geographic information including street names, points of interest, airports, and railroads with live video from the camera system. The system offered a "picture in picture" mode that allows it to show a synthetic view of the area surrounding the camera's field of view. This helps solve a problem in which the field of view is so narrow that it excludes important context, as if "looking through a soda straw". The system displays real-time friend/foe/neutral location markers blended with live video, providing the operator with improved situational awareness.

Researchers at USAF Research Lab (Calhoun, Draper et al.) found an approximately two-fold increase in the speed at which UAV sensor operators found points of interest using this technology.<ref>Calhoun, G. L., Draper, M. H., Abernathy, M. F., Delgado, F., and Patzek, M. "Synthetic Vision System for Improving Unmanned Aerial Vehicle Operator Situation Awareness," 2005 Proceedings of SPIE Enhanced and Synthetic Vision, Vol. 5802, pp. 219–230.</ref> This ability to maintain geographic awareness quantitatively enhances mission efficiency. The system is in use on the US Army RQ-7 Shadow and the MQ-1C Gray Eagle Unmanned Aerial Systems.

In combat, AR can serve as a networked communication system that renders useful battlefield data onto a soldier's goggles in real time. From the soldier's viewpoint, people and various objects can be marked with special indicators to warn of potential dangers. Virtual maps and 360° view camera imaging can also be rendered to aid a soldier's navigation and battlefield perspective, and this can be transmitted to military leaders at a remote command center.<ref>Cameron, Chris. [http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/military_grade_augmented_reality_could_redefine_modern_warfare.php Military-Grade Augmented Reality Could Redefine Modern Warfare] ''ReadWriteWeb'' 11 June 2010.</ref> The combination of 360° view cameras visualization and AR can be used on board combat vehicles and tanks as [[circular review system]].

AR can be an effective tool for virtually mapping out the 3D topologies of munition storages in the terrain, with the choice of the munitions combination in stacks and distances between them with a visualization of risk areas.<ref name=AI>{{cite news |last1=Slyusar |first1=Vadym |title=Augmented reality in the interests of ESMRM and munitions safety |date=19 July 2019 }}</ref>{{unreliable source?|date=October 2019}} The scope of AR applications also includes visualization of data from embedded munitions monitoring sensors.<ref name=AI />