GRILL personnel participated as SMEs in the United States Air Force (USAF) AFWERX Super Goggle Challenge to explore solutions for high-performance, multi-capable extended reality head mounted displays (XR HMD). Dr. Wink Bennett, Dr. Summer Rebensky, and Mr. Quintin Oliver provided expertise on hardware design, data collection, and output capabilities for research. The challenge had three focus areas:

• Architecture, prioritizing compatibility with open XR standards as well as flexible and modular upgrade and integration capability.

• User experience, emphasizing cutting-edge visual capabilities, control of visual perception of time of day, ease of use across multiple Department of Defense branches, and use cases with durations of up to 3 hours.

• Hardware for the HMD, considering technical requirements (e.g., refresh rate, field of view, resolution), comfort, tracking accuracy, upgradability, and Sensitive Compartmented Information Facility (SCIF) compatibility.

The Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) 711th Human Performance Wing (711 HPW), which includes the  Human Effectiveness Directorate (RH) and the US Air Force School of Aerospace Medicine (USAFSAM), and AFRL Directorates regularly partner with the GRILL to create training tools, testbeds, and prototypes. Additionally, upgraded capabilities of the Calamityville digital twin garnered interest from AFRL stakeholders leading to overhaul of GRILL demonstration space in Building 852 at the Wright-Patterson Air Force Base to showcase training demo capabilities (more details under the Wright State University's Calamityville collaboration section).

For more information on the projects and efforts, please click the link to read more. Information on Wargames and similar projects can be found on the Wargames project page. 

711th Human Performance Wing, Airman Biosciences Division

• Collaborative evaluation of OpenBCI Galea VR headset 

• VR Straining

711th Human Performance Wing, Cognition and Modeling Branch 

• NOCTRUNAL NVG 

711th Human Performance Wing, Directed Energy Division, Optical Radiation Bioeffects Branch

• C-130 Laser

• Identify Friend or Foe

• GLIMMER

• Laser Eye Protection

• VR Elevated Radial Maze

• VR Laser Dazzle

• XR Laser Dazzle

711th Human Performance Wing, Warfighter Interactions and Readiness Division

• SkyCargo Express

• Watchstanders 

AFRL Aerospace Systems Directorate 

• UAV Digital Drone 

AFRL Materials and Manufacturing Directorate

• BEHAVE

• HoloLens Non-Destructive Inspection

USAFSAM

• Biosafety Level 3 Virtual Twin Lab

• SABLE

• Virtual Medical Kit 

• VR Trauma Exam

In 2022, the GRILL collaborated with the United States Air Force Academy (USAFA) to establish GRILL WEST. Working with the USAFA faculty, cadets are identified who will travel to the Dayton GRILL facility for their Cadet Summer Research Program (CSRP) assignment. While at the GRILL, the cadets can contribute to technology evaluations and provide feedback to the Wright Scholars. These cadets work on a challenge problem for their capstone project senior year, which result in awards, publications, and integration of a project into a core course. Cadets also work with the GRILL West site during the academic year to expand upon summer efforts. Several projects have come from this collaboration. 

Click here to learn more!

The GRILL has collaborated with the United States Air Force (USAF), including the Air Education and Training Command (AETC) and Air Force Life Cycle Management Center, as well as the United States Space Force (USSF), on summer challenge problems, prototypes and testbeds, and research initiatives. Several projects have transitioned into training programs and other efforts.

For more information on the projects and efforts, please click the link to read more. Information on Wargames and similar projects can be found on the Wargames project page. 

USAF Guardian Angels, with the USSF

• SpaceX Dragon Capsule

Air Force Life Cycle Management Center (AFLCMC)

• Aerial Refueling

Department of the Air Force, GeoBase Program

• RAPTOR

• VISTA

Joint Base San Antonio-Lackland, TX, 37th Human Performance Squadron

• Heat Casualty 

Lackland Air Force Base

• FLARE

Sheppard Air Force Base

• Flight PASS

Survival, Evasion, Resistance and Escape (SERE) school at Fairchild Air Force Base

• Parachute Simulator

USAF Academy (USAFA), with the USSF

• Satellite Proximity Operations 

The GRILL is proud to work with many US government entities to bring projects to life. Some projects are linked below, although many projects are not cleared for online distribution.

Department of Defense (DoD) Defense Language Institute Foreign Language Center

• CLAIM

National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA)

• GLIMMER

National Air & Space Intelligence Center

• Pollution Damage Simulator

The summer challenge problems are not limited to military/government sponsors! Industry has also participated, sometimes in collaboration with miliary partners. The following industry collaborators have contributed to summer challenge problems:

Aptima

• Teams in Danger

O'Neil and Associates, Inc.

• AR Maintenance Trainer (2020)

• AR Maintenance Trainer (2021)

SoarTech

• Watchstanders

As an AFRL facility, the GRILL scientists and engineers are often called upon to participate in international working groups. International institutions also partner on summer challenge problems and other activities. 

• The XR Laser Dazzle summer challenge problem was supported by the Fraunhofer Institute of Optronics, Germany, the Royal Military Academy of Belgium, and the NATO Sensors and Electronics Technology (SET)-323. 

• GRILL personnel have participated in NATO Modeling and Simulation Group (NMSG) research and publication efforts, including Guidelines for Mitigating Cybersickness in Virtual Reality Systems and The Development of a Common Conceptual Framework for the Assessment of Extended Reality (XR) Technologies in Training and Education. 

• GRILL research efforts were presented to the ICAO Personnel Training and Licensing Panel Working Group 3 - Flight Simulation Training Device (FSTD) and Simulation Training Device (STD) on benefits and challenges of using extended reality devices in flight training.  

Academic researchers have contributed to the GRILL through summer challenge problems and through fellowships sponsored by the US Department of the Air Force Summer Faculty Fellowship Program (SFFP). Collaboration with the GRILL allows researchers to develop training prototypes and testbeds over the summer with GRILL personnel and Wright Scholars. Then, the researchers can continue to work on the efforts at their institution and iterate with the GRILL computer scientists and engineers. These research collaborations have resulted in strong relationships that can last several years. 

These projects and activities will be updated as more information is added online. Interested in being involved? Please use the form to contact us! 

Air University – Leadership & Innovation Institute

• Multi-Player Educational Role Playing Game

Kent State University

Purdue University

Sinclair Community College 

University of Dayton Research Institute

Located at Wright State University, Calamityville allows military and government collaborators and first responders to train skills, test new technology, and conduct research in a realistic yet controlled environment. The GRILL has partnered with Calamityville on several initiatives, including:

• A digital twin of Calamityville as an environmental Unreal plugin, created as an easy integration with high visual fidelity and scalability.

• Blended Training Demo Days, demonstrating the capabilities of game engine technology and partnership between Wright State and the GRILL. The Demo Day featured the Calamityville digital twin integrated with the Mixed-reality Environment Advanced Threat Simulator, GRILL Open-Dis Plugin, Cesium round earth model for Unreal, and the virtual reality parachute simulator. 

• A visualization of performance enabled operational training environment (PEOTE) concept, incorporating the Calamityville digital twin and other locations created in Unreal to showcase synthetic light detection and ranging (LiDAR) scanner.

• A project that blends Calamityville and GRILL assets in a live, virtual, and constructive (LVC) scenario with multiple actors and sims interacting with each other using the Open-DIS Plugin. This project is also used in the Mixed-reality Environment Advanced Threat Simulator to display network traffic (e.g., real-life vehicles driving, virtual air vehicles flying, chalk explosions, a gas-powered .50-caliber gun) using Unreal Engine with 3D models in a high-fidelity environment.