Rockwell Collins unveils new training system.

• Author: Tadjdeh, Yasmin
• Position: Global Defense

A new "mixed-reality" system developed by Rockwell Collins could greatly improve the fidelity and accuracy of military training, a company executive said.

The product--called Coalescence--is made up of a virtual reality head-mounted display and a synthetic environment, said Nick Gibbs, interim vice president and general manager of simulation and training solutions at the Cedar Rapids, Iowa-based company.

"It's really to enhance human interactive training," he said.

The immersive system can be used in a variety of scenarios, he said. During the National Training and Simulation Association's annual Interservice/Industry Training, Simulation and Education Conference, the company demonstrated a helicopter gunnery simulation.

During the demo, a soldier wearing a head-mounted display could interact with a weapon while Coalescence created a simulated environment, he said.

"If you had the Coalescence on and you were looking around you would see the interior of the helicopter, you would see out the window of the helicopter with the door open. You would see the ground below, the convoys moving," he said.

Additionally, a user could "reload, interact with, handle [and] hold the actual weapon itself as opposed to a simulated version of...