Interactive displays for command and control

The increasingly complex battlefield environment drives the requirement for the presentation and interactive control of the endless stream of information arriving from a diverse collection of sensors deployed on a variety of platforms. Without the benefit of extensive data fusion and correlation to present a true picture of the battlespace from all information sources, the situational awareness picture is, at best, fragmented. Collaboration and interaction is also needed for operators within a control center and among remote geographic locations. The need to display and manipulate real-time multimedia data in a battlefield operations control center is critical to the Joint Commander directing air, land, naval and space assets. The Interactive DataWall being developed by the Advanced Displays and Intelligent Interfaces (ADII) technology team of the Information Directorate of the Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRWIF) in Rome, New York is a strong contender for solving the information management problems facing the 21^st century military commander. It provides an ultra high-resolution large screen display with multi-modal, wireless interaction. Commercial off-the-shelf technology has been combined with specialized hardware and software developed in-house to provide a unique capability for multimedia data display and control