BANC3 proposes to leverage its years of experience designing AR headsets for the commercial and military market to develop a complete headset design package for a rugged, marinized, self-contained AR headset at our secure facility in Princeton, NJ. We will create a package of design documentation such as a design specification, hardware specification, software architecture, mechanical design specification, thermal specification, battery & power specification, and security plan. We will also include a method for two-factor authentication using CAC cards, as well as several 3D drawings of the proposed mechanical design. BANC3 will include in the design documentation a plan and approach for EMI, HERO, high/low temp operation, salt-fog, and water resistance as ruggedization requirements. BANC3 also describes a hardware and software agnostic approach that will enable the headset to be upgraded and modified for years to come. BANC3 also proposes a software/hardware architecture for SLAM (for orientation), 3D object recognition, and AR overlay. We also describe a hardware and software agnostic approach that will enable the headset to be upgraded and modified for years to come. Then, in the Phase I option / Phase II, BANC3 introduces a plan to take the design from prototype to commercial production using our extensive experience in manufacturing commercial AR headsets as well as introducing some of our commercial customers who are urging us to develop a rugged headset. There are many technical challenges for this design. The high and low temperature operating points are difficult for standard COTS hardware to achieve, and battery life under low temperature is degraded by over 50%. Designing a sunlight-readable AR display requires careful planning and understanding of optical design and thermal impact. Ruggedization of this display will need a well thought out mechanical approach. Making a water & salt-fog resistant device requires careful mechanical planning upfront to design seals, input-output ports, and understanding the thermal impact on electronics in a sealed/semi-sealed enclosure. BANC3s latest electronics miniaturization approaches will be required to meet SWAP goals. Finally, a solid understanding of mobile development is necessary to make a headset that can operate for 6-8 hours inside the SWAP goal of 600g. BANC3 believes this limit is challenging for a self-contained headset, but doable based on our measurements of our existing AR headsets. BANC3 describes our approach to solving all significant technical challenges. It then further presents our strategy for meeting the safety and reliability goals of 501.5, 502.5, 509.5, 516.6, as well as the EMI requirements of HERO, MIL-STD-461 and MIL-STD-810. We discuss how we will handle operation in high and low temperature, and how our design will handle salt-fog and water ingress. BANC3 also includes a discussion of how we will design for and test for EMI and HERO related requirements.
Benefit: BANC3 has been developing and selling commercial AR glasses under our brand Thirdeye Gen for the last several years. We currently market and sell the X2 smart glasses, the lowest SWAP full slam AR glasses in the world. We have already shipped hundreds of units to commercial customers across multiple vertical markets. BANC3 has a sales team dedicated to AR glasses, who regularly meet with new customers. They have uncovered a clear and urgent demand for a rugged, water-resistant, and safe AR headset. Consider the following examples. Cummins, the US diesel engine factory, is interested in using our AR SLAM, thermal, and 3D overlay technology to troubleshoot engines on their manufacturing line. However, they have not been able to find an AR headset that is rugged enough for their factory floor. If we could provide them with a rugged solution they would buy at least 1000 units from us. Troia, one of the leaders in power grid equipment manufacturing, is using our AR headsets for outdoor maintenance of power grid equipment. Here they send technicians into the field wearing our glasses and show them what line tower they are looking at, and an augmented view of things like equipment, manuals, and power connections. They need watertight rugged headsets that they can throw in the back of their trucks or use in the rain. They are interested in buying 5000 rugged units from us. These two opportunities alone are worth 12 Million dollars in revenue to us, but we also talked to Manitoba Hydro, BASF, Exxon, Welsh Water, and Shell. These companies represent an additional $60 Million of potential sales of this rugged headset. We also have a significant interest in Navy information Warfare applications from the NIWC in Charleston, SC; aircraft maintenance and vehicle maintenance from the US Army and Air force, and synthetic training and tele-medicine. However, it is not enough to have a sales pipeline. We must also deliver. BANC3 is partnered with one of the largest laptop makers in the world to manufacture our headsets. We can produce tens of thousands of headsets a month with them. Plus, we have already taken two AR headsets from prototype through production. We know what it takes to design a product that can be manufactured at this kind of volume, and we have testing, yield, and process requirements down to a science. At the end of Phase II, BANC3 will have a fully working rugged headset available for the Navy. We will begin tooling our factory for mass production of the commercial version, while our sales team takes prototypes to the above customers. Within 3-5 months after Phase II exit, we will be commercially selling this headset.
Keywords: virtual training, virtual training, ThirdEye, Aircraft maintenance, maintenance, Headsets, SLAM, Smartglasses, Remote Assistance, mixed reality, Augmented Reality
