
The integration of the video-game Xbox controller grew out of that effort.

Lockheed Martin and Navy officials have been working to use commercial off-the-shelf technology to reduce costs and take advantage of the technological skills sailors grow up with. It's kind of clunky in your hand it's real heavy." "And one of the things that came out is the controls for the scope. j.g. Kyle Leonard, the USS John Warner's assistant weapons officer, referring to junior officers and sailors. "The Navy got together and they asked a bunch of JOs and junior guys, 'What can we do to make your life better?' " said Lt. There's no barrel to peer through anymore everything is controlled with a helicopter-style stick. They feature high-resolution cameras whose images are displayed on large monitors that everyone in the control room can see.

Share your ideas with us on Facebook or Twitter.It's been replaced with two photonics masts that rotate 360 degrees. So here’s your chance to take a stab at solving real-world problems with simple solutions. Just about everyone can put these practices to test in their everyday life. From Area 51 to the submarine fleet, the future has arrived.ĭoes it seem redundant to use two remotes to turn on your TV? Couldn’t your garage door just open by itself when it senses the car is running? Lockheed Martin’s Area 51 represents home-grown innovation from tech-savvy consumers who grew up in the digital age. And when it’s chow time, not to worry, the table is spill proof.
#VIRGINIA CLASS SUBMARINE CONTROL ROOM WINDOWS#
Imagine various command center data windows called forth with a touch, resized, rotated and “pushed” down the table to support the discussion. In Area 51’s mock wardroom, their table resembles something you see in high-tech futuristic movies: a large multi-touch collaboration surface. And remember, that wardroom space is also your conference room, your dining hall and your recreation area. So what’s next for Area 51? With an increased emphasis on the world’s undersea operational environment, there will be plenty.ĭo you ever get lost in the amount of papers stacked on your desk or workstation? Imagine what a submarine commander has to sift through on any given day. The point is we have an environment in which we can do more than talk about the art of the possible, in here we make it happen.” “And because we try, we get the best, proven solutions to the fleet faster. It may work, it may not,” said Jacob Shultz at Lockheed Martin. “If we have a good idea, we bring it in here and try it out. The Navy’s hunt for solutions to technical challenges include everything from video gaming to smart phones.Īrea 51 flips the concept of developing solutions from scratch on its head by asking, ‘ How might we integrate what already works?’ While the results of these projects are unlikely to rattle any alien conspiracy theorists, the developments are equally ground breaking when it comes to the speed at which proven technologies are introduced to the fleet. Here, tech-savvy sailors deeply familiar with submarine controls work alongside Lockheed Martin engineers to optimize and streamline technologies onboard Navy submarines. Before long, Lockheed Martin engineers started calling the space Area 51. While the technology was off-the-shelf, the projects were kept secret. So how did Lockheed Martin’s Area 51 come about? Around four years ago, Navy and industry teams working in a classified research lab in Manassas, Virginia, were looking at ways to apply technology like multi-touch tables, tablets, Xbox controllers, Kinect and Google Earth to advance the systems already onboard a submarine.
#VIRGINIA CLASS SUBMARINE CONTROL ROOM SOFTWARE#
What you may not know is the Navy’s submarine community is experimenting with its own version of futuristic technology in a small mock control room near Washington D.C.ĭubbed ‘Area 51,’ Lockheed Martin and Navy researchers test how commercial software and hardware can be applied to Los Angeles and Virginia-class submarine control rooms and wardrooms.

You probably know Area 51 as the Air Force’s famed Nevada-based testing ground.
