BLUF
The UK Ministry of Defence is supporting research into the metaverse (a virtual environment) to make simulated training more realistic and reduce costs.Summary
A metaverse is a virtual-reality space in which users can interact with a computer-generated environment and other users. Key points in this article:
- The metaverse could be the next iteration of the internet.
- Potentially a one-stop shop to play games, buy digital commodities, go to school, watch the news and meet people.
- It will probably need a massive amount of processing power to avoid crashes.
- Current systems use lots of servers or large manual teams at a high cost.
- Expertise developed in gaming can be applied to military capability.
- Dependant on advanced design in the areas of Virtual Reality, Augmented Reality and Extended Reality.
Defence implications
- Could bring together the varying layers of a simulation, including terrain, satellite networks, IoT devices, and human behaviour.
- Able to change at scale the scenario instantly without direct interaction.
- Overcomes the logistical or practical issues with large scale training scenarios.
- Able to be shared widely.
- Synchronises training allowing weather, terrain and people movement to be highlighted.
