In the past few years, there have been some significant advances in consumer virtual reality (VR) devices. Devices such as the Oculus Rift, HTC Vive, Leap Motion™ Controller, and Microsoft Kinect^® are bringing immersive VR experiences into the homes of consumers with much lower cost and space requirements than previous generations of VR hardware. These new devices are also lowering the barrier to entry for VR engineering applications. Past research has suggested that there are significant opportunities for using VR during design tasks to improve results and reduce development time. This work reviews the latest generation of VR hardware and reviews research studying VR in the design process. Additionally, this work extracts the major themes from the reviews and discusses how the latest technology and research may affect the engineering design process. We conclude that these new devices have the potential to significantly improve portions of the design process.

Virtual reality (VR) technology has experienced a recent surge in popularity over the past few years and is finding more applications beyond entertainment. Three dimensional modeling is an application in which integration with VR technology is still in the development stage. The focus of this research is to evaluate the feasibility for computer-aided design in VR and to identify the best set of features for virtual reality modeling and practices in this new domain. A platform for testing CAD in VR is developed through the integration of CAD software with a game engine and compared against traditional CAD methods through testing. Modeling capabilities included previews, creating solid rectangular prisms and spheres, lock to grid, and cuts of similar shapes. User testing with four different models (i.e. chair, maze, truck, sculpture) and survey responses suggest respectively that design in virtual reality promoted greater creativity in modeling, allowed for a greater feature creation rate, and that a slight majority of test participants preferred modeling in VR compared to traditional CAD applications.

The increasing proliferation of small unmanned aircraft systems (sUASs) is forcing a paradigm shift in military doctrine surrounding counter-sUAS and sUAS deployment tactics. This work describes an agent-based model that incorporates established infantry small unit tactics with the ability to deploy sUASs to aid in surveillance and indirect fire targeting. The model is based on current military doctrine and real warfighter experiences and is presented as a foundation from which additional simulation capabilities and analyses may be created. A series of randomly generated situations sets a defending force with the potential to have sUAS capabilities against a superior attacking force without sUAS capabilities. A control case considers defenders without sUAS capabilities. In six experimental cases, defending forces deploy a single sUAS in one of six patrol patterns as a surveillance and indirect fire targeting tool. Subsequent analysis reveals that sUASs generally increase the odds of defender survival during an engagement and that short-range, concentrated patrol patterns lead to higher odds of defender survival and increased indirect fire opportunities. A battery of analyses showcase the model’s capabilities in terms of exploring novel sUAS implementation strategies and illustrating the impact of those strategies over a range of combat effectiveness metrics.