Virtual reality technology to be offered to security officials

Virtual reality technology from Raytheon Company and Motion Reality Inc., is to be offered to more than 500 public and private law enforcement and border security officials in the Dallas-Fort Worth area, to see how virtual reality technology improves training methods with a variety of lifelike scenarios.

VIRTSIM employs licensed motion-capture technology and is being offered to the law enforcement community as an affordable, 21st century alternative to outdated training practices that do little to replicate real-life situations.

Personnel from federal, state and county agencies, including the Texas Rangers and the U.S. Marshals Service, will attend daylong demonstrations of VIRTSIM throughout June at a Raytheon facility in Plano, Texas.

"The same efficiencies that soldiers gain from training with VIRTSIM are readily applied to law enforcement. We don't have people training with joysticks in their hands, but with realistic weapons in a full, tactical movement environment. They come out sweating and with their hearts pounding."said Glynn Raymer, Vice President of Combat and Sensing Systems for Raytheon's Network Centric Systems business.

The VIRTSIM system applies Motion Reality's patented motion capture technology to allow a tactical team of up to 13 individuals to interactively train with complete freedom of motion. Unencumbered by wires or cables in a 360-degree virtual environment, trainees experience realistic sensory feedback as they interact with live people or avatars. The fully immersive technology can also be networked to allow for larger, simultaneous interactions.

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