One of the advantages provided by 'smart' glasses that include a miniature camera, video display and Internet connection, such as Google Glass, is so-called ‘situational awareness’. This means that the person wearing them can, for instance, call up a map of the immediate surroundings or information about nearby shops and restaurants.
San Francisco-based Osterhout Design Group says it developed a set of smart glasses that could provide ‘situational intelligence’ to military and other security personnel.
With the help of a server, its X6 glasses can display three-dimensional images of maps and nearby objects. They can also be equipped with software that compares human faces with a biometric database, supplying the wearer with intelligence about the person in focus.
The X6 glasses, only slightly bulkier than ordinary sunglasses, are now undergoing testing by the U.S. Defense Department.