Harnessing the Power of Virtual Reality in the NOC

The control room industry is rapidly evolving, and one of the latest innovations in the space is virtual command centers. On this episode of the NOC Your SOCs Off podcast, Mark Templeton, founder of Headwell VR, joins Dan Gundry to explore this emerging technology and its potential applications.

Templeton began by providing some background on his company. He was one of the original employees of SVSI, which began in 2008 with a mission to deliver high-resolution professional video over a standard IP network. At that time, IP distribution was not yet widely adopted in the AV industry due to bandwidth limitations. However, over time, SVSI’s vision proved its worth as bandwidth increased and more unique applications emerged.

Headwell VR was developed by AV professionals who were looking ahead to what might be possible in command center operations. They recognized that physical command centers have limitations on real estate and pixel size due to physical space constraints. To address this issue, they created an immersive virtual reality platform that allows remote operators to have unlimited access to dashboards, software tools, video assets, and GIS assets during an incident response scenario.

Instead of requiring viewers to wear headsets for extended periods of time, Headwell VR uses mixed reality overlays over existing remote operator workspaces. This allows operators to access all their content within seconds without any discomfort. The technology is tailored towards quick response scenarios, such as those encountered in public safety incidents, where there isn’t always enough time available before action needs to be taken.