Tracking the troops

A vision system that helps soldiers plan a route through the chaos of the battlefield will undergo tests on both sides of the

.

The system, called Primordial Soldier, will provide soldiers with a real-time picture of where troops are in relation to each other and a digital rendering of the route they should follow.

It is about to undergo trials with US special forces and has been bought by the

arm of

. MBDA plans to carry out conceptual research on the system to learn how using such technology affects a soldier's decision-making capability in the field.

Developed by

firm

, the system uses a combination of commercial off-the-shelf hardware and its own patented software. Randy Milbert, Primordial's president, hopes it will eventually be integrated into the US Army's planned Future Force Warrior, an ambitious programme that will use a range of new technologies to create a lightweight combat system for soldiers.