Air Force Air Combat Command installs SMART Board for Flat-Panel Displays interactive overlays.

SMART Technologies Inc. has announced the recent installation of SMART Board for Flat-Panel Displays interactive overlays at several United States Air Force Air Combat Command (ACC) bases located throughout the U.S. The interactive overlays have been bought as part of ACC's Briefing Room Interactive (BRI) initiative designed to assist warfighters in preparing for flight missions. The purchase of these 16 new devices from SMART reseller SJR Associates in Virginia Beach, VA, adds to the 144 existing SMART products already in use in the ACC BRI program.

ACC started the switch from paper briefs and wooden, pull-out display boards to SMART Board interactive whiteboards and SMART Board for Flat-Panel Displays interactive overlays in 1999. For years, pilots used wooden cabinets in briefing rooms to display mission planning and flight debriefing information. Quick updates were impossible, and pilots often did not have access to the latest information while planning training missions or debriefing after a flight. Today, pilots stand at the front of the briefing room to give presentations packed with real-time information using interactive whiteboards and overlays. They control computer applications simply by pressing on the touch-sensitive surface of the interactive whiteboard. Selecting a pen from the SMART Pen Tray, pilots can write over any application using either their finger or the pen. No special tools are required to operate SMART's interactive whiteboards and overlays. Personnel can annotate over maps and interact with simulation software during training sessions by touching the display. Real-time weather information including wind speed, cloud cover and stages of the moon for night missions is available at their fingertips. Briefing materials such as maps, charts and grid displays are quickly created and then reused by student pilots and flight instructors.

"Briefing Room Interactive represents a perfect application of the SMART Board interactive whiteboard and the SMART Board for Flat-Panel Displays interactive overlay," says Nancy Knowlton, president and co-CEO of SMART. "We are constantly working to develop better functionality and technology so our interactive products remain training tools of choice for the military."

"The SMART Board interactive whiteboard is the greatest briefing tool that I have seen in 30 years of working these types of projects," says Ron Carr, ACC's Computer-Based Training manager and command BRI expert. "Not only does it save time and money in preparing our flight crews for flight operations, it also enhances the overall learning experience for all our students and instructors. It helps explain concepts during the briefing and presents complex operations more clearly, enhancing retention and learning among our student pilots."