Imagine that you're an astronaut aboard the International Space Station, repairing an intricate piece of equipment. You'd like to consult the documentation, but you're in a cramped section of the cabin with little room for flipping through a manual, and your hands are busy anyway, keeping electronic components from floating away.

One of the proposed headset designs.

"Access RS-753 schematic," you say, and the appropriate diagram appears on a small screen attached to your headset, positioned conveniently in front of one eye.

"I think I see the problem," says a voice in your earpiece. It's the principle designer of the device, sitting comfortably in her office in Pasadena. She taps a command on her computer, and a tiny camera on your headset pivots and zooms in for a closer look at the instrument. "See this circuit right here?" she asks.

"Access Dr. Whitley," you say, and the screen in front of your eye replaces the documentation page with a live picture of the engineer, who points to a section of the duplicate device on her desk. "Yes," you reply, "I see it."

You're using the WARP communications system. WARP (Wireless Augmented Reality Prototype) is a personal communications interface (not a wearable computer) designed to link members of a space crew with each other, with people on Earth, with computers containing needed information, with sensors monitoring their own vital signs and those of the spacecraft, with robotic arms they need to manipulate, and with just about anything else they may want to access.

Ahead, WARP III

Currently in Phase III of its development, the WARP system includes a headset, attached by cable to a small pack that links wirelessly with a base station, which in turn serves as a router that relays information to and from whatever connection is desired. It responds to voice commands for hands-free use.

The headset sports an earpiece and microphone, a small camera, and a color monitor with SVGA (800x600 pixels) resolution. The ergonomics for the ultimate design are under study at the Johnson Space Center.

The Phase II linking unit. The Phase III model will be the size of a cell phone.

The linking unit, worn on the hip, is being reduced to the size of a cell phone, down from the Phase II dimensions of a large paperback book.

The base unit, which is about the size of a bread box, is being designed to accommodate up to eight users (the original crew compliment for the International Space Station). It conveys information via a packet switching network, similar to the system used for the Internet.

Any number of devices will be able to plug into the link unit interchangeably, including the headset, a wrist set, audio headphones, miniature keyboards and touchpads, environmental monitoring devices, and biomedical sensors.

Challenges

WARP needs to enable astronauts to communicate easily and reliably, regardless of any metal walls that may separate them from their base unit. In tests, automatic hopping from one frequency to another - a trick employed by some cordless phones - worked best.

Intended to be worn for an astronaut's entire working shift, the WARP headset and linking pack have to be comfortable, unobtrusive, easy to use, and quick to put on and remove. And, let's face, it should look cool.

Uses

With simple, spoken commands, a WARP-equipped astronaut will be able to view a graphics overlay to locate equipment stored in closed bins. Or see through a camera mounted anywhere inside or outside the spacecraft. Or retrieve a checklist for trouble-shooting a problem. Or monitor the quality of the cabin air. Or see whether his or her heart rate is climbing too high during a physically demanding task. Or even watch a movie after the work shift is over.

An astronaut roaming the surface of the moon or Mars could easily access maps, scientific papers, test results, and satellite photos of the region he or she is exploring.

Here on Earth, a surgeon wearing a WARP headset could review reference material about a difficult procedure without interrupting surgery, or perhaps see the patient's x-rays superimposed on the surgical field. Paramedics could transmit patient data to a hospital, and receive treatment advice both audibly and visually. Industrial workers and rescue personnel could use a WARP system to stay in touch with each other and with outside advisors when going into hazardous sites.

In short, WARP could help anyone with a need to communicate with others or to access information without juggling manuals, clipboards, or laptops in the midst of a complicated task.