ATLAS - Adaptive Tactical Land Awareness Suite¶

ATLAS is the HMI and services suite of the LDM SDK. At its core is the GVA HMI (gva-hmi) — a DEF STAN 23-009 compliant crew display that presents all eight GVA functional areas on a single screen, backed by DDS-based registration, alarm, and usage-monitoring services.

The Problem¶

Military vehicle programmes typically face fragmented, vendor-locked HMI solutions where every subsystem ships its own proprietary display software. Integrating cameras, weapons, BMS, and defensive aids onto a single crew station requires costly bespoke glue code, and adding a new subsystem means reworking the entire display stack. Crew training suffers because every platform looks and behaves differently.

How ATLAS Solves It¶

ATLAS provides a single, standards-based crew display that any GVA-compliant subsystem can plug into over DDS — no bespoke integration required. Third-party applications render directly into dedicated functional areas (WPN, STR, BMS) so new capabilities can be fielded without modifying the HMI itself. Standardised services for registration, alarms, and UACM run as independent processes, giving integrators a consistent, testable service layer across every platform.

Overview¶

The ATLAS HMI application provides:

• DEF STAN 23-009 Compliance — Full implementation of the GVA display layout and all eight functional areas
• Plug-and-Play Subsystems — Third-party applications render to WPN, STR, and BMS screens over DDS without HMI changes
• Real-Time Services — Integrated registration, alarm annunciation, and UACM health monitoring
• Video & Sensor Fusion — Camera and video stream display on the SA (Situational Awareness) screen via MediaX
• Custom Widget Library — PPI, vehicle status, speedometer, threat display, and more — all dark-themed Qt6 QGraphicsItem widgets
• Multi-Language & Theming — Runtime language switching and day/night colour themes for operational flexibility

Functional Areas¶

The HMI implements all eight GVA functional areas accessible via the control buttons:

Functional Area State Machine¶

All eight functional areas are fully interconnected — the crew can switch directly between any screen. Threats and Alarms overlays are accessible from any active screen.

Running the HMI¶

Basic Usage¶

# Start the HMI on default SA screen
./build/bin/gva-hmi

# Start on a specific functional area
./build/bin/gva-hmi --area=4    # Start on SYS screen
./build/bin/gva-hmi -a 5        # Start on DRV screen

# Play video on SA screen
./build/bin/gva-hmi /path/to/video.mp4

Command Line Options¶

Keyboard Controls¶

Global Controls¶

Alarms View Controls¶

DRV Screen Controls¶

External Applications¶

The HMI supports third-party external applications on three extensible screens:

• WPN (F2) - Weapon system applications
• STR (F6) - Set To Role applications
• BMS (F8) - Battlespace management / mapping applications

When no external application is connected, these screens display "Waiting for External Application".

Running with BMS¶

# Terminal 1: Start the registry service
./build/bin/gva-registry --domain=0 &

# Terminal 2: Start the HMI
./build/bin/gva-hmi --area=8

# Terminal 3: Start the BMS application
./build/bin/gva-app-bms --domain=0

See the TALOS documentation for more details.

Running with Shield Protocol¶

# Terminal 1: Start the registry service
./build/bin/gva-registry --domain=0 &

# Terminal 2: Start the HMI on WPN screen
./build/bin/gva-hmi --area=2

# Terminal 3: Start the Shield Protocol game
./build/bin/gva-app-shield-protocol --domain=0

See the Shield Protocol documentation for more details.

DDS Integration¶

The HMI integrates with the GVA DDS services for:

• Alarms — Real-time alarm display with severity-based popup styles
• Registration — Auto-discovery via the GVA Registry Service
• Threats — Battlespace object tracking via the ThreatManager
• Display Extension — External application rendering via the External Apps Service

Architecture¶

┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│                      GVA HMI Window                         │
├─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤
│  ┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐   │
│  │              Main Display Area                       │   │
│  │  ┌─────────────────────────────────────────────┐    │   │
│  │  │  Functional Area Content                     │    │   │
│  │  │  - SA: Video + PPI Widget                    │    │   │
│  │  │  - SYS: 3D Vehicle + Wheels Widget           │    │   │
│  │  │  - DRV: Camera + Speed/RPM Widgets           │    │   │
│  │  │  - BMS/WPN/STR: External App Frame           │    │   │
│  │  └─────────────────────────────────────────────┘    │   │
│  └─────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘   │
│  ┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐   │
│  │  Status Bar: DTG | Grid Ref | Heading | Alarms      │   │
│  └─────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘   │
│  ┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐   │
│  │  Function Keys (Bezel Buttons): F1-F20               │   │
│  └─────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘   │
└─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘

Building¶

cd build
cmake ..
make gva-hmi -j$(nproc)

Build Options¶