28 juin 2018 | International, Terrestre, C4ISR

Here’s how artificial intelligence could predict when your Army vehicle will break down

The Army wants to use artificial intelligence software to predict when vehicle parts might break down and prevent equipment failures before they happen.

Uptake, a Chicago-based AI company, recently received a $1 million contract from the Army to test its technology on a group of deployed Bradley M2A3 combat vehicles, according to the Washington Post. Depending on how the trial goes, the AI software could be applied on a much larger scale.

“We're looking to see if we can leverage some of Uptake's machine learning algorithms to spot equipment failures before they happen,” Lt. Col. Chris Conley, Army program manager for the Bradley fleet, said in the report. “If this pans out and can provide some real capability, the Army could look to expand this to the entire Bradley fleet as well as other combat vehicle fleets.”

Uptake's technology will analyze the signals produced by the Army's equipment to provide updates on the equipment's maintenance status. If a vehicle part shows signs of being faulty, for example, commanders will be alerted and have the ability to repair or replace the part before the entire vehicle is compromised.

“Just like humans have been putting their statuses on Facebook and Twitter, these machines have been putting out their statuses for decades and nobody's been listening,” Ganesh Bell, president of Uptake Technologies, told the Post. “Only recently do we have the technology to understand that.”

M2 and M3 Bradleys are some of the most widely used Army vehicles in peacekeeping and combat missions.

This will be the first application of the technology to military vehicles.

“I'm not convinced that this will be successful, but I'm really excited about the potential of it,” Conley told the Post. “We're doing a pilot test to verify their claims before we do anything at scale.”

Retired Navy Adm. Mike Mullen, former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and an Uptake shareholder, told the Post the AI technology is what the military needs to ensure readiness and efficiency.

“What I've seen on the component side is you almost wait for failure and then figure it out,” he said. “Based on the results I've seen there is a huge potential here for better outcomes and a lot less expense, which is what anybody in the military is focused on.”

https://www.armytimes.com/news/your-army/2018/06/27/heres-how-artificial-intelligence-could-predict-when-your-army-vehicle-will-break-down/

Sur le même sujet

6 mars 2020 | International, C4ISR

Viasat, Blacktree Technology Sign Agreement to Enhance Support for the Australian Defence Force and Five Eyes Partners
Canberra, Australia, March 5, 2020 -- Viasat Inc. (NASDAQ: VSAT), a global communications company, today announced it signed a Strategic Alliance Agreement (SAA) with Blacktree Technology, Pty Ltd (Blacktree), an Australian-based communications systems design and integration company, in November 2019. The SAA will enable Viasat and Blacktree to meet the needs of the Australian Defence Force (ADF) requirements, by providing rapid and cost-effective in-country manufacturing and support services for Ultra High Frequency (UHF) satellite communications (SATCOM) systems. Colin Cooper, general manager, Government Systems, Viasat Australia commented, “Our agreement with Blacktree will play a critical role in supporting and expanding UHF support and maintenance resources in Australia, and will provide opportunities to investigate export of UHF products and services to Five Eyes (FVEY) and coalition UHF military SATCOM user nations.” “Blacktree welcomes the formalisation of the alliance with Viasat, which strengthens a relationship that enhances ongoing innovation and development of UHF SATCOM solutions and support for Defence customers in Australia and internationally,” said Joe Nevin, director, Blacktree Technology. Viasat's leadership in critical technology segments such as SATCOM, tactical networks and cybersecurity offers an opportunity for Australia to modernise systems used by the ADF. Viasat is a leader in UHF SATCOM and is working to assure global 25-kHz Demand-Assigned Multiple-Access and next-generation Integrated Waveform (IW) networks and services, enabled by Viasat's Visual Integrated Satellite communications Information, Operation and Networking (VISION) software platform continue to meet military mission requirements. Viasat's Ka-band broadband satellites combined currently offer more bandwidth than any other satellite operator in the world. Viasat is a vertically integrated satellite communications technology and services company, and is a leading provider of highly integrated GEO payloads, components & subsystems, gateway/teleport antenna systems, networking systems, user terminals for fixed & mobile applications, ASICs, MMICS, and/or modules for third party terminal developers. Importantly from a defence perspective, beginning in 2021, Viasat plans to launch a new, global ViaSat-3 constellation of resilient, flexible and agile high-capacity communications satellites that will improve responsiveness of current and emergent defence mission threats. Viasat's Australian Government Systems business is headquartered in Canberra and provides a wide range of defence technology capabilities and sovereign resources to meet Australia's needs. The range of products being developed and supported by Blacktree include high-gain UHF helical antenna's, static and remote-control pedestal systems, filters and diplexers, HPA's, LNA's and RF management components. Blacktree's products are manufactured in Perth, complemented by support teams located in Darwin and Canberra, Australia. About Viasat Viasat is a global communications company that believes everyone and everything in the world can be connected. For more than 30 years, Viasat has helped shape how consumers, businesses, governments and militaries around the world communicate. Today, the Company is developing the ultimate global communications network to power high-quality, secure, affordable, fast connections to impact people's lives anywhere they are—on the ground, in the air or at sea. To learn more about Viasat, visit: www.viasat.com , go to Viasat's Corporate Blog, or follow the Company on social media at: Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, Twitter or YouTube. About Blacktree Technology Blacktree Technology is a trusted global supplier of critical communications solutions. For the past 20 years Blacktree has been solving communication problems in challenging and geographically diverse environments for commercial, industrial and Defence customers. Based on the west coast of Australia, the Company is supporting the ADF whilst growing exports to customers in FVEY partner nations. To learn more about Blacktree Technology, visit www.blacktree.com.au, or follow the Company on social media at Linkedin. Forward-Looking Statements This press release contains forward-looking statements that are subject to the safe harbors created under the Securities Act of 1933 and the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. Forward-looking statements include statements that refer to the strategic alliance agreement between Viasat and Blacktree Technology, including the provision of UHF SATCOM systems manufacturing and support services to the ADF, FVEY and coalition nations; and the performance, capabilities and anticipated benefits of the ViaSat-3 class satellite platform, including the expected capacity, coverage, flexibility and other features of the ViaSat-3 constellation. Readers are cautioned that actual results could differ materially and adversely from those expressed in any forward-looking statements. Factors that could cause actual results to differ include: the ability to realize the anticipated benefits of the ViaSat-3 satellite platform; unexpected expenses or delays related to the ViaSat-3 satellite platform; risks associated with the construction, launch and operation of ViaSat-3 and Viasat's other satellites, including the effect of any anomaly, operational failure or degradation in satellite performance; manufacturing issues or delays; contractual problems; regulatory issues; technologies not being developed according to anticipated schedules, or that do not perform according to expectations; and increased competition and other factors affecting the government and defence sectors generally. In addition, please refer to the risk factors contained in Viasat's SEC filings available at www.sec.gov, including Viasat's most recent Annual Report on Form 10-K and Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on any forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date on which they are made. Viasat undertakes no obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements for any reason. Copyright © 2020 Viasat, Inc. All rights reserved. Viasat, the Viasat logo and the Viasat signal are registered trademarks of Viasat, Inc. All other product or company names mentioned are used for identification purposes only and may be trademarks of their respective owners. View source version on Viasat, Inc. : https://www.viasat.com/news/viasat-blacktree-technology-sign-agreement-enhance-support-australian-defence-force-and-five
22 mars 2021 | International, Aérospatial

Replacing Canada's Air Tanking Fleet - Second Line of Defense
The defence and space divisions of Airbus and Boeing are expected to go head-to-head as the Royal Canadian Air Force moves ahead with plans to replace its ageing fleet of CC-150 Polaris aircraft which have been fulfilling multiple roles, including executive transport as well as air-to-air refuelling platforms. They'll be responding to an Invitation to Qualify (ITQ) for the RCAF's Strategic [...]
29 mai 2020 | International, Aérospatial

US Air Force looks to up-gun its airlift planes
By: Valerie Insinna WASHINGTON — Humble airlift planes like the C-130J Super Hercules and C-17 Globemaster III could become heavily-armed weapons trucks capable of airdropping large bundles of munitions that deliver a massive blast. So far, the Air Force has conducted two successful tests of “palletized munitions” from the C-130 and C-17, said Maj. Gen. Clint Hinote, the deputy director of the service's Air Force Warfighting Integration Capability cell. “We are in discussions right now about how do we proceed to prototyping and fielding,” he said during a May 27 event held by the Mitchell Institute for Aerospace Studies. Like the name suggests, palletized munitions are a collection of weapons strapped together onto a smart pallet, which would feed the munitions tracking and targeting information as they are dropped from an airlift platform. A request for information released in February characterized the technology as “a bomb bay in a box” that could allow mobility aircraft to stay out of a threat zone and launch a mass of standoff weapons. “It's all about capacity,” Hinote explained. “You've got to create enough capacity so that a long-range punch is really a punch. What we see is that no matter how big our bomber force is, the capacity that the joint force needs is always more and more. And so this is why we think that there is a real possibility here for using cargo platforms to be able to increase the capacity of fires.” Air Force Special Operations Command conducted one demonstration of the technology on Jan. 28, when a MC-130J performed three airdrops of simulated palletized munitions at at Dugway Proving Ground, Utah. “In this case, munitions stacked upon wooden pallets, or Combat Expendable Platforms (CEPs), deployed via a roller system,” the Air Force Research Laboratory said in a May 27 release. “AFSOC aircrew released five CEPs rigged with six simulated munitions, the same mass as the actual weapons, including four Cargo Launch Expendable Air Vehicles with Extended Range (CLEAVERs) across a spectrum of low and high altitude airdrops." In response to questions from Defense News, AFRL clarified that simulated long-range cruise missiles were deployed from an off-the-shelf pallet system as well as an Air Force designed crate system. CLEAVER is a new weapon under development by the lab as part of a separate effort, though it may be used in palletized munitions in the future. On Feb. 27, Air Mobility Command conducted a similar demonstration with a C-17, which conducted two airdrops of simulated palletized munitions, AFRL said. In future demonstrations, AFSOC plans to release more advanced forms of simulated munitions as well as full-up weapons vehicles that can be configured with a warhead and terminal guidance system. However, the Air Force is looking for other technological options. Through its request for information, which closed in April, the service sought data about new or existing palletized munitions concepts. The service hopes to use that information to inform future experimentation efforts, operational assessments or the acquisition palletized munitions systems. Five companies responded to the RFI, AFRL said. If the effort moves forward, one big question will be figuring out which entities in the Air Force have command over a mobility asset that is playing a combat role more similar to a fighter jet or bomber. “Some kind of extremely streamlined command and control is going to be necessary, or else you must have an integrator somewhere,” said Hinote, who added that cultural barriers inside the Air Force could be harder to overcome than the technological challenges of creating palletized munitions. Hinote also acknowledged that it currently may be hard to find the funding to move forward with a new program. “We're in the last year of an administration. We've had to turn in the budget early with not too many changes, and we're looking at the possibility of a continuing resolution where new starts are going to be difficult to do,” he said. However, “that is all temporary,” he said. Updated 5/28/20 to add more information from AFRL about past palletized munitions experiments. https://www.defensenews.com/air/2020/05/27/air-force-looking-to-up-gun-its-airlift-planes/

Toutes les nouvelles