By Debbie Gregory.

U.S. Air Force photo by Master Sgt. Donald R. Allen

Spotlight Labs, a veteran-owned technology company, has announced the availability of its SPYDR hypoxia sensor device. The helmet insert gathers human biometric and aircraft condition data, detects and warns pilots of their imminent incapacitation and records high fidelity flight data for post-flight analysis and improved flight outcomes.

The SPYDR was developed by a team of former fighter pilots and engineers at Spotlight Labs, and has been U.S. Air Force flight proven. The device can be fielded immediately to prevent loss of life and improve pilot performance and training.in aircraft that have had a history of pilots reporting hypoxia-like symptoms, such as the T-6 Texan II trainer.

The device replaces existing ear cups in a flight helmet. It also includes three sensors and a bone-conducting transducer that collects data at relevant physiological points on the neck and head. It does not require any manipulation within the cockpit for the device to work, according to Spotlight Labs.

“Everything in tactical aviation is instrumented — except the pilot,” Brian Bradke, the lead biomedical engineer at Spotlight Labs as well as an experienced F-16 Fighting Falcon instructor pilot, said in the release.

In a press release dated January 20th, Dr. Brian Bradke, a biomedical engineer, F-16 pilot and lead engineer for biometrics at Spotlight Labs said, “The SPYDR instruments the operator, giving individual pilots tools for safety and performance in flight, while collecting valuable data that will fuel improved performance and increased risk mitigation for the pilot community as a whole.”

Once the device’s flight and human data are combined, it can be analyzed “using machine learning and artificial intelligence techniques that demonstrate increases or decreases in individual performance, workload and stress factors,” the release said.

“This data can be incorporated to quantify spikes in risk for specific aircraft, units, mission types, geography or other flight elements,” it added.

Spotlight Labs was founded by fighter pilots in 2005 as a training and operations company. The company  built a tactical training staff comprised of Navy SEALs, Army Rangers, Air Force Combat Controllers and other Department of Defense special operations forces elements. In 2009, Spotlight Labs expanded into software development for the war fighter. The company has produced cutting edge software in the areas of tactical data links, airfield surveys, sensor integration, cryptology and mobile devices.

Veteran and Military Business Owners Association, VAMBOA,

By Debbie Gregory.

Congratulations to Lt. Gen. Jack Shanahan. General Shanahan will lead its new Joint Artificial Intelligence Center, or JAIC. He previously oversaw the Pentagon’s controversial artificial intelligence Project Maven. General Shanahan is currently the Director for Defense Intelligence for Warfighter Support. The new JAIC will coordinate artificial intelligence research across the Department, and with government labs and private companies. JAIC, at the end of the day will have a hand in everything the Pentagon does relating to Artificial Intelligence. Maven has been characterized as being the first serious attempt by the Defense Department to cut through bureaucracy and red tape to deliver AI tools quickly to warfighters.

Maven has been described by Pentagon officials as a “pathfinder”, a model for future artificial intelligence efforts. The project uses machine learning to derive useful intelligence from the vast troves of image data that the military collects, freeing up the analysts who manually scoured video footage, spy photos, and other data sources for relevant imagery. The goal was to have algorithms do the boring repetitive stuff — find the right truck, person, object of interest, in the data haystack — then alert the analyst to make decisions about targeting or other next steps.

The Pentagon described it as using “computer-vision algorithms … to help military and civilian analysts encumbered by the sheer volume of full-motion video data that DoD collects every day in support of counterinsurgency and counter terrorism operations.”

Defense officials have said that Maven was a huge success for the Department. But their private-sector partner on the project, Google, saw major public relations fallout from their involvement after their participation was revealed by Gizmodo. Under pressure from employees, Google officials announced they would not be renewing the contract with the Pentagon.