As advanced as military hardware can be, it often lags behind leading consumer technology in ease of use and successfully projecting capability to the edge. A recent hackathon – part of the Agile Air Dominance initiative – sought to change that, bringing digital voice assistance directly into the cockpit, making commands and access to critical information as easy to use as talking to Apple’s Siri or Amazon’s Alexa.
Last month, DARKHIVE was invited out to Tucson, Arizona to participate in the first Agile Air Dominance (AADOM) Hackathon, hosted by the Air National Guard Air Force Reserve Command Test Center (AATC). The goal of the event was to accelerate the development of new capabilities to support Air Dominance forces. Traditionally, integrating new capabilities is slow and rigid, resulting in forces falling behind emerging technologies and leaving the pilots out of date. Through bringing engineers and pilots together in a rapid prototype and test environment, the AATC looked to change that dynamic and revolutionize how the Air Force prepares for and conducts air combat operations.
DARKHIVE integrated REDQUEEN’s powerful voice assistant solution into the pilot’s tablet device that interfaces with aircraft systems through open, government-off-the-shelf (GOTS) software applications. Due to communication constraints in many operational environments, REDQUEEN has been optimized to run locally on edge mobile devices. This enables voice commands and audio alerts to be intuitively accessed by the user without requiring high-throughput connectivity or access to cloud-based computer resources. Open, accessible software architecture is core to DARKHIVE’s vision for the future of defense & public safety, and REDQUEEN represents a powerful implementation of that concept.
“This hackathon encompasses much of what we believe at Darkhive,” states Rob Tisdale, Director of Tactical Applications at DARKHIVE “that real progress is made by bringing everyone together, in one room, and making impactful changes rapidly; finding real solutions for the men and women in not just the air, but all domains.”
DARKHIVE’s REDQUEEN digital voice assistant solution was originally developed to provide hands-free accessibility to tactical information, reducing the need for service members in the field to interrupt their mission and interact with tactical, ruggedized mobile devices commonly carried during operations. Initial feedback from across the community of potential users was incredibly positive, leading innovators at AATC AADOM to push for experimentation in bringing REDQUEEN into the cockpit. We’ve only begun to scratch the surface of applications for the system and look forward to potential adoption across US and allied joint formations.
“Getting core functionality effective and reliable is the goal – REDQUEEN has the opportunity to truly enhance end-user's TAK experience and maximize situation awareness and minimizing heads down during key tasks. We are looking forward to future work with the AADOM team and are excited support the mission,” concludes Tisdale.
For more information on the AATC AADOM Hackathon, please click here to see the press release issued by the Air National Guard Air Force Reserve Command Test Center.
DARKHIVE's Sean Moran, second from the right, listens in as Maj. Ryan McLean, flights test engineer for AATC, leads a briefing on the AADOM Hackathon results to Col. Daniel Wittmer, AATC commander. The event showcased rapid development of cutting-edge solutions to enhance Air Force combat capabilities. Photo credit: SMSgt Charles Givens, AATC AADOM press release.
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