Article By AL.com – August 2021 – You won’t see major food and beverage industry businesses come together to share technological and management insights to make a better food future. The aerospace and defense community are different. More than 300 companies in Huntsville come together to serve over 70 federal entities on Redstone Arsenal and solve issues of national defense and security. Subcontractors become prime contractors, companies merge or are acquired, and they even join forces to bid complex, multi-year contracts, but through it all, the national interest is the North Star. Every year, the Space and Missile Defense Symposium (SMD) in Huntsville creates a stage for thousands, including industry and military leaders, to discuss long-range defense trends and priorities. Along with hypersonic weapons and purchasing outlooks, the weather factors heavily into the technological discussions this year.
SMD is the leading educational, professional development, and networking event in space and missile defense community. The 24th annual SMD “Space and Integrated Air and Missile Defense in a New Era” will take place August 10-12 at the Von Braun Center in Huntsville. Military officers and agency leaders kick off each day with updates and deliver interspersed briefs throughout the three days: General John E. Hyten, Vice Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff; Jody Singer, Center Director for Marshall Space Flight Center; Lt. Dan Karbler, Commanding General SMDC; and General Glen D. VanHerck, Commander of USNORTHCOM.
While big picture panel discussions will frame the event, many of the most exciting emerging technologies will be showcased in daily technology tracks and an exhibition featuring booths from participants across the industry. A majority of the 19 topics covered in the technology track discussions, led by subject-matter experts from private industry, discuss the impact of weather, climate, and forecasting on defense priorities. Other topics include hypersonic weapons and 3D modeling. Intuitive Research and Technology Corporation (INTUITIVE®), a silver sponsor and annual participant, is leading two weather and climate-related discussions. Since 1999, INTUITIVE has built a reputation on engineering solutions for tough problems using new technologies and innovative, independent-thinking employees.
Migrating Military Bases Using Modeling and Simulation
Liv Weaver, Matthew Dean, Drew Hardwick, and James Roznick are developing and implementing new technologies that can help shape migration strategies of military bases and assets in response to global sea-level rise. These engineers are applying their expertise in artificial intelligence and machine learning, modeling and simulation, and 3D environments to address the problem.
Weaver summarized the issue: “According to data provided by the Department of Defense, 1 in 10 U.S. coastal facilities are located at or near sea level. Over half of the Marine Corps, Navy, Air Force, and Coast Guard bases in the U.S. are located near the eastern coast which is experiencing the greatest risk of impact. As sea levels rise steadily each year, it becomes increasingly important to plan for mitigation strategies to protect our military bases and installations.” The INTUITIVE team believes that machine learning can be applied to the challenges of moving bases to better locations most efficiently and for planning the construction of sea walls or levees.
According to Weaver, “An interactive 3D visualization prototype can provide a better understanding of military bases and installations at risk. A human-scale view will allow for observation of many factors that affect risks associated with GMSLR, such as relative position to the coast and geographical terrain. Our proposed 3D visualization prototype would take placement input from users to evaluate and improve mitigation responses for optimal site selection of buildings and base layouts.”
Faster, Richer Weather Forecasting for the Benefit of Threat Response
Kyle Russell and Chad Etheredge are using next-generation visualization techniques enabled by AI/ML to improve weather forecasting veracity. Consider the impact that inclement weather can have on your planning and expectations for the day (who hasn’t had a close call out on the lake?) In missile defense, you don’t get to delay a threat response. “The more that is known about those conditions, the greater our response capabilities will be; our goal is to provide that information as quickly and accurately as possible using artificial intelligence,” said Etheridge.
Russell noted that modern weather forecasting requires more time and computing resources than many people realize. He said, “The ability to quickly and continuously generate short-term forecasts surrounding a defensive zone could be highly beneficial for missile defense.” The answer to quicker, more accurate forecasting may be in using existing data. According to the speakers, weather prediction currently uses physics-based modeling, which takes a lot of computing power and time compared to results that can be generated by using AI/ML. A model can recognize patterns in weather data and apply them to current conditions to potentially provide alternative, and faster, weather predictions. Russell explained that modeling and simulation technology can be used to further create more accurate visual models of real-time weather conditions:
We use 3D engine technology from the games industry to create real-time views of large weather datasets moving the analyst closer to viewing the data as it’s captured rather than a 2D interpretation. These enhanced views are supported on a wide array of viewing platforms as well from traditional monitors to the latest augmented and virtual reality headsets. And, we can support coarse views of large portions of a particular dataset and high-fidelity renderings of smaller areas allowing the user to see both the big picture and zoom in to see the smallest detail. We can also overlay additional layers of data using color, alpha, point shape, etc. allowing for visualization of multi-dimensional data such as precipitation type, wind velocity or acceleration, etc. within our 3D view.
Collectively, the use of 2D, 3D, and multi-dimensional visualization of weather data and additional metadata may provide benefits to our nation’s missile defense capabilities.
“Your Next Mission”: Good Landing Spots for Veterans Becoming Civilian Employees
Huntsville is home to a unique bond between private industry and government space and military entities. Each year Still Serving Veterans hosts a hiring event in conjunction with SMD exclusively for veterans who are making the transition into familiar engineering and STEM roles on the contractor side. This year’s event is entitled, “Your Next Mission.” The experience that veterans have with military hierarchy, culture, work ethic, and maintaining a mission focus is irreplaceable. INTUITIVE, for example, has a workforce composed of roughly 40% veterans with expertise in aviation, missile defense, and weapons systems. At this event, veterans can be confident that employers have an understanding of their unique qualifications and also will show regard for the challenges of transitioning to civilian life.
The 2021 SMD is a valuable way for thousands in the aerospace and defense industry to stay connected to national goals and shape their businesses for the future. It maintains Huntsville’s prestige as a hub of thought leadership in all things STEM and defense.