AI at the Edge: Turning Promise into Mission Advancement

In January the U.S. Army conducted Dynamic Front 26, a multinational training exercise designed to rehearse NATO regional plans and enhance the integration of multi-domain fires across a distributed battlefield. One conclusion? That soldiers are drowning in so much battlefield data that AI is needed to make sense of it all.

The problem of too much data, coming in too fast from multiple sensors and networked weapons, is one the military and intelligence communities are wrestling with. Defense contractors face a similar challenge – how to incorporate the tools that can help manage the data flow and facilitate decision-making in combat scenarios. The difficulty is heightened by the prospect of edge devices operating, while disconnected or otherwise offline, in a hostile environment.

Learning Objectives:

• Understand the circumstances that create the need for air-gapped or disconnected devices in a contested space
• Review the nature and volume of data flows that warfighters receive and the decisions they look to make
• Delineate the roles of governance and security in ensuring both operational security and protection of the military’s most important asset – information
• Identify the core elements of an AI application that allows for scalability and repeatability