EPAS - Every Platform an AI Sentinel

There is an emerging risk of conflict with China and/or Russia.  In China, the CCP and PLA has taken an aggressive posture, especially at sea. The CCP’s combination of repurposing existing assets, simultaneously ramping-up military manufacturing, and increasing the size of their force is of great concern.The U.S. must remain aware of these threats and be ready to act through expanded and persistent Intelligence / Surveillance / Reconnaissance (ISR).  There is a need to equip more and varied assets for ISR.  This expanded ISR can be accomplished through a combination of:1) Utilization of as many traditional and nontraditional ISR air assets as feasible with a modular interchangeable system, 2) Incorporating a modular low-cost ISR systems on these platforms that are easy to manufacture, including AI cores that are versatile and easy to update, and3) Basing these new ISR systems on “hands-free” autonomous technologies that are a force multiplier that is scalable in capacity and in volume for ISR Overmatch with coordination through ABMS. EPAS (Every Platform an AI Sentinel) is an ISR appliance which can be attached to any aircraft (due to its small overall SWaP), to autonomously perform collaborative surveillance along any route, without need for aircrew interaction.   EPAS incorporates the SIMITAR AI-based Edge Processor (System for Improved Multi-INT Target Acquisition & Recognition), and COTS Sensors in a modular package capable of recognizing the threats at the sensor edge and exploiting and sharing the relevant threat information and assessment.  EPAS can provide the ISR force multiplier needed to monitor the growing enemy threat, potentially making every sensor and platform an intelligent sentinel. Starting with lessons learned from the AFRL/ASRI CRADA, ASRI has invested in, and grown the capability and feature set of SIMITAR over several years.   ASRI has continually increased the speed and accuracy of the system through enhanced AI/ML training, evaluating performance through Digital Twin testing, and performed an annual refresh of the hardware technology.   EPAS can address multiple Department of the Air Force Operational Imperatives, through autonomous collection, analysis, and dissemination of threat information through ABMS (OI-2) to enrich threat awareness and Moving Target Engagement (OI-3), in support of Tactical Air Dominance (OI-4) and Global Strike (OI-6).