Streaming Platform for Object Tracking Analytics

ATA’s proposed innovation is SPOT-lyt, the Streaming Platform for Object Tracking Analytics, a system for real-time and forensic tracking and analysis of moving objects with cutting-edge capabilities in data fusion, simulation, machine learning, and streaming analytics platform operations. For Phase II of this SBIR effort, we propose to use the prototype developed during Phase I as the foundation for this innovation, addressing current MDA needs in object monitoring, surveillance, and intelligence while also incrementally progressing the Department of Defense's experiments in applying machine learning to multi-sensor integration, digital engineering, model and simulation, and big data. During Phase I, ATA tested the feasibility of a platform for developing, deploying, monitoring, and maintaining ML-integrated streaming data pipelines for use in real-time object tracking and analysis. The prototype demonstrated the feasibility of a system that simplifies the historically time-consuming, manual, and code-heavy tasks associated with operational use of ML and streaming data management with innovations that 1) support the ingestion of multiple streaming data sources into the platform using a flexible model to quickly onboard additional new data sources, 2) utilize low-code configuration of ML-integrated streaming data pipelines for simpler streaming data pipeline development and deployment, 3) leverage automation and other operations-related services to support the development, testing, and deployment of ML models, 4) monitor deployed ML models to account for degrading model performance, data drift, and unexpected data, and 5) generate synthetic data to simulate detection events and publish the event data into the system for platform testing and training. The overall goal of Phase II is to mature the Phase I prototype (Technology Readiness Level, TRL 4) into a robust, detailed SPOT-lyt prototype of TRL 6 (Full System Prototype in a Relevant Environment). By the end of the phase, SPOT-lyt will have the additional capabilities required of an operational object tracking system and the platform portability, security, and reliability needed for adoption into production environments. Approved for Public Release | 22-MDA-11340 (16 Dec 22)