WARTAK-CAAGE

Air Force Global Strike Command (AFGSC)/A3S has a national Defense-related mission need in the area Security Forces and AFGSC intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) Weapons Convoy Security. Specifically, security and response forces tasked with ensuring the security of AFGSC convoys must maintain the highest possible situational awareness (SA) to ensure they can rapidly and correctly detect, assess, and respond to threats with potential to quickly escalate and jeopardize convoy security. Current tactics, techniques, and procedures to address the need are supported by a shared situational awareness software package, Wave Relay Tactical Assault Kit (WaRTAK) Program of Record, that enables both voice comms and tracking of Blue and anomalous or threatening entities or points of interest within ATAK, a shared geospatial common operating picture (COP). However, past missions have shown that when convoy personnel attempt to describe the position of anomalies or threats it can result in miscommunication and failure to achieve shared understanding due to ambiguity in verbally communicated location and entity descriptions. The current system requires convoy personnel to go heads-down to place the marker on the map on a smartphone running WaRTAK. This heads-down time diverts attention from the surrounding environment, which is particularly risky for crew, degrading their momentary SA in a situation where a potentially imminent threat is closing on the convoy. WaRTAK Convoy Anomaly Awareness Gesture Enhancement (WaRTAK-CAAGE) attempts to preserve individual and shared SA by providing a patented Pison-developed wrist-wearable electroneurography sensor manufactured in the US and an ATAK plugin that enables gesture control to efficiently and effectively communicate the position and classification of a waypoint, point of interest (POI), anomaly, or potential threat along the convoy route. This Phase II will develop and demonstrate the full-scope ATAK prototype solution, delivery of manufactured hardware prototypes advancing innovative manufacturing techniques, electrode designs and form factors, followed by user validation in operationally relevant environments.