2021 I/ITSEC, Reboot to Live

The military S&T community is ready for the event’s return to in-person engagement after two years. Halldale Group Editor Marty Kauchak previews what to expect in Orlando.

It’s time to set aside Zoom and other virtual meeting platforms for this year’s I/ITSEC (29 November - 3 December). “We are excited to be meeting in person this year. The only virtual components will be recordings of select events so that they can be viewed at a later time,” retired US Navy Rear Admiral Jim Robb, president of the National Training and Simulation Association (NTSA), told MS&T. NTSA reports the event is on track to sell out the exhibition floor as it did in 2019. “Industry is back in a big way and seems very excited to return in person,” the association leader noted and added, “Virtual exhibits were not a big hit last year and it is clear that in-person is the preferred option. I expect that we will have nearly 500 companies exhibiting this year with the only challenge being international travel.”

The NTSA president continued, “We do expect this year to be somewhat challenged by remaining Covid issues, but if our TSIS [Training & Simulation Industry Symposium in June] is any indication, attendance will be strong. We had over 900 attendees in person this year, which was an all-time record for that event!”

Robb confirmed NTSA plans on recording many of the special events and paper sessions, making them available after the show. “There will not be any virtual platform for attendance like we had last year. Information on how the recordings can be accessed will be available on the I/ITSEC website.” [www.iitsec.org]

Five selected 2021 I/ITSEC exhibitors revealed they will have a number of new products, systems and services to showcase and discuss with conference attendees.

AR/MR/VR/XR & More

SAIC will be unveiling its recently formed Immersive Technologies organization with a focus on innovations that immerse the human in a digital world. In particular, the company is zeroing in on user experience and extended realities (XR) – including augmented reality, virtual reality and mixed reality. Bob Kleimhample, Vice President for Training and Mission Solutions at SAIC, told MS&T the XR market continues to skyrocket, with market growth estimates as high as $1 trillion in the 3-to-5-year horizon. “Contributing to this explosive growth is the ubiquity of XR devices and platforms. At I/ITSEC, SAIC will demonstrate a new XR platform which will enable our customers to provide immersive experiences to their employee base faster and cheaper, as well as overcome barriers and resistance to the adoption of XR.”

SAIC promises to further aid customer adoption of innovative new technologies with customer experience workshops, and will demonstrate how its solutions are designed with user experience top of mind, resulting in high customer satisfaction. “SAIC will also demonstrate strategies to reduce the risks associated with adoption of immersive technologies at various stages of maturity to allow customers to optimize their investments and receive continuous returns. In another instance of a company looking beyond military S&T, Kleimhample pointed out: “SAIC will unveil how our solutions can aid a very wide set of use cases beyond training and education, including virtual operations, inspections, process improvement, hands-free tasks, prototyping, telehealth, maintenance, repair, overhaul (MRO), decision support, command and control, data visualization, and more.” As a bonus, SAIC is also scheduled to demonstrate multiple modes of extended reality from the traditional AR/VR/MR head-mounted display solutions to mobile XR platforms using WebAR, for example.

Few if any S&T sector companies are “going it alone.” As is the case with SAIC and other firms, partnering is a foundation of doing business in the 2021 S&T market. Kleimhample noted SAIC is partnering with Microsoft on an Edge compute capability enabling XR with wearable sensors. “SAIC’s new emphasis on immersive technologies is in direct response to our customer’s desire for improved user experience leveraging digital technologies, especially XR.”

Cross Fertilization

DiSTI is one of many companies on the bow wave of content and ideas flowing among military and adjacent high-risk industry training enterprises. (Halldale Group captures these “cross fertilization” developments throughout the S&T community in its Safety Critical Training editorial program –  www.halldale.com/SCT.)

During a discussion with John Hayward, DiSTI’s CEO described that his Orlando-based company is seeing demand from its commercial customers for the “latest and greatest” in AR/MR/VR/XR headsets, with the executive noting, “We are updating all of our tools and products to make sure we are handling the latest in wireless headsets that come out, and we expect to demonstrate that capability at I/ITSEC.”

In the industrial and automotive portions of DiSTI’s commercial portfolio, the company is also providing increasing amounts of virtual, 3D interactive training content. Siemens was one customer the CEO was able to call out from this business segment. Hayward then reflected on how the pandemic impacted the commercial sector’s ability to complete live training. DiSTI saw some very quickly evolving requirements for secure, cloud-based delivery of all content, developed by either the customer or DiSTI, through virtual classrooms, and enabled by learning management and related systems. “We’re very excited about the product we developed to satisfy that requirement – DiSTI Schoolhouse – a cloud-based method to manage and deploy either DiSTI’s virtual training content, or anyone else’s,” he added. And while DiSTI-developed virtual content heretofore required high-end classroom computers and like devices for use, the company leader emphasized, “the beauty of doing this across the cloud is we’re able to deliver that content to any device, so students around the world with a standard internet browser can access it.”

The US Air Force’s VE-Mentor SBIR project has been advanced through a collaborative effort between DiSTI and Design Interactive. Image credit: DiSTI.

The flow of technology and “ah ha moments” is not a one-way street. Indeed, Hayward called attention to the US Air Force’s VE-Mentor SBIR (Small Business Innovation Research) project, advanced through a collaborative effort between DiSTI and Design Interactive. “We combined the capabilities of DiSTI’s VE Studio product with Design Interactive’s Augmentor product,” the DiSTI leader explained and added, “This allows us to provide classroom training and on-site, just-in-time training, and a maintenance aid that can be used on the flight line using AR technology.” DiSTI has seen a demand signal from the commercial automotive sector for this product, which will also be showcased at I/ITSEC.

MS&T has watched InVeris Training Solutions’ portfolios expand into the defense and law enforcement markets. Darren Shavers, Director of Business Development and Foreign Military Sales, reflected on the high-level developments in the virtual and live-fire military training market in the two long years since the last live I/ITSEC. “The militaries are interested in a more immersive training capability, meaning they want ‘mixed reality’ training, where they want a mixture of virtual reality, augmented reality and then actual reality sets all mixed together. Their goal is to obtain what the chief [of staff of the Army] asked for several years ago – 25 ‘bloodless battles’ prior to live combat. The US government believes it can get that by having this mixed reality capability in training. While this is live training as well as virtual training, we’re playing in the virtual realm.” To point, InVeris helped meet this end user requirement with the delivery of Squad Advanced Marksmanship Training (SAM-T) program devices.

Delegates will also have the opportunity to speak with InVeris about its acquisition in August of Dallas-based SURVIVR. “While we already have a virtual training capability, we’re taking the best of the product that we had, and the best of the product that SURVIVR had, and combining that together. That is our virtual reality product. We will be showcasing that at I/ITSEC. That is part of our mixed reality suite that we are going to offer.” Of further relevance to Halldale’s SCT readers, the corporate executive noted, “We believe a lot of the de-escalation training that needs to happen nationwide in the law enforcement sector can happen in training like that.”

Shavers teased I/ITSEC attendees to be attentive to “a new product” InVeris will unveil at the conference.

Frasca Expanding

Frasca International reports its expectations to remain busy in 2022 with several military simulation contracts, and new technology and products in development. In addition to the TH-73 program, which includes eight new FTDs (flight training devices) for the US Navy, Frasca is in the process of building full-flight simulators (FFSs) and FTDs for international/foreign military projects, and is pursuing multiple other contracts. The Urbana, Illinois-based company is also active in the VR arena with capabilities for providing a comprehensive suite of training systems from desktop to weapon systems trainer/full-mission simulator, and VR/MR training systems to higher-level type, specific FTDs to full-mission simulators. A corporate spokesperson noted, “This high-fidelity VR can be ported down to lower-level devices, increasing fidelity and capability without increasing cost.

The company is also in the process of reconditioning and modifying 10 existing Frasca TH-57B/C FTDs, converting them to TH73s. The spokesperson reported, “The TH57 program is running very smoothly with the team of Frasca, FlightSafety International Defense, Aechelon, and GDIT. The first year of operation saw over 20,000 hours with 100% training availability for the TH-57 FTD.”

Another datum point on the positive health of the S&T market: Frasca completed the addition of a new building to increase capacity to build an additional two FFSs.

Frasca International is converting US Navy TH57 FTDs to TH73s. Image credit: Frasca.

FlightSafety Rebranding

For more than 33 years, FlightSafety International’s military-centric subsidiary was named FlightSafety Services Corporation (FSSC). Now, the company is taking on a new name – and new mission: FSI Defense, a FlightSafety International company. This is not just a new name, rather a restructure with new leadership, renewed focus on execution and quality, mission, and innovations for the company’s future. “We are more than a services organization. We are a defense organization with capabilities across many sectors of the Department of Defense and international governments,” Dan Davis, president of FSI Defense, explained. “Our primary focus is on our customers and bringing innovative, proven solutions to industry. The new organization will allow for ease of access to FSI Defense services and products with a focus on the customer.”

The corporate leader added FSI Defense has more than six decades of training leadership and experience, with innovation advantages that continue to provide affordable and adaptable training solutions to its nation’s warfighters.

FSI Defense’s team has a global focus that includes the US DoD and 40+ national governments who entrust FSI Defense with the safety of their aviation programs, Davis added and provided more context to the restructured company’s position coming into I/ITSEC: “Our global focus is backed by Berkshire Hathaway, one of the world’s most successful and admired companies. This team has already seen major wins this year throughout all branches of the military, with a focus on execution of existing programs and offerings for growth and innovation. FSI Defense is a new business group focused on innovation and market development across synthetic training environments. No longer are we just aviation focused; we will leverage our long history of providing driver, maritime/naval, and live aircraft training services and products to provide training solutions to our defense customers, and innovation is critical in meeting these demands.”

Talk with MS&T at I/ITSEC 2021

Halldale President and CEO Andy Smith; Rick Adams, MS&T Editor; Group Editor Marty Kauchak and other members of the Halldale editorial and marketing teams will again be at this I/ITSEC. They look forward to seeing attendees at our exhibition floor booth (1159).