• VRAI’s information seize know-how, funded by way of the DASA Open Call, has the power to codify and predict airmanship efficiency. This know-how can be utilized to speed up coaching time for RAF recruits.
• Additional funding secured by way of DASA’s Defence Innovation Loan programme will assist VRAI additional develop the know-how and put together for commercialisation
• Run in partnership with Innovate UK, Defence Innovation Loans are designed to assist SMEs develop and commercialise their mature defence options
• As a part of the mission, DASA supplied steerage and helped VRAI take a look at the system with the RAF and acquire important navy finish person suggestions

Virtual coaching has turn out to be an integral part of recent defence, guaranteeing armed forces personnel can prepare proficiencies at scale whereas lowering prices. However, capturing and analysing coaching information has been a persistent problem in defence, notably in areas corresponding to airmanship information from trainee pilots.

Airmanship refers back to the non-technical expertise, and judgement required for aerial navigation. To function an plane safely, it’s critical that trainees are skilled to a excessive commonplace to have good situational consciousness, decision-making capacity and plane data.

However, there are quite a few obstacles to assessing pilot airmanship. It is constrained by the supply of in-person instructors that may observe college students, as every teacher can solely handle two or three college students at a time. It can be closely reliant on subjective commentary.

Introducing VRAI: Combining digital actuality know-how with information seize

Newcastle-based SME, VRAI, which specialises in digital actuality (VR) simulation coaching and information seize, recognised the necessity to present trainee pilots with personalised coaching plans and data-driven suggestions, to assist them obtain their most potential in a shorter period of time.

With the assistance of DASA funding, VRAI developed an answer to allow the Royal Air Force (RAF) to raised measure and predict trainee pilot efficiency, utilizing a mix of VR and information seize know-how, referred to as HEAT.

HEAT, which has been used to coach employees in an array of vertical industries, can seize and generate wealthy information units from industrial off-the-shelf VR options, which allows the potential to seize and retailer pilot information from simulated flying duties.

VRAI’s information seize and evaluation know-how allows the RAF to coach airmanship in future navy pilots to a better commonplace, sooner, and in a more economical manner.

It helps defence and safety by:

• enabling instructors to coach extra college students on the similar time
• guaranteeing coaching efficiency is measure precisely
• guaranteeing good airmanship qualities could be codified, ensuing is much less subjective monitoring of pupil efficiency
• guaranteeing that college students can readily self-assess their strengths and weaknesses towards information
• enabling projections of trainee efficiency can be utilized to develop individualised coaching programmes
• enabling instructors to give attention to extra worth added duties when coaching college students

Testing helps VRAI acquire 1 billion airmanship information factors with the RAF

VRAI submitted their revolutionary information seize resolution to the DASA Open Call in 2020 and have been awarded £348,000 in funding. DASA performed a major function within the mission by providing VRAI steerage and serving to them to check the system with the RAF, receiving invaluable suggestions from navy end-users. The innovation was carried out at three RAF stations inside a three-month timeframe, gathering practically one billion information factors from 40 RAF pilots, throughout the RAF 22 Group, and constructive suggestions from customers.

During the testing, VRAI was in a position to acquire invaluable trainee information which can be utilized to standardise airmanship coaching and evaluation, serving to to considerably scale back the period of time wanted to coach high quality pilots.

Flying in direction of commercialisation: Defence Innovation Loans

With an eye fixed in direction of the longer term, VRAI secured a Defence Innovation Loan to the worth of £544,742, to additional develop their innovation and market readiness.

They will use these funds, to use machine studying (ML) to the innovation with a view to generate extra strong actionable insights to additional develop trainees, whereas additionally guaranteeing the RAF can utilise the system for self-training. To assist with this, VRAI may also use the funding to develop customised dashboard metrics referring to airmanship.

Niall Campion, Founder of VRAI stated:

We consider the know-how we’re creating with this funding will enable us to deliver genuinely sport altering developments in how coaching is delivered and its success is measured.

Without DASA funding it will have been unimaginable for us to deliver this product into the UK defence provide chain. By offering important working capital whereas we reveal the worth of the product within the defence trade, the Defence Innovation Loan will assist us develop our enterprise and ship measurable enhancements to coaching throughout each defence and different simulation markets.

Meet VRAI at DSEI 2023

If you have an interest in studying extra about VRAI and their revolutionary options, you’ll want to go to them at DSEI 2023. You can discover them on the UK MOD Science & Innovation Stand: H1-810, alongside DASA.

Need assist bringing your defence innovation to market?

One of DASA’s most important monetary mechanisms to help with enterprise readiness and the commercialisation of improvements is thru the Defence Innovation Loans programme. Run in partnership with Innovate UK, these are designed to assist growth-minded SMEs develop and commercialise their mature defence options and in doing so, deal with a few of the challenges companies face in transferring from know-how improvement to product and firm scale up.

Defence Innovation Loans Key factors:

• Exclusively for SMEs
• Innovations have to be at Technology Readiness Level 6 or above
• Loans from £100,000 – £2 million
• Loans can cowl as much as 100% of mission prices to help commercialisation of the answer
• Below market rate of interest
• In partnership with Innovate UK

Learn extra about Defence Innovation Loans here and submit an software.