The Air Force Research Laboratory has begun development of a human-centered data analytics environment through use of squadron innovation funds. The analytical environment intends to manage and process large amounts of data, and address the speed lags of raw human analysis, AFRL said Monday. AFRL’s 711th Human Performance Wing received $250K in fiscal year 2018 from $64M distributed across the U.S. Air Force under a squadron innovation effort.
The wing uses the funds to finance the project that has two components. Ryan Kramer, explainable artificial intelligence lead at the 711 HPW’s airman systems directorate, said the first component would be a data architecture environment made to accommodate and combine multiple streams of data. He added that the second component would test the environment with specific applications including suicide risk prediction.
Todd Overman, a civilian executive officer who leads 711 HPW, said new analytical environment systems must meet security requirements to protect associated information.
“Our data includes a lot of personally identifiable information and protected health information, so we must ensure proper protections are in place for any new system,” he said.
The 711 HPW is working on autonomous modeling to identify the required appearance of the analytical environment’s overall architecture. “Data is growing exponentially in every organization and our ability to exploit it is largely growing linearly,” Kramer said. “Data is a strategic asset, and if you’re not taking advantage of your own data, you’re falling behind,” he added.
