Google Cloud and Simple Technology Solutions (STS) will work with the U.S. Navy to modernize the maintenance and repairs inspection process for Navy vessels and facilities, STS reported on Thursday.
“The manual inspection of Navy ships and vessels is a time-intensive, costly process that can drive up costs and slow down deployment,” said Mike Daniels, vice president of Global Public Sector for Google Cloud. “We’re proud to work with the U.S. Navy and empower them with Google Cloud technology to transform corrosion inspections for greater efficiency and safety.”
The work was awarded to STS as a Phase I Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) project due to the technology innovation and potential for commercialization. Under the agreement, STS will leverage Google Cloud artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) technologies on inspection drone-captured images to detect, prioritize and predict maintenance requirements.
“We selected Google Cloud AutoML because it allows our engineers to train and test high-quality models quickly. Google Cloud provides an unrivaled degree of specification to meet tough business objectives in compliance with FedRAMP High,” said Aaron Kilinski, chief technology officer for STS.
Under the project, STS will train Google Cloud AI and ML models on images to identify corrosion as part of the first phase with the Navy. Using imagery and Google AI/ML technologies, STS will reduce the labor and safety risk associated with maintenance inspections.
STS will utilize public domain and inspection drone images to build a high-quality AI/ML model using Google Cloud AutoML, which has enabled organizations to build custom vision models. The company will collaborate with the U.S. Navy corrosion subject matter experts to train data using Google Cloud’s AI Platform Data Labeling Service.
In addition, STS will iteratively train and validate the model using custom inspection drone flight data, which will be uploaded using Google Cloud Storage for processing. The models will continually improve and update themselves based on the newly ingested data.
“The initial goal for Phase I is to build a model that detects corrosion in drone images with a very high degree of accuracy. The ultimate goal, however, is to move from detection to prediction by expanding the subjects and sensors, and eventually integrating with Navy systems,” Kilinski added.
Potomac Officers Club will host its 2020 Navy Forum on September 30th. Click here to register for the event. James Geurts, Assistant Secretary for Research, Development, and Acquisition with the U.S. Navy and 2020 Wash100 Award recipient will serve as a keynote speaker during the event.
Geurts will discuss how the U.S. Navy has continually worked to decentralize, differentialize and digitize the service branch’s work as well as develop its talent in the field.
The Navy has also accelerated acquisition channels, modernized emerging technologies and increased research and development to become more effective in warfare. As the Navy continues to evolve to meet the growing demands, challenges still remain.
Join Potomac Officers Club’s 2020 Navy Forum to hear notable industry and federal leaders discuss the initiatives, efficiencies and challenges the service branch faces as well as how to join together to improve the future of warfare. Click here to register for the 2020 Navy Forum.
