The document outlines a project developing autonomous drones for enhanced situational awareness to prevent battlefield fatalities by identifying friendly and enemy forces. It covers customer discovery, acquisition strategies, and a variety of processes related to government contracting, including SBIR, S&T, and existing contracts for drone technology development. Key stakeholders and their roles are mentioned, along with validation of technology capabilities and the potential for commercial partnerships within military contexts.

1. Skynet
Sam Gussman (creative generalist), Alvin Goh (hacker), Olga Musayev (project development),
Kevin Mott (project manager)
Liaisons/Mentors: Steve Behmer, Ryan Blake, Wayne Chen
# Interviewed this week: 11
6 Users, 2 Buyers, 2 Experts, 1 Competitor
# interviewed total: 54
# New Blog Followers: 1, # Total: 2
Developing autonomous drones for situational
awareness. Helping prevent battlefield fatalities by
pinpointing friendly and enemy positions.

2. Customer Discovery
Hypotheses Results Actions
Computer vision technology is
currently capable of doing the
detecting/recognition we need
Interviews, research,
talking to experts
Partially validated. Detecting people
from drone feeds can be done.
Continue researching software options to
see if classifying enemy/friend/civilian is
possible with computer vision technology
today.
Acquisition: there are ‘critical
paths’ available for getting our
product into SOCOM
Interviews, sponsor
engagement
Validated, multiple mechanisms for
getting our product into SOCOM. We
can get technology developed and
into hands of users within 1 year
Talk to people involved in SBIR process,
understand the requirements and more
detailed hurdles we need to jump
through
SOCOM is the preferred agency
through which to buy our
product
Interviews, research Partially validated. If we work with
RRTO or another office specifically
designed to innovate, can be flexible
on agencies. But SOCOM is great too
Interview people at RRTO, CTTO, CTO, etc.
to see if we can work with them
Experiments
Border control is a dual-use. Interview BP Agents None yet Validate hypothesis with more interviews
Next Week:

3. MVP
Source: Gaszczak, A., Breckon, T., & Han, J. (2011). Real-time people
and vehicle detection from uav imagery. SPIE.
Detections from thermal images (people)
Detections from optical images (vehicles)
What we have now:
Envisioned product:

4. Hardware:
DIY custom drone kit
Camera (color / thermal)
Software:
Open-sourced firmware
Drone
ATAK Cursor On Target*
*Schema much like JSON
Androidplugin
Skynet
Computer Vision (openCV) Drone navigation
Object
detection
Object
recognition DJI sdk / open-sourced sdk
System
Architecture
(draft)
Android device
MVP

5. Acquisition Fastest Routes
SBIR: Develop bare idea (TRL 1) to prototype (TRL 7)
Uses different pot of money (same color) required to be spent on small businesses
Phase 1 feasibility study done in 6 months, phase 2 brings beyond prototype, phase 3 (not covered) is
commercialization and scaling up
Phase 2 can be initiated even 10yrs later, by any agency, without competition
Timeline: 1 month to hear back; 2-4 months to set up contract; 6 months of funding
S&T Process: Develop idea/prototype (TRL 3/4) to product (TRL 9)
Uses existing capability gaps posted on fedbizops
Evaluated by operators working with PM and an engineer
Benefits from engaging with operators and PMs ahead of time
Timeline: From close of BAA, 2 months to hear back, 4-8 months to set up contract, 2 years of funding
Find existing contract: Get money to buy stuff

6. Deployment Timeline Comparison
SBIR
S&T
Existing
Contract
1 Year (6 months funding)
Funding
Expires
34 Months
(2 Years
funding)
Max 2 Years
(19 Months, 3 Weeks Funding)
6 121
102 34
2, +1 week 24

7. Route 1: S&T Process-- Prototype to Product
BAA for
existing gap
White
Paper
White
Paper
White
Paper
S&T PM
(TBD)
S&T PM’s Group of
Operators
Other operators
who talk to
operators in PM’s
group
Bureaucracy line
Other operators
who talk to
operators in PM’s
group
S&T “Council”:
S&T PMs +
Director Tony
Davis
Engineer
Steve D.
Proposal
Contract Negotiations
between business
and PM: Statement of
Work (COW);
Contracts Data
Requirements List
(CDROLS)
Step 1: find gap on
fedbizops + submit
whitepaper
Step 2: All whitepapers get
evaluated by operators
and engineer
Step 3: S&T PM brings selected
white paper to “council” of PMs.
They choose which projects to
prioritize and fund.
Step 4+5: Submit proposal
and negotiate deliverables
(CDROLS) and what you
will do (COW)
Step 0: “Free flowing” communication with operators
and PM to show off product and get selected and
prioritized

8. Route 2: SBIR- Small Business Innovation Research
SBIR Topic
Area
Proposal Proposal Proposal
SBIR PM
Sean M.
SBIR PM’s Group of
Operators
(all components)
Other operators
who talk to
operators in PM’s
group
Other operators
who talk to
operators in PM’s
group
Engineers
Proposal Contract for Phase
1 Feasibility study
Step 1: find idea on
SBIR topic area
Step 2: SBIR PM reaches
out to whoever submitted
topic; they evaluate
Step 3: SBIR PM brings selected
white paper to “council” of PMs.
Step 4+5:
Phase 1
feasibility study.
If successful,
can go to
phase 2
Step 0: “Free flowing” communication with
operators and PMs to influence process
SBIR Council: S&T
Director Tony
Davis + PMs
Get to phase 2 sole
source... at any
point... with any
agency

9. Route 3: Find existing contract
Step 1: Find company
that has existing
contract with any
agency
Step 2: Contract with
company
Step 3: Get money
through Military
Interdepartmental
Purchase Request
Ex. Stanford contracts with company
which contracts with DIUX which lets
SOCOM give us $10k for development.

10. Mission Model Canvas
- Fly autonomously on route
- Object detection,
recognition, classification
- Identifying and tracking
friendlies, enemies, civilians
- Integration with ATAK
- SOF (green beret, ranger,
SEALS)
- SOCOM, RRTO, CTTSO,
JCTD, CTO
- Programmable drone
manufacturers (eg: Solo)
- ATAK Program
- Neurala (or other computer
vision firm)
-Stanford Computer Vision
Lab
Tactical operators - SOF
(SF, Ranger, SEALS,
MARSOC/Recon, drone
operators)
Private sector and academic
partners (Neurala, drone
manufacturer, Stanford lab)
ATAK Program Manager
SOCOM Small UAV
S&T/Acquisition Program
Managers
Dual Use: Border Patrol
- Keep track of friendly,
potential hostile and neutral
actors/equipment
automatically
- New contracts and revenue
streams
- Opportunities for tech
development
-Added value to current
program/technology
-Cost effective, agile and
quick method of filling
capability gaps
- Low-cost detection of
movement and people at
border
-Improved situational awareness for small units in combat
-reduce workload for tactical operators and feed-monitoring operators
-decrease strain on other traditional aerial assets
Options:
1). S&T Process
2). SBIR Process
3). Find existing contract
(short term funding)
Fixed:
- Equipment - drones, development toolkits
- Software design & engineering
Variable:
- Costs of maintenance, updates, and training
-Demonstrate utility- gain
support from senior personnel
-Show opportunities for new
revenue streams
-Add utility to current program
of record to increase adoption
-Provide low cost product
with new capability filling gap
Saboteur - competition within
SOCOM PMs
Beneficiaries
Mission AchievementMission Budget/Costs
Buy-In/Support
Deployment
Value PropositionKey Activities
Key Resources
Key Partners
- Programmable Drone
- Computer vision SDK
(preferably neurala)
- ATAK API + source code
__= New

11. SkyNet: Value Proposition Canvas
- Image recognition software
applied on video feed
- Aerial perspective
Customer
Jobs
Monitor the border
for suspicious
activity
- border area is too large,
unable to ensure full coverage
- Impossible to look at the whole
border 24/7
Border Patrol
Gains
Pains
Gain
Creators
Pain
Relievers
- Quickly respond to suspicious activity
- Survey more area without needing
more men
- utilize low-cost drone
swarm to increase border
coverage
- distributed autonomous
drones ensure high refresh
rate across the whole border
Products
& Services
Drone with visual
recognition
software

12. SkyNet: Value Proposition Canvas
- Knowing the locations of
friends/enemies/civilians
- Reduced ambiguity
- autonomous assessment of
aerial perspectives and video
feed Customer
Jobs
Shoot bad
guys without
getting shot
- Cognitive overload from
existing tools
-Manpower losses
- Hassle of systems not
communicating
SOF Elements (combat)
Gains
Pains
Gain
Creators
Pain
Relievers
-Increased situational awareness on
the battlefield
- Reconnaissance of
inaccessible places
- Integrate with current
systems that soldiers are
familiar with
- Frees up another soldier
Products
& Services
Situationally aware
drone with visual
interface

13. SkyNet: Value Proposition Canvas
- Automatic patrol
- Facial Recognition of people
identified in vicinity
- Automatic threat detection
to flag security threats
Customer
Jobs
Force protection
Day-to-day security patrols
are manpower intensive
Difficult to be always aware of
surroundings
SOF Elements (non-combat)
Gains
Pains
Gain
Creators
Pain
Relievers
- Reliable 24/7 Security Awareness
- Knowing who lives around you, and
who doesn’t
- Ability to respond quickly
to threats
- Swarms of drones can
replace patrol units
-24/7 situation awareness of
surroundings
Products
& Services
Situationally aware
autonomous
drones

14. SkyNet: Value Proposition Canvas
- Access into SOCOM
acquisitions
- building company’s
presence in military
Customer
Jobs
Make more money
Build customer
relationships
- Difficult to get large
contracts, technology still
maturing, only have limited
consumer market share
Commercial Partners
Gains
Pains
Gain
Creators
Pain
Relievers
-New revenue stream
-Potential long term partnership
- Contracts with military,
willing and eager to adopt
new technology (early
adopters) even if tech is not
fully matured
Products
& Services
Partnership /
contract

15. SkyNet: Value Proposition Canvas
- Integrating drone camera
feed enhanced with image
recognition
- augmenting ATAK interface
with image processing Customer
Jobs
Manage ATAK
System under
cost
- Proprietary technology
that does not talk to other
tech
- low adoption rate, ‘fancy new toy’
that’s not used much
ATAK Project Manager
Gains
Pains
Gain
Creators
Pain
Relievers
-Increased value to ATAK program
- Easy integration with ATAK
- Promote culture of open-
source
- improving receptiveness to
ATAK
Products
& Services
Autonomous drone
with live video feed
integrated with
ATAK

16. SkyNet: Value Proposition Canvas
-Image recognition software
first of its kind in the military
- tool could potentially be
applied across platforms (as
a software plugin) Customer
Jobs
Manage Programs
Fill gaps
- Tech is new and recognition
of potential enemy may trigger
blowback
- new technology always too expensive,
sometimes they don’t get used after
purchasing
SOCOM Small UAS PM
Gains
Pains
Gain
Creators
Pain
Relievers
- Provides new tool that existing
programs don’t provide
- Potential to scale
-Retain man-in-the-loop, test
software during training
stateside and slowly scale to
overseas.
- Maintain low costs by
utilizing COTS, consistently
engage user feedback at all
stages of development.
Products
& Services
COTS Drone with
visual recognition
software

17. Backup Slides: Acquisition Process

18. Saboteurs + Other Dangers
Project Manager for Personal Reconnaissance Devices
There is a jurisdictional fight between the PMs for Personal Reconnaissance Devices and Small
UAV Projects
Raven Program
Small fixed wing reconnaissance drones, the Raven chief amongst them, stand to lose both
funding a prestige
Ourselves
Any misclassification of a civilian that leads to injury is likely to completely derail the project.
‘Personal’ saboteurs
This week we learned about an angry secretary who almost killed a project’s funding.

19. Tactical Beneficiary Archetype
Special Forces - they enter an area for few months and live with locals for a
while, train them, advise them on combat.
Drone Operators - they pilot and monitor drone feeds to conduct targeted air
strikes and protect troops on mission
Rangers - they enter a specific area, conduct a raid, and exit.
JTAC - responsible for calling and targeting air support.
Sergeant of the Guard (SOG) - they are responsible for force protection.

20. Value Proposition Brief
Problem Existing solutions Our solution
Identify and locate hostile
and neutral
actors/equipment
Plot on a map
Drop enemy icons on JCR/BFT
Soldier awareness
Real-time updates/tracking of persons of interest through
computer vision
Special Forces monitoring of
allied force
High level drone feed fed to SF, but limited 2-way
communication.
ATAK may show locations of allied force
Drone extends communication networks and allow audio
and video communication
Monitors locations of allied force to prevent airstrike
casualties
Collateral Damage Soldiers mark out potential CD on maps
Ground force commander's’ judgement
Drone operator in the US runs algorithm to determine CD
from potential airstrike
Drone uses existing database to mark civilian buildings
on ATAK map;
Drone identifies potential civilians and marks location in
ATAK using Computer Vision
Fratricide, especially when
calling in airstrikes and
artillery
ATAK, GPS in radios, 9-line call format, strobe lights on
uniforms: all identify friendly locations
Low-flying drone detects friendly locations and conveys
to JTAC and pilot.
Could also run algorithms determining risk of fratricide;
AR shows soldiers locations of friendlies
Force protection duties
(guard) are manpower
intensive
Patrols and Soldiers at static positions are a staple in force
protection duties
Autonomous drone would circle compound and
recognize dangers. Can form fleet of autonomous drones
to complement patrol duties