Skynet is developing autonomous drones for situational awareness to help prevent battlefield fatalities. They have interviewed 43 people total including 10 this week, consisting of 4 users, 3 buyers, and 3 experts. Their minimum viable product will integrate drone footage with image recognition into the ATAK interface to identify and track friendlies and detect objects and threats. Key activities include demonstrations to gain support, showing opportunities to fill capability gaps cost effectively. Risks include misclassifications leading to injury and competition from other programs.

1. Skynet
Sam Gussman (creative generalist), Alvin Goh (hacker), Olga Musayev (project development),
Kevin Mott (project manager)
Mentors/Liaisons: Steve Behmer, Ryan Blake, Mike Hard, Jooyong Lee, Wayne Chen, Brian CS
# Interviewed this week: 10
4 Users, 3 Buyers, 3 Experts
# interviewed total: 43
Developing autonomous drones for situational
awareness. Helping prevent battlefield fatalities by
pinpointing friendly and enemy positions.

2. Customer Discovery
Hypotheses Results Actions
Image Recognition is a “must
have”
Stakeholder and User
interviews
Validated. Both stakeholders (PM) and
tactical users are very interested in
image recognition software. No
current system in the space.
Continue to confirm this is a request from
Operators and survey the
commercial/military space to see what is
available.
No other tools are used by
SOCOM for automatic
classification
Operator and Stakeholder
interviews.
Use of image recognition is only used
by intelligence personnel and not in
real time.
Work with current image recognition
software companies (Neurala) to find
efficiencies and determine if there is tech
out there that helps solve the problem
SOCOM Acquisitions are driven
by users
SOCOM acquisitions
document review
Stakeholder interviews
Users determine capability gaps and
communicate those gaps to the PMs.
PMs try to fill the gaps with tech.
Users make first draft of requirements.
Continue to engage users and
communicate the responses to the small
UAS PM at SOCOM and sponsor to confirm
we are filling the gap and stakeholders are
aware.
Experiments

6. MVP
ATAK screen 1: Satellite imagery ATAK screen 2: Drone feed

7. ATAK screen 1: Satellite imagery ATAK screen 2: Drone feed
MVP

8. Mission Model Canvas
- Identifying and tracking
friendlies
- Object detection
- Object recognition,
classification and threat
detection
- Integration with ATAK
- SOF (green beret, ranger,
SEALS)
- SOCOM
- Programmable drone
manufacturers (eg: Solo)
- ATAK Program
- Neurala (or other computer
vision firm)
Tactical operators - SOF
(SF, Ranger, SEALS,
MARSOC/Recon, drone
operators)
Private sector partners
(Neurala, drone
manufacturer)
ATAK Program Manager
SOCOM Small UAV
S&T/Acquisition Program
Managers
- Keep track of friendly,
potential hostile and neutral
actors/equipment
automatically
- New contracts and revenue
stream
- Opportunities for tech
development
-Added value to current
program/technology
-Cost effective, agile and
quick method of filling
capability gaps
-Improved situational awareness for small units in combat
-reduce workload for tactical operators and feed-monitoring operators
-decrease strain on other traditional aerial assets
-Deploy to select teams
under $25k level. Hardware
purchased COTS
-Incorporate commercial
partner software in app dev
-Work with ATAK to include
future app update with our
capabilities
-Work to make program of
record after buy in
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
- DJI phantom 3
programmable drone
- Computer vision SDK
(preferably neurala)
- ATAK API + source code

9. 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.

10. 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

11. 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

12. 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

13. 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

14. 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

15. Backup Slides: Acquisition Process

16. 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

17. 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.

19. SkyNet: Value Proposition Canvas
Products
& Services
-Drones deploy immediately,
reducing strain on limited
emergency resources (like
helicopters)
-Drones provides immediate aid
(food/water) to trapped
individuals
Customer
Jobs
Search and rescue
operations- Not able to access areas
after disasters
- Difficulty operating in tight spaces
- Hazard to human rescuers
Disaster SAR
Gains
Pains
Gain
Creators
Pain
Relievers
-Fast response to disasters
- Fast identification of trapped
and at-risk persons
-Efficient delivery of aid
- Increased agility
- Drones fly quickly through
zones humans can’t go
- using drones in unsafe zones
prevents risking lives of
rescuers
Economical, low-cost
search drone fleet