Vanguard Magazine

TECh WaTCh www.vanguardcanada.com JUNE/JULY 2019 39 point where the lines between them largely disappear and become irrelevant and more reflective of real-life complexity and oper- ating environments. More specifically, in the land-tactical environment, gone will be the stand-alone virtual trainers for specific weapon, sensor, communications or vehi- cle systems without any connection to the dynamic and complex battlespace environ- ment around the trainee. Similarly, battle command training today via constructive simulation methodologies – while effective at honing staff processes and procedures, and notwithstanding the many advances in AI and Monte Carlo-like probability mod- els – is largely still sterile, without real hu- man interactions that can better come from the live and virtual simulation worlds where real humans are imposing a higher fidelity of fog and friction to the training environment. So, it's a paradox: the more real environments and real humans are brought into the loop within a synthetic environment, the more training value is realized out of synthetic training." – Rick Bowes, CD, MA, MBA, Cardinal Defence Consulting Inc. "We've always be- lieved that learning should be entertain- ing and aligned with the way people think, work, and play. I predict that AR/VR/MR will let us achieve this over the next decade. A learner will not know the difference be- tween a training environment and their actual occupation once immersed in VR, and their learning will follow them into the field with AR and MR. I just hope that fu- ture generations will not know a classroom or a PowerPoint computer-based training module" – Scott Dewis, CEO RaceRocks When I look at two other businesses in the tech space that I have followed, I see a near future capability: embedded, real- time training in the most basic pair of eye glasses. An industrial software company from Ottawa, contextere, has coined the term "Blue Collar AI™," bridging the world from hardware (e.g. the Focals smart glasses) to software, and ultimately auto- mated predictions for on-going on-site training with their "intelligent guidance" and other contextually important infor- mation. I see a near future merging of a product like Focals with contextere's AI and RaceRocks' creative training solutions as an interesting collaboration that could happen anytime now, should this industry and government embrace further collabo- ration with the sector and buying from Ca- nadian SMEs. Nicole Verkindt is the technology editor of Vanguard magazine and founder and presi- dent of OMX. She is a board member of the Canadian Commercial Corporation and was recently appointed to the board of the Peter Munk School of Global Affairs. Nominate companies for the Tech Showcase! SAVE THE DATE! bestdefenceconference.com NOVEMBER 5 & 6, 2019 Early Bird Registration Ends September 6, 2019 Nominate companies for the Tech Showcase!

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