Did you know there’s even MORE goodness coming with MOTAR’s Digital Thread capabilities this spring??
Since we announced this new feature, we’ve explored how it will support MOTAR users by maintaining the link (the digital thread) to original authoritative sources while also creating digital remixes, ensuring all training apps are leveraging the most current certified models. Ultimately, this capability ensures content on MOTAR is future-proof and reliable for years to come.
To make things even more streamlined, users will also be able to organize each asset listing as a parent or child version and can even contribute assets across organizations where they have proper permissions. Additionally, users will be able to remix assets they have “Modify” permissions on.
This new Digital Thread feature will allow users to easily track version control and choose the correct version.
Some key features of an asset’s “Digital Thread” include:
There will be more to come, so please follow us on LinkedIn for the latest updates. If you’d like more information about MOTAR, you can always email christina@dynepic.com.
In a strategic leap forward, Dynepic®, Inc. announced today that it has acquired SmartBridge from Netrist Solutions, providing US government Common Access Card (CAC) holders a seamless and secure way to authenticate into the MOTAR® platform. This is a significant move to level up the core MOTAR Platform capability in Dynepic's mission to power an open ecosystem of multi-dimensional knowledge for a better tomorrow.
Known as the secure 'platform of platforms' for training delivery, analysis, and reporting, MOTAR (Member, Operations, Training, Analytics, and Reports) currently serves as the central training and operations hub for the US Air Force, where Airmen can leverage relevant content, rapidly create immersive training lessons and combine them with existing multi-modal training in courses for students. MOTAR also provides a seamless and secure delivery of multi-dimensional applications regardless of location and timezone, all while tracking student data and records in one place.
"SmartBridge is a natural fit for the core MOTAR Platform," explained Kevin Wood, Managing Director of Netrist. "We developed SmartBridge under a Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase II program and are thrilled to take it from conception to commercialization in just a few years."
CAC authentication is a requirement for most Department of Defense applications. With Dynepic's newly acquired CAC login technology, MOTAR ecosystem applications will be able to more quickly activate under MOTAR Live's (https://motar.af.mil) Authority to Operate (ATO). For government users, the addition of CAC as a core MOTAR service means effortless, secure access with the opportunity to discover all the platform has to offer before choosing to fully activate.
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About Dynepic
Dynepic® is a woman- and service-disabled veteran-founded tech company headquartered in Reno, Nevada whose mission is to power an open ecosystem of multi-dimensional knowledge for a better tomorrow.
About Netrist
Tomorrow's Solutions Today. Netrist Solutions designs, develops, and operates logistics software solutions in the cloud. Netrist supports the U.S. Air Force and commercial logistics providers with digital transformation, security, and enterprise-class high availability and fault-tolerant system architecture.
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Dynepic®, Inc. has named Orchun Koroglu as its Chief Product Officer. An industry leader for many years, Koroglu will continue to be involved with product design and embark on a larger role in shaping Dynepic’s product vision and strategy.
“At Dynepic, the C-Suite positions are hard-earned and it is my complete pleasure to announce Orchun’s promotion to CPO. Orchun embodies a rare capability to immediately understand my vision and thoughtfully combine it with our customer’s requirements to ensure we build meaningful, game-changing products for the immersive training market,” said Krissa Watry, Co-Founder and CEO of Dynepic. “As we look to scale over the next year, I could think of no better person to lead Dynepic’s products into the future. Congrats, Orchun!”
With more than two decades of experience, Koroglu has built a career including everything from designing games and apps to co-founding SurrealVR, one of the first platform-agnostic virtual reality companies (VR) that helped lay the groundwork for immersive collaboration in the Metaverse. The company was acquired by Dynepic in 2022, and Koroglu played a significant role in building its multiplayer training capabilities into Dynepic’s MOTAR platform.
“Dynepic is on the fast track to leveling up immersive training, and I’m thrilled to play a role in making that happen,” Koroglu said. “This company has always been one to watch, but you’ll want to keep an even closer track of us over the next year.”
Interested in working at Dynepic? Check out our current open positions here!
]]>MOTAR levels up again to meet ACE/MCA mission requirements under AFRL’s Just-In-Time Multi-Mission Airmen / Warfighter (JITMMA/W) program.
For our United States Air Force's Multi Capable Airmen (MCA), success is not usually found in the most comfortable places. They often live, train, and fight in less-than-ideal environments where just-in-time operational training is critical, and the internet is considered a luxury. These Airmen are living at The Edge - of computing, connectivity, and combat.
As part of the Air Force Research Laboratory’s (AFRL) Just-in-time, Multi-Mission Airmen/Warfighters (JITMMA/W) efforts to deliver combat power in austere, forward operating locations, the organization has enlisted Dynepic to do what we do best - securely deliver an open ecosystem of mission-critical, immersive content to enable warfighters to level-up their skills anytime, anywhere and on any device, including AR and VR devices.
“This program will result in a variant of our MOTAR-In-A-Box (MIAB) that can be deployed and configured in austere and internet-challenged environments to bring a digital information overlay to the environment that leverages training and operational content from MOTAR’s Hub. This will give Airmen the tactical advantage during combat operations at The Edge,” said Krissa Watry, Dynepic’s Co-Founder and CEO.
With MOTAR’s Authorization to Operate (ATO) allowing it to connect to military networks and transmit Controlled Unclassified Information (CUI), deploying training content has never been easier. Under this Phase I effort, Dynepic will develop a Concept of Operations (CONOPS) and technology roadmap for how MOTAR can be further enhanced to meet the strict mission requirements for JITMMA/W in combat.
]]>Below is your guide to getting involved in all the goodness, as well as a quick MOTAR 101 as a refresher or for those who are new.
We can’t wait to see you there!
MOTAR 101
Hub: Discover apps, experiences, lessons, AI, models, and XR building block elements in a central location
Training: Create XR-optimized and multi-modal courses with multi-vendor training content from the Hub, track student skills, and follow along with live learning dashboards.
Studio: Leverage low-code studio tools, API’s, and SDK’s to quickly create and integrate training applications with standardized services and field with rapid ATO tools.
If you’d like to learn more, please visit our website and follow us on LinkedIn, Instagram, and Facebook!
Before IITSEC
Big News 📰 We’ll be sharing some exciting news ahead of the event; please stay tuned to our LinkedIn updates so you have the latest!
Be one of the first to book a demo of MOTAR-In-A-Box 🤝 If you’d like to guarantee an onsite 1:1 meeting with a Dynepic pro to experience a demo of MOTAR-In-A-Box and learn how it empowers readiness regardless of location and connectivity, please reach out to Christina Padron at christina@dynepic.com. Spots are limited, so be sure to book today!
Add this to your calendar NOW 🗓️ Confused or stuck in the ATO process? You’re not alone. Join us Monday, Nov. 27 at 8:30 a.m. in Room W307B to hear lessons learned and insights into what’s involved in the ATO process, tips and tricks to shorten the process, how to leverage your ATO across the DoD, and more.
During IITSEC
The Dynepic booth #1928 is in the center of all the action - you won’t want to miss it!
Onsite Demos 🤯 Run to booth #1928 and be one of the first to experience MOTAR-In-A-Box! Get a hands-on demo with one of our Dynepic pros, and see for yourself how MOTAR is evolving to meet today’s training and readiness needs.
miMOSAs 🥂 Another annual favorite, our miMOSA bar will be back in action (Booth #1928!) at 11 a.m. Wednesday, Nov. 29. We’d love to have you join us for a complimentary drink and to meet some of our team members!
Our Famous Raffle! 🎟️ This year we’ve #LeveledUp and expanded the raffle to include a prize each day, including a GRAND PRIZE on Wednesday! Once you’ve completed your MOTAR demo onsite, take our short quiz to enter your name and contact information into the raffle. (If you aren’t attending I/ITSEC, you can still participate in this public giveaway! See below for details.)
Gov-Only Stakeholder Update 🤝 Specific to our government stakeholders, Dynepic will share a deep dive on what’s new with MOTAR and what’s coming soon. The session is scheduled for 3-5 p.m. Wednesday, Nov. 29, and requires pre-registration.
Let the countdown begin! See you there. 💪
GIVEAWAY RULES: This is a public contest for various prizes. There are two ways to enter from noon EST on Monday, 27 November 2023 until noon EST on Thursday, 30 November 2023. Complete a MOTAR demo at I/ITSEC 2023 and complete the short quiz to enter your contact information. Catch up on Dynepic’s latest news and announcements here. Once done, correctly answer these two pop-quiz questions and email your answers to shanti@dynepic.com to be entered to win. What’s the primary difference between MOTAR and MOTAR-In-A-Box? What does ATO and CUI stand for? Entries outside of the official giveaway timeframe will not be accepted. The winner will be selected by random drawing announced Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday at I/ITSEC Booth #1928. You do not need to be present to win. The winner will be announced and notified by email if absent. An alternate winner will be randomly selected if the winner does not accept. No active Dynepic employees, consultants, subcontractors, or related family or personnel may enter the giveaway either onsite or online. The contest is limited to one entry per person. The contest winner must be a resident of the USA and 18 years and older.
]]>We’ve outlined how:
So, #4 in this series answers the question - How exactly does MOTAR-In-A-Box work and enable content delivery without an internet connection?
Not much today works without an internet connection since “cloud” services are used in almost all software platforms. To get you in the mindset of what an Airman may face downrange in a future fight where the internet is not available, imagine you are on an airplane that doesn’t have WiFi available, and your smartphone is in airplane mode. How many apps work on your phone? Not many, right?
Now imagine you could download all the entertainment needed for your flight before you took off. Not just a few movies, but the ENTIRE streaming service - including every single show, movies, games, and content available. After takeoff when there is no Internet, you can still use your laptop, tablet, smartphone, or even an eXtended Reality (XR) headset to access the content, AND based upon your login, role, and permissions you have access to some types of content while your travel companion may have access to other types of content based upon their unique profile and access rights. You’re completely set - regardless of when and where you travel!
This is much like how MOTAR-In-A-Box works. Before Airmen deploy, they download all the possible training content they might need in their operational environment to MIAB. When they're en route or at their deployed location without access to an internet connection, they're all set! They have all the training content they need and they can access it based on their unique profiles and permissions.
Through the MIAB local area WiFi (or even LiFi), any application or content (like 3D models, videos, AI, and more) hosted on MOTAR that doesn’t require an internet connection, will be fully functional in an austere environment. This includes local, offline, and secure access to multi-modal training content, as well as the ability to locally stream augmented and virtual reality training.
Bottom line - MIAB is the answer to learning and training readiness, empowering our military with a true expeditionary capability anytime, anywhere, even at The Edge! 💪
If you have additional questions and would like to learn more, please reach out to christina@dynepic.com or come visit us at I/ITSEC ‘23, Booth #1928!
]]>The Air Force Research Laboratory and AFWERX have partnered to streamline the Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) and Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) process by accelerating the small business experience through faster proposal to award timelines, changing the pool of potential applicants by expanding opportunities to small business and eliminating bureaucratic overhead by continually implementing process improvement changes in contract execution. The DAF began offering the Open Topic SBIR/STTR program in 2018 which expanded the range of innovations the DAF funded and this month Dynepic will start its journey to create and provide innovative capabilities that will strengthen the national defense of the United States of America.
"During our exploration in Phase 1, it became clear there was no cohesive standard for how to identify, track, and remix 3D assets across USAF groups, causing major hiccups and wasted time for Airmen when they could be leveling up their training readiness," said Krissa Watry, Co-Founder, and CEO of Dynepic. "With MOTAR's digital thread capabilities, users can maintain links (the digital thread) to original authoritative sources while also creating digital remixes, ensuring all training apps are leveraging the most current certified models and ultimately future-proofing United States Air Force (USAF) content within MOTAR Hub."
The views expressed are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the Department of the Air Force, the Department of Defense, or the U.S. government.
About Dynepic
Dynepic® is a woman- and service-disabled veteran-founded tech company headquartered in Reno, Nevada whose mission is to power an open ecosystem of multi-dimensional knowledge for a better tomorrow. To learn more about Dynepic, check out our website and connect with us on LinkedIn.
About Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL)
Sole organization leading the planning and execution of U.S. Air Force & U.S. Space Force science & technology programs. Orchestrates a world-wide government, industry & academia coalition in the discovery, development & delivery of a wide range of revolutionary technology. Provides leading-edge warfighting capabilities keeping air, space and cyberspace forces the world's best. Employs 10,800 military, civilian and contractor personnel at 17 research sites executing an annual $4B budget. For more information, visit: www.afresearchlab.com.
About AFWERX
The innovation arm of the DAF and a directorate within the Air Force Research Laboratory brings cutting edge American ingenuity from small businesses and start-ups to address the most pressing challenges of the DAF. Employs approximately 325 military, civilian and contractor personnel at six hubs and sites executing an annual $1.4B budget. Since 2019, has executed 4,671 contracts worth more than $2B to strengthen the U.S. defense industrial base and drive faster technology transition to operational capability. For more information, visit: www.afwerx.com.
From Wall Street to gaming to eXtended Reality (XR) training, Arthur Goikhman has been ahead of the curve in the tech industry for several decades. Today, Dynepic® is thrilled to announce he has taken on the role of Chief Technology Officer!
“I am living proof of the cliche that if you love your job, you’ll never work a day in your life,” Arthur shared. “I’m so confident in Dynepic’s mission and trajectory, taking on this new role was an easy choice.”
For the past few years, Arthur has helped fuel Dynepic as the SVP of XR Innovation, seeing the company through significant growth, opportunities and small business challenges. His new role represents the continued expansion of the company and is reflective of his breadth of experience and knowledge.
“Arthur’s passion for technology is in his DNA - aside from his family, his hobbies and free time are organically rooted in future tech and what’s next,” said Krissa Watry, Co-Founder, and CEO of Dynepic. “Having him take on the CTO role has been a natural progression of his contributions to Dynepic and its future.”
The Road to Dynepic
A first-generation immigrant who changed his major to Computer Science when he learned you could get paid to be innovative, Arthur kicked off his storied career on Wall Street creating bond and option pricing models, then producing real-time market data and first-gen web online trading systems - a “baptism by fire” as he described it. A few years later, Arthur was working with Morgan Stanley in New York’s twin towers on 9/11; by a stroke of luck, he wasn’t in the office that morning but was part of the data recovery team that brought US trading markets back online the following Monday. Seeing an obvious need for supporting capabilities in early web conferencing, Arthur was a pioneer holding key patents such as “Active Talker Detection” which is still used today.
With a lifelong entrepreneurial spirit, Arthur also started five different tech companies including a mobile game company in 2005 and SurrealVR, one of the first platform-agnostic virtual reality companies (VR) that helped lay the groundwork for immersive collaboration in the Metaverse. The company was acquired by Dynepic last year to bring multiplayer training to its MOTAR platform.
“I still can’t believe people get paid to do this work!” Arthur mused. “Being the immigrant son of a man who spent time in concentration camps just dreaming of American freedom, I’m grateful and excited to be part of something with the potential to improve the lives of everyone in the US and beyond.”
On the Horizon
Arthur’s role as CTO is effective immediately, and while his role will shift, his interests remain unchanged.
“Dynepic is the most perfect product fit I’ve ever seen in my life, and I’m super excited about where we’re headed,” he said. “This team truly never stops!”
]]>New SBIR Phase I funding will integrate human performance sensor data and lay the groundwork to be implemented into MOTAR later this year
Dynepic® announced today it was awarded SBIR Phase I funding to enhance its MOTAR® platform and enable ‘humans as a weapon system’ through the collection, tracking, and API enablement of human performance sensor data for the Department of Air Force.
“MOTAR is the perfect platform to aggregate training data and present actionable insights via its learning dashboards to improve overall training readiness,” explained Krissa Watry, Co-Founder, and CEO of Dynepic. “Many VR headsets and wearables used by the military have the ability to track sensor data like heart rate, gaze pattern, and activity level, and MOTAR will collect this data for correlation to training performance. The vision is that MOTAR Ecosystem applications will also be able to analyze the data through privacy-secure APIs.”
Already a requirement across the USAF for learning and training, MOTAR is well poised to serve as the one-stop-shop for this data and address current US military challenges, including:
Watry said Dynepic will host key stakeholder meetings as they move forward with development in the coming weeks and has extended an open invitation to US Air Force and Space Force units who would like to join.
“Our Warfighters are a key component to winning any future fight. This Phase I SBIR is a strong start to supporting service members with the performance data and actionable insights they need to win!” she added.
]]>
Dynepic® announced today it was awarded a significant contract to expand its secure training backbone infrastructure, MOTAR®, to operate securely across environments, even disconnected ones. With MOTAR-In-A-Box (MIAB), Airmen will be able to train wherever they are - at a moment’s notice, and even on the frontlines.
“Over the past few years, MOTAR has successfully empowered trainers and students to engage in new ways, including within the Metaverse; MOTAR-In-A-Box will allow them to have that same secure experience and access to MOTAR’s rich ecosystem of training content and applications regardless of connectivity, location, and timezone,” said Krissa Watry, Co-Founder, and CEO of Dynepic. “MOTAR-In-A-Box is both the culmination of our longtime vision for MOTAR and just the beginning!”
Essentially, MOTAR-In-A-Box provides portable access to sync and download MOTAR-hosted third-party training content and courses, regardless of internet access. The goal of MIAB is that it can work in a semi-connected, bandwidth-challenged area, fully disconnected in a secure facility with only “sneakernet” updates, or used in a contested, forward-deployed, austere environment. This includes local, offline, and secure access to multi-modal training content, as well as the ability to locally stream augmented and virtual reality training.
Further supporting its status as the backbone of the Military Metaverse, earlier this year Dynepic’s MOTAR earned an Impact Level 4 (IL4) Authority to Operate (ATO) from the USAF, solidifying the secure cloud infrastructure on USAF’s NIPRNet, used for up to Controlled Unclassified training. MOTAR will run on military networks this Spring, while the company also pursues an IL6 environment called MOTAR Red to bring MOTAR to SIPRNet, the secret portion of the US Defense Information Systems Network, that will allow cross-domain capability and delivery of classified training content for authorized warfighters DoD-wide.
“The combination of our IL4 ATO, MOTAR Red, and MOTAR-In-A-Box will allow both users and creators in the MOTAR ecosystem to ‘level up’ once again,” Watry explained. “Soon, creators whose applications are deployed within the MOTAR IL4 boundary will have the option to have their content available across MIAB, SIPRNet, and NIPRNet within one seamless infrastructure.”
]]>We're STOKED!!
Dynepic® announced today it was awarded a significant contract worth $51m. The AFWERX Strategic Funding Increase (STRATFI) will match over $36m of Phase III committed dollars with $15m of STRATFI SBIR funds to expand Dynepic's MOTAR® Platform.
Known as the secure 'platform of platforms' for training delivery, analysis, and reporting, MOTAR has been proven across the USAF in programs like Maintenance Training Next and Accelerating Pilots to Combat Ready Aviators, both of which leveraged MOTAR to harness an ecosystem of digital content to improve and enhance training. Through the streamlined, central training infrastructure, Airmen can leverage diverse eXtended Reality (XR) content, create XR training lessons, and deliver innovative training across time zones and dimensions to achieve Multi-Capable Airman (MCA) training requirements.
"This is another huge milestone in operationalizing MOTAR as the secure backbone for training delivery across the US Air Force, bringing critical immersive learning technologies to our Warfighters," said Krissa Watry, Co-Founder, and CEO of Dynepic. "It's hard to take a technology from innovation to a program of record and make it through the 'The Valley of Death'. We're excited to get this much-needed boost to keep moving and deliver this critical training infrastructure for Airmen."
With the STRATFI funding, Dynepic will:
This news comes just a few weeks after the company secured Authorization to Operate (ATO) for MOTAR and was awarded a $2.9M Sole Source Phase III Contract to Operationalize MOTAR.
Dynepic® is a woman- and service-disabled veteran-founded tech company based out of Reno, Nevada. To learn more about Dynepic, check out our website and connect with us on LinkedIn.
Media Inquiries: shanti@dynepic.com
]]>There’s no stopping MOTAR®!
Just a few weeks ago, Dynepic secured an Impact Level 4 (IL4) Authorization to Operate (ATO) for MOTAR from the United States Air Force, solidifying the secure platform across the US Air Force’s NIPRNet, used for unclassified communications. True to form, the company already has its sights set on an IL6 environment to bring MOTAR onto SIPRNet, the secret portion of the US Defense Information Systems Network. The milestone would allow MOTAR Red to deliver classified training content for authorized warfighters DOD-wide.
“With MOTAR officially launching on NIPRNet this Spring to be the secure training delivery, analysis, and reporting platform, it just makes sense that we provide the same capabilities across classified environments as well,” said Dynepic Co-Founder and CEO, Krissa Watry. “We’re in the early stages of design, but it is clear the military metaverse requires a cross-domain solution that will allow for training lessons to easily be deployed up to IL6 classified environments, while student metrics can still flow down to the Unclassified MOTAR Live (IL4) environment.”
When MOTAR Red is approved, it will share a common code base with MOTAR Live (IL4) while leveraging configuration as code to enable classified environment requirements. This will ensure cost efficiency and enable rapid technology deployment even in a Classified environment.
Dynepic’s Sr. Security Engineer George Moats added, “There’s not a doubt in my mind MOTAR Red will be the secure backbone of SIPRNet and show the same stellar results as MOTAR Live on NIPRNet. There aren’t many commercial organizations trying to do what we’re doing, and we’re happy to be the trailblazers.”
]]>US Air Force will now have access to critical, modern training apps in the military metaverse
RENO, Feb. 6 2023 /PRNewswire/ - Dynepic® has officially secured Authorization To Operate (ATO) from the United States Air Force for MOTAR® (Member, Operations, Training, Analytics, and Reports), its delivery, analysis, and reporting platform created to modernize enterprise-wide training infrastructure. This stamp of approval includes not just the MOTAR platform, but also a process to deliver an open ecosystem of training technologies to the Warfighter and devices like virtual reality headsets, setting it up to be the future-proof backbone of the military metaverse.
“To secure an IL4 ATO for MOTAR is an incredible milestone and the result of relentless hard work, an unwavering commitment to our Airmen, and incredible support from the US Air Force, specifically Air Education and Training Command A9,” said Dynepic Co-Founder and CEO, Krissa Watry. “When the USAF recruited us to compete in the 2019 AFWERX Mixed Reality Challenge and we won against the ‘bigs,’ I told them, if we are going to do this, we are doing this! I’m thrilled MOTAR will enable our USAF with the secure digital infrastructure it needs to power the future of learning across time zones and dimensions.”
Earning an ATO to operate on US military networks at Impact Level 4 (IL4) is monumental for any company, especially a small business, as it requires strict cybersecurity compliance and significant coordination with federal law, Department of Defense policy, and standards. While MOTAR has been powering immersive training innovation for the USAF for several years already, the ATO enables Airmen and Creators to leverage MOTAR to rapidly contribute and deliver Controlled Unclassified Information (CUI), level 3D models, training lessons, 360 videos, third-party applications, AI and much more. The ATO also means students and instructors can use virtual reality (VR) headsets for multi-modal learning, including XR applications. Additionally, MOTAR will run on military networks; MOTAR.AF.MIL will open in Spring 2023.
George Moats, Dynepic’s Senior Cybersecurity Engineer and platform Information System Security Officer, added: "When you stand on the shoulders of giants to achieve something like ATO, it's easy to see over the horizon to a powerful and innovative future! And this is only the beginning."
This news comes just a week after Dynepic was awarded a $2.9M Phase III sole source contract from the US Air Force’s Air Education and Training Command (AETC).
]]>The success of MOTAR® as a platform of platforms for delivery, analysis, and reporting of training relies on amazing products being a part of the MOTAR Ecosystem - and UtopiaCompression Corp. (UC) is a stellar example of a vendor leveling up the platform.
As an SBIR-funded small business, UC provides machine learning-based analysis software for US government agencies and commercial markets, including the US Navy and Air Force. In 2022, UC was activated on MOTAR to begin integrating its Training Effectiveness Measurement (TEM) software with the platform.
“MOTAR was a golden opportunity for us because it's based on xAPIs just like TEM, making it a seamless integration on our side and opening up many more opportunities to provide algorithm-based analysis for instructors and students,” explained Priya Ganapathy, UC’s Senior Research & Development Scientist.
“And just like Dynepic, we’re training-agnostic, meaning TEM can work with any type of training.”
Starting today, MOTAR instructors will be able to leverage UtopiaCompression’s TEM interface to get a deeper assessment of students’ course results and what learning needs to happen for better on-the-job performance.
“Constructive analysis is the difference between students gaining mastery of the course content versus students simply completing the course,” said Dr. Ganapathy.
Christina Padron, Dynepic’s VP of Partnerships and Growth, added, “We’re very fortunate to work with the talented team at UtopiaCompression, and we are thrilled they chose to activate on MOTAR!”
To find out how you can activate your app on MOTAR, please visit documentation here: Activation via MOTAR Studio and APIs.
]]>Funding will accelerate MOTAR’s Authorization to Operate for USAF
Dynepic® is gearing up for an Authorization to Operate (ATO) for MOTAR®, thanks to a $2.9M Phase III sole source contract from the US Air Force’s Air Education and Training Command (AETC).
The new funding is the final step before earning ATO and will bring the power of MOTAR into the Air Force domain, making it accessible via NIPRNet. Additionally, once authorized, the USAF will be able to discover and deliver CUI-level training across devices, including VR headsets.
George Moats, Dynepic’s Senior Cybersecurity Engineer, and platform Information System Security Officer explained: "Authorization To Operate is where federal law, DoD policy, and industry standards intersect. Meeting this milestone green-lights MOTAR to move even faster toward bringing innovative training solutions to all of our Warfighters.”
Over the next few months, Dynepic, AETC, and cross-functional stakeholders will refine the MOTAR platform to continue exceeding the standards established by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) and enforced by DoD and AETC policy. In addition to ATO, Dynepic’s platform will include a certificate to field process for MOTAR Ecosystem applications to be rapidly delivered to an IL4 production environment where they can be combined with multi-modal training content and delivered to help Airmen level up their skills.
“We’re honored to be bringing MOTAR’s capabilities to the USAF and be part of the critical training upgrade our warfighters require to be ready for the future fight,” said Krissa Watry, Co-founder, and CEO of Dynepic. “And we are just getting started!”
For more information, please visit https://www.dynepic.com.
About Dynepic: Launched in 2014, Dynepic, Inc. is a woman- and service-disabled veteran-founded tech company based out of Reno, Nevada. To learn more about Dynepic, check out our website and connect with us on LinkedIn.
]]>With 2023 on the horizon, we’re taking some time this week to celebrate the successes and learnings of the past year while locking in exciting new milestones for the next.
Let’s look at some of the highlights:
We kicked off the year with the MOTAR Zone at LOA 2022, providing conference attendees with immersive demos of MOTAR and some of the most incredible apps currently activated on the platform. We will be back in 2023 with a MOTAR Zone!
We also met one of the original badasses, Mae Krier, who served as an iconic ‘Rosie the Riveter’ during WWII. True to form, she helped us perfect the ‘Dynepic flex’ and we were honored when she tagged us as “my girls.” ❤️
The House Armed Services Committee passed the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) for the Fiscal Year 2023 - out of committee and with language supporting the critical work Dynepic is doing with the USAF! Congress is keen to hear how the USAF will “transition digital training infrastructure into the appropriate Air Force organizations as soon as technical readiness will allow.” This will include guidance on security and training, support and sustainment, the incorporation of immersive technologies, collaboration across the USAF, roles and responsibilities for software and hardware integration, and guidance to include small businesses.
Awards + Contracts!
It always feels good to be recognized for doing great things!
Just this week, Dynepic was named as an awardee in all three categories of the $900M Indefinite Delivery/Indefinite Quantity (ID/IQ) Multiple Award Contract (MAC) from the Air Force Life Cycle Management Center’s Architecture and Integration Directorate (AFLCMC/XA). The categories include Capability Development and Development Planning, Systems Development, and Synthetic Environment Development.
The company also recently won a $75k SBIR Phase 1 AFWERX Open Topic SBIR to conceptualize an open standard for digital asset certification, remix tracking, and lesson linking!
USAF’s Air Education and Training Command awarded Dynepic ~$3.6M increase to its current contract to support the expansion of MOTAR, including the addition of a CI/CD pipeline!
We made a clean sweep at the XR Today Awards Ceremony, earning “Best Collaboration Solution,” “Best Education and Training Solution,” and “Ones to Watch!” Dynepic also came up as ‘Highly Commended’ in the “Best VR Solution” category.
Along with our friends at Det 23, Dynepic was the proud recipient of the Maj. Gen. Marcelite Harris Trailblazer Award, given to industry-leading businesses that have developed innovative solutions to benefit the US Air Force.
And at I/ITSEC 2022, Dynepic was honored to win a Unity Creators Award/Government and Aerospace!
Multiplayer + MOTAR
Between acquiring SurrealVR and earning a $1.7M Tactical Funding Increase (TACFI) contract, Dynepic is powering team training across MOTAR and ecosystem applications!
Building XR Training lessons with reporting to MOTAR has never been so easy. Which is exactly why we invited both creators and those interested to participate in our first-ever MOTAR Lab to learn some new skills that will allow them to deliver cutting-edge training applications faster to the field. Attendees spent two days learning the ins and outs of building a Virtual Reality app in MOTAR with the Unity SDK; culminating in an immersive celebration, complete with spaceships and aliens…👽🌌
This year’s I/ITSEC was an incredible mix of learning, connecting, and sharing the power of MOTAR with the 16k+ attendees. There wasn’t a minute of downtime the entire week! We really enjoyed briefing the Joint Synthetic Environment team, Lt. Gen. Brian S. Robinson, AETC Commander, Mr. Richard Tempalski, Chief Modeling and Simulation Officer (CMSO), and Lt. Gen. Kevin M. Iiams, TECOM Commander. Thanks to everyone who stopped by for a demo and to chat.
Of course, Dynepic had to bring the fun with our famous miMOSAs and a #dynepic Onewheel giveaway.
Thank YOU for being on this journey with us. We’re proud to be the evolving backbone of the Military Metaverse, and as always, you can expect us to #LevelUp in 2023!
]]>The wins just keep coming! 💪
Dynepic is stoked to share that we’ve been named as an awardee in all three categories of the $900M Indefinite Delivery/Indefinite Quantity (ID/IQ) Multiple Award Contract (MAC) from the Air Force Life Cycle Management Center’s Architecture and Integration Directorate (AFLCMC/XA). The categories include Capability Development and Development Planning, Systems Development, and Synthetic Environment Development.
“This is another significant milestone and proof of confidence in the MOTAR® Platform and the work we’re doing with the United States Air Force,” said Dynepic Co-founder and CEO, Krissa Watry. “We’re proud to be included in this group of innovative companies and excited to be working with AFLCMC/XA!”
In addition to industry collaboration, AFLCMC/XA’s goal is to develop systems and solutions to address Warfighter needs while launching high-confidence programs, which is well aligned with Dynepic’s mission, making this recognition a big win!
#LevelUp
]]>It may be the end of the year, but Dynepic is still crushing it!
We’re stoked to share that we’ve won a $75k Phase 1 AFWERX Open Topic SBIR to conceptualize an open standard for digital asset certification, remix tracking, and lesson linking.
This program will commence efforts to further adapt Dynepic’s MOTAR® Platform so the United States Air Force (USAF) can manage an asset’s “digital thread” and ensure training applications are leveraging the most current, up-to-date, and certified models available.
Krissa Watry, Dynepic Co-founder and CEO, explained further: “By the end of next month, we expect to have a fully conceptualized methodology for storing an authoritative model, digital twin, or simulation on MOTAR, and allow for proper asset permissions management on who is allowed to discover, use, and modify, and then track all the uses and approved remixes of the original authoritative source – all within a one-stop shop for discovery and distribution of training applications”
Streamlining the USAF’s training data sources and how they are managed is a critical step toward creating a successful Military Metaverse, especially with the increase in adoption of eXtended Reality (XR) training technologies across the USAF.
“Dynepic will not rest until our Warfighters have the modern education and training systems they need for success, and this SBIR is a critical step towards creating standards to enable the Military Metaverse,” Watry concluded.
]]>Last week’s Interservice/Industry Training, Simulation, and Education Conference (I/ITSEC) 2022 was an outstanding event. The tech industry was on full display for the military and its many training departments force-wide. From full-motion device trainers to virtual flying devices, the cutting-edge technology displayed during the conference clearly demonstrated where military training is headed. However, operations were notably absent among the myriad of General Officers involved in training.
Let me put this in perspective a bit. I represent Dynepic Inc. as the Senior Military and Aviation Advisor. I am the current C-17, 729th Airlift Squadron Commander at March Air Reserve Base, CA. I am a multi-thousand-hour instructor and evaluator pilot and have thousands of hours as a Southwest Airlines First Officer. To put it bluntly, I know training. The vast majority of my instructing and training has been housed under the operations umbrella of Air Mobility Command, not the Air Education and Training Command (the Air Force’s primary training command). I found it curious last week when I was representing Dynepic and Air Force Operations from a training perspective since there were no other operations commanders present. I felt this was very important because the Air Force has risen to the challenge of “Accelerate Change or Lose” in a fantastic manner. However, with the almost doubled increase in training volume with Ready Airman Training (RAT) and Ready Aircrew Training Tasking Memo (RTM), the Air Force has not provided the front-line warfighter trainers with any effective training aids. In fact, there is a notable lack of training aids/devices to aid Airmen in the classified realm despite considerable shifts in required classified knowledge or training requiring some level of information protection.
The conference lacked leaders from across the Air Force enterprise, making it exceedingly difficult to create any form of unity of effort in training. This hurts the military given one of its greatest strengths is its people. The military’s junior officers and enlisted core are a decisive advantage against any peer threats of the future. These leaders can be further developed by effective training and become an even stronger force multiplier. Why isn’t the military leveraging its operational forces who are responsible for day-to-day training? Not only does AETC source its funding from the MAJCOMs, but it should also be sourcing its expertise in creating the future of operational training.
I will provide a significant example to help solve the absence of unity of effort. Currently, Air Force squadrons have no way of sharing or creating training with other like-squadrons. Every C-17 unit has a great training office that creates and houses its own training aids in a siloed fashion. The only way I have access to other squadron training materials is if I ask or have a connection with other units. There is no joint location or method of validation or sharing.
Enter: MOTAR (Member, Operations, Training, Analysis, Reports). Not only does MOTAR offer the backbone integration of all future training, but it can also act as the protected knowledge store for all current training in the system. It also has the ability for validation if a MAJCOM wants to certify “best practices.” With the ability to share all current training methods and aids with the capability to house and create all new training up to and including virtual reality, MOTAR is the future and creates unity of effort.
Operations must get involved in creating and funding the future of training with AETC so no unit is left behind. MOTAR is the starting point.
Level up!
]]>The countdown to I/ITSEC 2022 has officially begun, and we’ve got a few fun things up our sleeves 💪
Given I/ITSEC is the premier DoD modeling, simulation, and training conference of the year, we’ll be onsite all week at booth #1928 providing behind-the-scenes demonstrations of our DX platform, white-labeled for the United States military as MOTAR (Member, Operations, Training, Analysis, Reports), and providing immersive experiences of our VR classroom, MOTAR Hub, and more.
If you’d like to schedule a 1:1 meeting with a Dynepic pro and experience a MOTAR demo, please reach out to Dr. Victoria Claypoole at victoria@dynepic.com. Spots are limited, so be sure to book right away!
We also have two brand-new presentations this year that you won’t want to miss (no registration needed):
And of course, it wouldn’t be very #dynepic of us if we didn’t add in a little extra fun 😉
Once you’ve completed your MOTAR demo onsite, drop your business card into the bowl at booth #1928 for a chance to win the Dynepic giveaway of a brand new Onewheel! (There’s also a separate prize for anyone who posts a photo of the #dynepic Onewheel and tags Dynepic on Instagram or LinkedIn!)
(If you aren’t attending I/ITSEC, you can still participate in this public giveaway! See below for details.)
Dynepic will also be providing complimentary miMOSAs at booth #1928 on Wednesday, Nov. 30 at 12 pm. Everyone is welcome - we’d love to see you there!
See you there! 💪
GIVEAWAY RULES:
This is a public contest for one (1) Onewheel Pint. There are two ways to enter from noon EST Monday, 28 November 2022 until noon EST on Thursday, 1 December 2022.
Entries outside of the official giveaway timeframe will not be accepted. The winner will be selected by random drawing announced at 12:30 pm EST Thursday, Dec. 1st at I/ITSEC Booth #1928. You do not need to be present to win. The winner will be announced and notified by email if not present. If the winner does not accept, an alternate winner will be randomly selected.
No active Dynepic employees, consultants, subcontractors, or related family or personnel may enter the giveaway either onsite or online. The contest is limited to one entry per person.
Contest winner must be a resident of the USA and 18 years and older.
]]>The virtual, immersive tutorial will take participants through the steps of creating and building their own training app, complete with auto-reporting of student performance to MOTAR’s Learning Management System (LMS).
Who Can Attend, and What Do I Need to Participate?
This tutorial is designed for US government employees, DoD military members, and DoD contractors, and you must have a PC capable of running Unity (specifically version 2020.3 LTS). There is no prerequisite to participate, and any experience with coding and Unity is a bonus. You can also use a VR headset (Quest I, II, Pro or Vive Focus 3) if you have one, but if not, the desktop experience is what the majority of participants will be using.
Who’s Leading the Tutorial?
Dynepic pros will take you through each stage of creating, launching, and testing your own app!
How Do I Sign Up?
If you’d like to follow along with the two-day tutorial but not build your app, you can choose “Observer” during registration. Otherwise, choose “Creator” for the full, out-of-this-world experience!
Your TO-DO List - these are critical before Nov. 2. Don’t Wait!!
See you there!
(Example of Application Built with Dynepic’s New MOTAR Multiplayer Service)
Dynepic® has signed a $1.7M Tactical Funding Increase (TACFI) contract to level up its secure DX platform - whitelabeled as MOTAR® (Member, Operations, Training, Analytics, Reports) for the United States Air Force (USAF) - and bring multiplayer learning to its Virtual Reality (VR) users.
This news comes just weeks after Dynepic announced its acquisition of SurrealVR, a pioneer in platform agnostic VR that helped lay the groundwork for immersive collaboration in the Metaverse.
“Dynepic is stoked to bring multiplayer services to MOTAR so the US Air Force can train together in XR applications!” said Dynepic Co-Founder and CEO, Krissa Watry. “This new service will be integrated into the MOTAR APIs and Unity SDK to enable the Ecosystem to efficiently create and deliver multiplayer experiences.”
The TACFI contract was awarded by AFWERX, the innovation arm of USAF, through which Dynepic got its start with USAF in 2019 after winning its Mixed Reality Platform Challenge. Since then, MOTAR has been named a requirement across the organization and proven to be critical in supporting today’s Multi Capable Airman.
Capt. Paulina Morales, who serves as Dir. of Operations at AETC A9 Detachment 23 and whose leadership has been integral to the adoption of MOTAR, championed Dynepic’s TACFI effort.
“We have explored how the DX platform’s capabilities could potentially impact us across a wide spectrum of USAF training, including observation of how multi-player services can expand our ability to execute collaborative learning,” Morales said. “The partnership with Dynepic and all the ecosystem’s vendors will create a learning environment that enables us to work as a team, make mistakes and learn in a realistic but safe environment.”
Over the next year, Dynepic will build new APIs within MOTAR that will allow its ecosystem of 30+ vendors to plug in and provide VR learning opportunities for Airmen with real-life scenarios to prepare them for the frontlines. Vendors using the MOTAR platform can leverage this new service with their existing applications and immediately provide multiplayer experiences within their training products! For those who already offer multiplayer in their training applications, integrating with this new MOTAR service will help accelerate the ATO process. The move will save significant time, money, and effort for USAF’s MOTAR users and vendors.
“It's a huge step toward our ultimate goal of providing the right capabilities that enable people to level up their skills, learning, and knowledge,” said Arthur Goikhman, Dynepic’s Sr. VP of XR Innovation. “Having multiplayer built into the core of our secure DX platform will benefit collaborative training efforts across military, corporate, and educational environments.”
Press Inquiries: shanti@dynepic.com, 206.465.7422
]]>Dynepic’s Senior Military Advisor, Kevin Watry, has always lived by this mantra.
Splitting his time three ways, Kevin is also a pilot for Southwest Airlines and Commander of the United States Air Force’s 729th Airlift Squadron at March Air Reserve Base, California. Super cool news - Kevin’s 729th Airlift Squadron recently won 4th Air Force’s nomination for the prestigious General Joseph Smith Trophy! Determined by leadership - highlighting them as the most outstanding airlift squadron in 4th Air Force - the competition is steep among the USAF Reserve’s 15 strategic airlift squadrons.
“This honor recognized my amazing team at the 729th who put everything forward during the most challenging operations environment in recent history due in part to the pandemic, heavy fiscal constraints, new mission requirements and executing the largest humanitarian airlift evacuation in history ,” Kevin shared. “They helped close operations in Afghanistan, drove new tactics, techniques and procedures for Agile Combat Employment at exercise Northern Edge, volunteered more than 5,000 days, and flew over 4,600 hours in every major operation in the world.”
Kevin added, “The 729th Airlift Squadron works tirelessly to ensure our nation’s defense. While many tasks and sacrifices these men and women make can’t be recognized, they’ve more than earned this honor.”
]]>United States of America, July 20, 2022 — Dynepic® announced today the purchase of SurrealVR, a pioneer in platform agnostic virtual reality (VR) that helped lay the groundwork for immersive collaboration in the Metaverse. With Dynepic’s proven DX Platform already changing the course of modern training and education, DX users will now be able to successfully teach, learn, and collaborate with colleagues in a 3D environment.
“I believe the ultimate success and adoption of the Metaverse will come from providing the right capabilities that enable people to level up their skills, learning, and knowledge,” said Krissa Watry, Co-Founder, and CEO of Dynepic. “This acquisition represents a significant leap forward for corporate, team, and individual training across dimensions.”
Dynepic has already begun building SurrealVR’s core capabilities into its DX Platform, with plans to release collaborative learning APIs for eXtended reality (XR) training creators first. That way, instead of creating it from scratch, developers using Dynepic’s DX can easily build a Metaverse training product by leveraging its core feature set including avatars, identity management, real-time voice chat, physics, locomotion, and a common VR/AR menu system. The first users to benefit from the new 3D classrooms will be the US Air Force, whose trainers and students already use a white-labeled version of DX called MOTAR® (Member, Operations, Training, Analytics, Reports).
“Creators on DX (and MOTAR) can now make their product social, multiplayer, and VR/AR ready, in a matter of days – saving time, money, and drastically reducing any friction - on an already proven and secure platform,” SurrealVR Co-Founder, Orchun Koroglu shared.
Arthur Goikhman, Co-Founder and CEO of SurrealVR, said the acquisition is a key step on Dynepic’s roadmap as an influential force in modern learning and training.
“What VR did for social gaming years ago is now a reality for businesses of all sizes,” Goikhman added. “This acquisition means any company using Dynepic’s DX platform could leverage virtual reality, bringing together individuals, teams, instructors, and students from anywhere in the world and giving them the opportunity to deepen and enrich their learning and collaboration by working side-by-side.”
Bold moves have always been a part of what makes Dynepic a leader in immersive training and education. While the company began as a DX Platform in the youth-focused connected play industry where data privacy and security were paramount, in 2019 Dynepic competed in and won the AFWERX Mixed Reality Platform Challenge, earning DX its place in the US Air Force under the white-label MOTAR. Since then, MOTAR has been named a requirement across the USAF and is on track to become a program of record.
Press Inquiries: shanti@dynepic.com, 206.465.7422
]]>
United States, June 28, 2022 — Congress heard us, loud and clear! Following several months of meeting with Members of Congress and their staff about the positive impact of the MOTAR® ecosystem on the United States Air Force (USAF) education and training, the House Armed Services Committee passed the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) for Fiscal Year 2023 out of committee with language supporting the critical work Dynepic® is doing with the Department. This provision is yet another significant step in support of the USAF’s ability to provide Airmen with modern, digital training options and ultimately, our nation’s safety.
Specifically, the NDAA would require a plan from the Secretary of the Air Force in early 2023 outlining how the USAF would “transition digital training infrastructure into the appropriate Air Force organizations as soon as technical readiness will allow.” The plan would provide critical guidance on security and training, support and sustainment, the incorporation of immersive technologies, collaboration across the USAF, roles and responsibilities for software and hardware integration, and guidance to include small businesses.
“Since I left the military 15 years ago, its technology hasn’t changed much,” said Dynepic Co-Founder and CEO, Krissa Watry. “As noted by Congress, digital modernization of the education and training landscape to leverage cutting edge technology like Extended Reality is critical to military readiness and maintaining our dominance in national defense.”
After USAF encouraged the company to participate in the 2019 USAF AFWERX Mixed Reality Platform Challenge, which Dynepic won over many large and established businesses, Dynepic has become an example of small business innovation at work in the furtherance of national security. Since then, the company has leveraged multiple phases of the Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) program to further develop, tailor, and deploy its secure DX platform under the Air Force’s label, Member Operations Training Analysis Reports (MOTAR). In 2021, MOTAR became a validated USAF training requirement and is currently on track to become a Program of Record.
“We’re stoked to be on this journey with the changemakers in Congress and the Department of Defense,” Watry said. “Our work advocating for military training transformation has just begun, and our energy is limitless.”
About Dynepic:
Launched in 2014, Dynepic, Inc. is a woman- and service-disabled veteran founded tech company based out of Reno, Nevada. Dynepic’s DX Platform is a secure, device- and software- agnostic infrastructure with open APIs, LMS/LRS, and a central training hub to build an open ecosystem for XR to power the future of multi-dimensional knowledge for a better tomorrow. To learn more about Dynepic, check out our website and connect with us on LinkedIn.
]]>United States, May 26, 2022 - Dynepic, Inc. was honored this morning to receive three XR Awards from XR Today, including Best Education and Training Solution, Best Collaborative Solution, and Ones to Watch! The company also earned ‘Highly Commended’ in the Best Virtual Reality Solution category.
“I’m incredibly proud of the Dynepic team and grateful for our ecosystem partners and customers for their collaboration and innovation,” said Krissa Watry, Co-Founder, and CEO of Dynepic. “They’re the reason we’re able to bring the Dynepic vision to life and level up training and education with XR.”
Amongst strong competition including Moth+Flame, AppliedVR, and OssoVR, and respected industry judges for the inaugural year of the XR Awards, Dynepic was named a finalist last month for these awards as well as Best VR Solution and XR Leader of the Year. The criteria for each category were stringent, including delivering a high-impact breakthrough product that improves overall user experience, demonstrating strong execution and positive results, and examples of high-performing, innovative business culture.
“Without competition, there would be no innovation,” Watry said, “so awards like this are especially energizing when we’re up against some of the best in the industry. We celebrate everyone who works tirelessly to change the world for a better tomorrow!”
It’s no secret that service members in the US military are being asked to do more, often with outdated technology and manual processes. Military readiness and the ongoing ‘pacing threat’ to national security are top of mind for Department of Defense leaders, and USAF systems are undergoing a significant cultural shift.
This “accelerate change or lose'' mindset is one of the reasons MOTAR is gaining such fast traction across the Department of the Air Force (DAF). MOTAR, or Member, Operations, Training, Analytics, and Reports, gives our Warfighters the edge to meet the demands of today’s Multi-Capable Airman (MCA) training requirements.
“To be successful in the face of modern warfare challenges, senior military leaders argue airmen require not just deep specialization in a career field, but the flexibility to learn on-demand to accomplish tasks outside their core specialty,” shared Krissa Watry, Co-Founder, and CEO of Dynepic.
With MOTAR already named as a USAF requirement a few months prior, in December 2021, USAF shared its plan around cultivating and deploying MCA through an ‘operational concept’ called Agile Combat Employment (ACE). Essentially, it was determined that having airmen with a broader set of training competencies was proven to be imperative to accomplishing mission objectives with greater success.
“MOTAR provides the key infrastructure needed for airmen to train anytime and anywhere, using the most cutting-edge training available, with much of the training delivered on eXtended Reality (XR) headsets, augmented reality (AR), and virtual reality (VR),” Watry said. “MOTAR allows airmen the diverse, hands-on experience they need to meet ACE requirements, and facilitates traditional and just-in-time training. Extended Reality (XR) is the future of learning, and the future is now for the USAF!”
While there are many features of MOTAR that empower the Multi-Capable Airman, here are a few we wanted to highlight today:
If you have any questions about MOTAR or want to activate your own account, please reach out directly to Christina Padron, VP of Partnerships and Growth. You can also follow us on LinkedIn, where we post news announcements and highlight a new MOTAR feature every Friday.
]]>The rise of the People’s Republic of China has created enormous ripples in the Department of Defense ever since 2015, the first time the United States lost in the “Red on Blue” war simulation run by Rand Corporation. The simulation created an urgent need to understand exactly what China was doing with its time and resources over the last twenty years. The military learned the Chinese were creating an elaborate defense strategy designed to take on any current American military technology rooted in the intelligence of how the U.S. prosecuted the War on Terror and outright prevent it from operating anywhere near China or the South China Sea.
General Charles Q. Brown Jr., the Chief of Staff of the United States Air Force, became the standard-bearer for the military in creating a new vision to counter China. He aptly coined the phrase, “Accelerate change or lose.” Since that time, the Air Force has been laser-focused on investing in new technologies to ensure the United States deters China from making the decision to militarily take over the South China Sea and Taiwan.
Unfortunately, the way the government is structured, especially in military acquisitions, has been an extremely difficult path to modernizing the military. Not only are acquisitions decentralized among the Branches of the Armed Services and Combatant Commands (COCOM), but they are also decentralized within the Air Force’s Major Commands (MAJCOMs). This decentralized execution for a vision requiring unity of effort is hurting the U.S. military’s goal to keep up with its new pacing threat.
The problems with acquisitions do not stop there. In “The Kill Chain,” Christian Brose talks extensively about how the American military-industrial complex is great at creating large, expensive systems and how those technologies are not enough to defeat or deter China. We need to move beyond these weapons systems and think outside the box in low-cost, attainable technologies.
What is notably missing from all the current military modernization literature is the importance of high-fidelity training. This is a travesty considering one of the major advantages the U.S. military has over pacing threats is the quality of the Noncommissioned Officer corps. Additionally, as the U.S. military modernizes, it has created the requirement for Multi-Capable Airmen (MCA), exponentially increasing the need for relevant training at the speed of need.
AF Doctine Note 1-21 by General Brown, Chief of Staff of The Air Force - source
The Multi-Capable Airman construct was farmed out to the Air Forces’ wings to figure out and create requirements and map a path forward to achieving the goal. This decentralized process was a great way to leverage the experience and ingenuity of the Airmen. However, most of the “best practices” were frozen in place. Each wing came up with training plans to create qualified MCA. Those programs continue to lie in siloed locations at their respective bases. This is not a new problem for the tactical level leaders. In my 20 years as an Air Force pilot, training has always been base specific. Even the schoolhouse training materials developed by the top instructors of their weapons system resided at their training bases and never fully spread to the operational wings.
As an Air Force Reserve C-17 Squadron Commander, I waste a large amount of time reinventing the wheel. We have been tasked to come up with our own training requirements to operate in contested environments. There is no direction from higher headquarters and each wing came up with something a little different from the other wings. We discussed this at Combat Planning Council and began developing a singular training strategy based on accepted Reserve-wide standards. However, Air Mobility Command was already working on its own standard and AETC had already created a program to introduce aircrew to contested environment operations during initial qualification, pilot check-out program, and instructor programs. None of the training materials created reside in a single location nor has there been an established standard from any of those MAJCOMs.
On top of creating brand new training requirements and desired learning objectives, each unit is still responsible for tracking and training Airmen to the previous standards. The standards are universal and governed by the respective MAJCOM, but the materials, techniques, and procedures are still siloed in each wing and unit. There are no standard training products, no repository of knowledge, and no easy way to push down a standard of best practices to all wings. Additionally, there is no way to continuously update training at the speed of need and relevance.
Enter: Member-Operations-Training-Analysis-Reports (MOTAR). This new training ecosystem solves the Air Force’s training and tracking needs using future proof capability. As a squadron commander, I waste enormous amounts of time on readiness and training tracking each month. My squadron, Operations Group, and Airlift Wing spend numerous hours pulling statistics from various siloed sources to create a “snapshot-in-time” picture of how the wing is doing on training. This requires a multitude of spreadsheets and manhours to put together products. Couple this current training requirement with creating new programs for MCA and we have exceeded the capability of a wing.
MOTAR solves all these problems!
Currently, Dynepic is working to cross the “Valley of Death” and senior leaders struggle with how to communicate the MOTAR value proposition. This essay was written to provide the 40,000-foot perspective of what is happening in the DoD at the strategic and tactical levels, why it is happening, and how important it is to create Multi-Capable Airmen.
MOTAR is not simply a platform to help AETC training programs, it is the future of all Air Force, and eventually DoD, training programs. It is the technology that will enhance our Airman’s advantage over our pacing threats. All the new war technologies in the world are useless unless the American service member is appropriately trained.
The Russians have already proven this theory and we must not make the same mistake.
“Accelerate change or lose.”
]]>
MOTAR.
You may have heard this name floating around on the ~ interwebs ~ - LinkedIn, magazine articles, tradeshows like I/ITSEC, etc. It just seems to be everywhere! So much so, you may be thinking, “what the heck is this MOTAR thing?!?”
Not to worry! This article will dive into what exactly MOTAR is, who MOTAR is made for, MOTAR ATO, and more!
MOTAR – What Is It?
The first thing you need to know about MOTAR is that it is, of course, an acronym. MOTAR stands for: Member. Operations. Training. Analytics. Reports. In this vein, MOTAR provides features and services for each of these core areas of warfighter readiness (but we’ll get into that later).
The second thing you need to know about MOTAR is that it is actually a United States Air Force (USAF) white label of Dynepic’s DX Platform. The DX Platform has been around since 2014 – so this isn’t exactly a new technology. We’ve been developing the backbone infrastructure for quite a few years – which is a huge reason the MOTAR white label has been so successful.
MOTAR was spun off after winning the AFWERX Mixed Reality Platform Challenge in January of 2019. Since then, a variety of contract wins, including multiple Phase I and II SBIRs, a multi-year Phase III, and two more AFWERX Challenge wins have supported the development of additional capability across the MOTAR platform and onboarding of multiple vendor technologies, specifically to meet the needs of the USAF. MOTAR was recently named as an official Air Education and Training Command (AETC) requirement to “...deliver, analyze and report all training...”, which you can read about here:
Now, let’s get into the meat of it.
MOTAR is a “Platform of Platforms”, an enterprise commercial-off-the-shelf, dual-use technology that facilitates a common training ecosystem with a modular, open systems approach (MOSA) and a zero-trust architecture.
Whew! That’s a lot of buzzwords! Don’t worry we’re going to break it all down!
Platform of Platforms. What we mean by this, is that MOTAR can host or link to other platforms via our robust APIs and SDKs. If you have your own platform for Augmented Reality (AR) self-authoring tools – no problem! You can integrate it to MOTAR! In fact, we host or link to several individual third-party platforms on MOTAR today. Companies like HTX Labs, Eon Reality, BUNDLAR, and more have all made their platforms available via MOTAR.
Enterprise Commercial-Off-The-Shelf, Dual-Use Technology. We’ve already touched on this, but let’s reiterate. MOTAR is a white label of our commercial DX Platform. It’s been built to scale enterprise wide. While MOTAR is solely focused on DoD training and operations, the DX Platform is a bit more varied than that. DX can host training and coaching applications that support users of all ages – even children! The DX platform won multiple awards and is independently privacy-certified by the FTC’s leading privacy safe-harbor, Entertainment Software Review Board (ESRB).
Facilitates a Common Training Ecosystem. MOTAR ensures that warfighters have a one-stop shop for the delivery and distribution of their immersive training. Through MOTAR, course managers and instructors have a common training data hub where they can search for immersive content, build their courses, and deliver training. And the best part is – even though that training may be made up of 20+ individual vendor technologies, there is only one login and one training record. All of that adds up to a common training ecosystem! No more logging in to six different applications and hand-jamming the performance data into an excel sheet!
Modular, Open Systems Approach (MOSA) and a Zero-Trust Architecture. MOTAR is built to meet the US Law on MOSA: “A major defense acquisition program that receives Milestone A or Milestone B approval after January 1, 2019, shall be designed and developed, to the maximum extent practicable, with a modular open system approach to enable incremental development and enhance competition, innovation, and interoperability. Other defense acquisition programs shall also be designed and developed, to the maximum extent practicable, with a modular open system approach to enable incremental development and enhance competition, innovation, and interoperability.” - source
MOTAR was designed as a privacy-secure framework with a “zero-data” architecture for ecosystem applications to connect in a MOSA all while keeping children’s personally identifiable data secure. Dynepic’s zero-data approach aligns well with Zero Trust (ZT)! What is ZT? “Zero trust assumes there is no implicit trust granted to assets or user accounts based solely on their physical or network location (i.e., local area networks versus the internet) or based on asset ownership (enterprise or personally owned).” - SP 800-207, Zero Trust Architecture
Most importantly, MOTAR brings together the best training technologies [Augmented Reality (AR), Virtual Reality (VR), Artificial Intelligence (AI), etc.] in a secure device- and vendor-agnostic ecosystem to provide seamless access to multi-vendor content and power training with a single, CAC-enabled login and a consolidated learning dashboard. MOTAR is a full-service, XR-optimized Learning Content Management System (LCMS)! Dynepic does not develop content - we are solely focused on building out the platform infrastructure and shared services for the DoD and our ecosystem of vendors.
Who Is MOTAR Made For?
MOTAR is for Course Creators, Course Instructors, Instructional Designers, Students, Unit Training Managers, Subject Matter Experts, Commanders, Leadership, XR Creators, AI Companies, 3D Model Makers, App Developers, Training Designers and Developers, Analytic Companies, Unity Developers, Content Creators (government and third-party vendors) and so many more…MOTAR has features and services that support many user types.
MOTAR is currently supporting airmen from across the USAF Major Commands (MAJCOMS). So, if you’re an airman, and you want your own MOTAR account, reach out here: motar@dynepic.com or simply visit https://www.motar.io and use your CAC to login (see: https://docs.motar.io/register-for-a-motar-account)!
While MOTAR is heavily focused on supporting USAF, it was designed to operate in a joint environment. So, MOTAR is really for any DoD organization that needs to host, distribute, and deliver immersive training. Dynepic is actively discussing MOTAR with the Navy, Army, US Marine Corps, Defense Health Agency, US Space Force, VA and others!
MOTAR was also made for third-party vendors. MOTAR provides all the backend infrastructure and connective tissue (or glue, whatever analogy resonates most with you) for immersive training with the DoD. So, vendors can focus on all the things that they do really, really well – like developing training and AI – and we focus on all the non-sexy (some may even say boring…not us, but some!), backend common services like: authentication, central hub, dashboards, and cloud security. It’s really a win/win! We are not competitive with our ecosystem, and our ecosystem can be laser focused on their special sauce. Because who really wants to spend time and money redeveloping user management…
Are People Really Using This MOTAR Thing?
Yes! Dynepic is on tap to scale to over 500,000 USAF members and vendor users in the coming years.
Third-party vendors are quickly activating onto the platform. MOTAR features AR / VR training applications, AI agents, sensor technologies, peripherals (haptics), self-authoring content tools, 3D models, and more from over 35 vendors – small businesses and large primes. If your favorite vendor technology isn’t already activated on MOTAR send them here: Info@Dyenpic.com – we offer a free three-month demo license for all qualified vendors.
USAF users and vendors are all using MOTAR due to its robust flexibility! MOTAR was built to be hardware and software-agnostic – meaning everyone can play! Outside vendor technology can quickly be integrated with our open APIs to deliver new innovations, link to existing DoD systems and databases, and completely future proof training programs. We’ve had new vendors get activated and hosted, full “hello world”, in less than 10 minutes. Activating on MOTAR really is super simple!
Does MOTAR Have an ATO?
The short answer is, not yet – MOTAR has been going through the ATO process for quite some time and we expect to have an ATO by mid-2022 (so, hopefully soon!).
Within our ATO structure, we are planning to support multiple levels of classification:
You may be also wondering what MOTAR’s ATO may mean for any activated third-party vendors. Well, we have some good news on that front.
MOTAR is currently standing-up a fully certified CI/CD pipeline and approval process wherein third-party vendors can develop and deploy their content through MOTAR’s APIs, ultimately being able to leverage the MOTAR security scanning tools to achieve a certificate to field under the MOTAR ATO.
The goal is that MOTAR will provide inheritable cyber controls to hosted applications to greatly reduce ATO timelines. Applications developed with just the MOTAR API’s and hosting should fall under the MOTAR ATO boundary as “content” allowing them rapid deployment to MOTAR Live for use on NIPR. Applications can leverage the AFLCMC funded Cyber Security Assessment Readiness (CSAR) tool being integrated to MOTAR Studio for rapid Risk Management Framework (RMF) evaluation and leverage a cyber playbook to accelerate the ATO process.
So, MOTAR’s DevSecOps pipeline combined with the application approval process will reduce the time needed to deploy simulations, digital twin, 3D models and training content through MOTAR, greatly reducing ATO timelines. Can you say #LevelingUp?
Up Next
MOTAR has a ton of core features and services for the development, hosting, and distribution of training applications – like Studio, Hub, and Training. In upcoming articles, we will take a deep dive into each of these features and services!
In the meantime, if you want to learn more about MOTAR, check out:
The countdown to #LOA2022 has officially begun, and the first-ever MOTAR Zone is almost ready!
For those joining us at LOA this year, MOTAR Zone will include both government and ecosystem partners and will allow attendees to physically experience MOTAR’s digital ecosystem and see firsthand how it supports the warfighter, increases access to training, and improves readiness. This is your chance to be immersed in the best XR, training tools, and learning apps on the market, all available on the MOTAR platform.
MOTAR Zone will be open during show floor hours and we’d love to see you there. If you want to make sure you have time with one of our elite team members to dig into how MOTAR can help your company #LevelUp, please email victoria@dynepic.com to schedule an onsite 1:1.
And if you’re not able to make it, be sure to follow our stories on Instagram and posts on LinkedIn for behind-the-scenes and live coverage!
Government Partners:
367 TRSS ‘The Griffin’: The 367th TRSS is comprised of over 75 active-duty and civilian personnel from across the aircraft maintenance, missile maintenance, maintenance management analysis, and cyber systems operations communities. The distinctiveness of this organization’s charge is made evident in the mission statement, “Maintainers delivering needs-based solutions to the Maintenance Community.” The Griffin aims to leverage technology to develop, modernize, and deliver training, one Airman at a time. The Griffin is activated on MOTAR and delivering courses through the platform!
HQ AETC/A9 Det 23: Det 23 explores innovative technologies to bolster AETC initial skills training development. The team serves as a conduit for industry partners to provide solutions to modernize Air Force classrooms without impacting current student throughput requirements in the technical training pipeline. Furthermore, the Detachment ensures that the modernization of AETC training aligns with longstanding Air Force best practices while meeting the directive of Airman Centric, Mission Focused, and Competency Based. Det 23 is a staunch supporter of MOTAR and has funded a multi-year Phase III SBIR effort to continually enhance the platform.
Ecosystem Partners:
3D Media: 3D Media is a technology development firm specializing in Virtual Reality and Augmented Reality solutions for military, industrial, medical and academic applications. With over 20 years of programming, plant operations, and military experience, their key personnel are equipped to utilize proprietary processes to design, create and deliver tailored, innovative technological solutions to their clients.3D Media will be showcasing their ‘Pocket B-1B’ app and other 3D models on MOTAR Hub to demonstrate effective use of existing assets.
BUNDLAR: BUNDLAR’s award-winning no-code cloud-based platform provides everything needed to create, publish, manage and experience augmented reality. Teams of any size can use their existing audio/video/3D assets and more to produce immersive engagements without any knowledge of coding or 3D models. Post publishing, teams can leverage robust user analytics to optimize their content and experiences to achieve the desired results and scale. The BUNDLAR platform consists of a Content Management System, proprietary API, and App, making it one intuitive platform for all your AR needs.
Design Interactive: Empowering People with Innovative XR Technology, Design Interactive is a women-owned small business specializing in building interconnected and interdependent Extended Reality (XR) ecosystems that allow for plug-and-play of XR enablers, including digital twins, digital phenotypes, and automated human performance capture and assessment to drive a high-level of digital enablement. DI assists organizations in accelerating the adoption of XR. In the MOTAR Zone, DI will highlight IMITATE - a behavior-based performance optimization tool that accelerates skill acquisition in any context by providing adaptive, personalized instruction, standardized assessments, and guided, video-enhanced performance review.
Discovery Machine, Inc.: Discovery Machine® is an AI company that is focused on building operational systems utilizing their patented technology and methodology to deploy captured mental models in situationally aware, goal-directed, voice-enabled cognitive agents that replicate human experts. At the MOTAR Zone, learn how DMI’s AI is leveraged with MOTAR! From VIPER® to MANTIS™, see how their highly acclaimed virtual agents and software can enable modern learners to train like they fight!
Enduvo, Inc.: Enduvo is the leading creator platform for immersive training. It enables anyone to rapidly create and share visually stunning, immersive, and interactive learning experiences and distribute them to PCs, tablets, or VR headsets. Airmen deserve a better way to train than decades-old CBT. Enduvo’s XR learning platform allows subject experts to quickly create immersive content on any device and share it anywhere across the USAF.
HTX Labs: HTX Labs is a Houston-based commercial software company on a mission to revolutionize the way critical training is created, deployed, and measured across the Department of Defense. To address a growing demand to deliver safe, engaging, and accessible immersive training, HTX pioneered the EMPACT® Immersive Learning Platform. EMPACT enables users to rapidly develop, create, deploy, and measure realistic, immersive training content anytime, anywhere, on any device. Visit the MOTAR Zone to see how easy it is to create new immersive training right from MOTAR, using EMPACT!
PlaneEnglish: PlaneEnglish is dedicated to bringing to aviation the most effective training tools that enable aviators to train on their own time and at their own pace. The PlaneEnglish Aviation Radio Simulator, ARSim, is an AI-based radio simulator with a built-in training curriculum to train and experience pilots in phraseology, procedures, and callouts. Better comms, more effective training! Visit MOTAR Zone to see how ARSim is integrated into MOTAR!
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