(UPDATED!) MOTAR 101 - Everything you need to know to get started
*This article was updated May 2024
A LOT has happened since we published the first MOTAR 101, and we’re stoked to share it with you! Below is a list of what’s new, but we recommend a full read of the article if this is your first time here. As always, you can email us anytime with questions and to schedule a virtual demo: teamMOTAR@dynepic.com!
- MOTAR earned the Authorization to Operate (ATO) for Impact Level 4 (IL4) data up to Controlled Unclassified Information (CUI).
- We created initial implementations of MOTAR-In-A-Box (MIAB) so users can operate and train online, offline, anytime, anywhere, and on any device!
- Following the award of an AFWERX SBIR/STTR Open Topic Phase II contract, we’re developing a Digital Thread Version Control System to track relationships between versions of remixed assets, as well as denote which are certified and authoritative across MOTAR!
- Dynepic was selected by AFWERX for a Phase II SBIR contract to expand MOTAR to include eXtended Reality (XR) streaming capabilities.
- We released MOTAR Fastlane for Unity (and soon Kubernetes!), empowering companies to deploy their learning and training apps in weeks, not years!
Let’s dig in!
MOTAR.
We hope you’ve heard the name by now – in articles & press releases, on LinkedIn, at tradeshows like LOA & I/ITSEC, etc. It is everywhere! So much so, you may be thinking, “What exactly is MOTAR?!”
Not to worry! This article will dive into all the details – what MOTAR is currently capable of, who MOTAR is for, what is coming soon, and more!
MOTAR – What Is It?
The word MOTAR is an acronym, it stands for: Member, Operations, Training, Analytics and Reports. MOTAR facilitates an open ecosystem of multidimensional knowledge. It enables training assets, capabilities, and applications to come together in a one-stop shop, eXtended Reality (XR)-enabled Learning Content Management System (LCMS).
MOTAR is the United States Federal Government’s white-label of Dynepic’s commercial DX Platform. DX was established in 2014, so this backbone infrastructure has been evolving for over a decade now – which is a huge factor in MOTAR’s success.
MOTAR was instantiated after Dynepic won 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, two more AFWERX Challenge wins, a TACFI & STRATFI) have supported the development of additional capabilities across the MOTAR platform – as well as the onboarding of multiple vendor technologies, specifically to meet the needs of the USAF. MOTAR was also named an official Air Education and Training Command (AETC) requirement to “... deliver, analyze and report all training ...”, which you can read about here:
Let’s dive in deeper.
MOTAR is a “Platform of Platforms,” an enterprise commercial-off-the-shelf, dual-use technology that facilitates a common training and operational ecosystem, with a modular, open systems approach (MOSA) utilizing a zero-trust architecture.
Whew! So many buzzwords! Don’t worry, we’re going to break it all down:
Platform of Platforms. What this means is MOTAR can host or link to other platforms via our robust SDKs and APIs. If you have your own Augmented or Virtual Reality (AR/VR) platform, you can potentially integrate, host, & distribute via MOTAR! Many vendors have already, companies such as Leidos, JANUS Research Group, Northrop Grumman, Aptima, DiSTI, RedShred, Netrist, Long Wave and Adaptive Immersion Technologies, and more have all made their platforms available via MOTAR.
Enterprise Commercial-Off-The-Shelf, Dual-Use Technology. MOTAR has been built to scale enterprise-wide. While MOTAR is solely focused on Department of Defense (DoD) training and operations, it is built from the DX Platform and has hosted 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 to access, develop, and complete 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 many individual vendor technologies, there is only one login and one training record for the students! No more logging in to ten different applications and hand-jamming the performance results into a summary spreadsheet.
Modular, Open Systems Approach (MOSA) and a Zero-Trust Architecture. MOTAR as been built to meet the US Law on MOSA: “A major defense acquisition program… shall be designed and developed… to enable incremental development and enhance competition, innovation, and interoperability.” - source
The DX platform was designed with a privacy-secure framework and a “zero-data” architecture for ecosystem applications to connect in a MOSA while keeping children’s personally identifiable data secure. Thus Dynepic’s zero-data approach aligns well with Zero Trust (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 traditional training technologies (videos, CBT, Powerpoint) with innovative training technologies (Augmented Reality (AR), Virtual Reality (VR), Artificial Intelligence (AI), etc.) in a secure, device and vendor agnostic ecosystem. This provides seamless access to multi-vendor content and powers training and operations with a single, CAC-enabled login as well as a consolidated learning dashboard!
Also, Dynepic does not develop content – we are solely focused on building and evolving the platform infrastructure and shared services needed by the DoD and our ecosystem of vendors.
Who Is MOTAR Made For?
MOTAR has features and services that support many user types, such as Course Creators, Course Instructors, Instructional Designers, Students, Unit Training Managers, Leadership, XR Creators, AI Companies, 3D Model Makers, App Developers, Training Designers and Developers, Content Creators (government and third-party vendors) and so many more…
MOTAR is for content developers to create training assets, capabilities and applications. MOTAR provides the backend infrastructure and connective services for immersive training for the DoD. Meaning, vendors can focus on being subject matter experts (SMEs) for all the things that they do really well – and we focus on providing warfighters and leadership the mechanisms to host, access, distribute and aggregate the training and operations they need. It’s a win-win! We at Dynepic do not develop any training content so we don’t compete with the ecosystem, we enable them to focus on what they do best – and we can get farther, faster together.
MOTAR is for those that need to create courses that utilize varied modalities and content from many different companies!
MOTAR is currently supporting Airmen from across the USAF Major Commands (MAJCOMS). If you are interested in access to MOTAR, please email us at teammotar@dynepic.com. (Soon it will be even easier to login if you have a CAC too!)
While MOTAR is currently focused on supporting the USAF, it is designed to operate in a joint environment. Meaning, MOTAR is 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, USSPACECOM and others!
MOTAR is for leaders who want real-time, data-driven analyses of their individual unit members' readiness status as well as the readiness of their unit as a whole. The leadership dashboards provide real-time readiness data that is easily accessible, accurate, and actionable.
Who Is Using MOTAR?
MOTAR has over 2,000 users so far, and Dynepic is on track to add 5,000+ more in 2024.
Third-party vendors are also activating quickly onto the platform. MOTAR features AR / VR training applications, AI agents, sensor technologies, peripherals (haptics), self-authoring content tools, 3D models, videos and traditional training assets and more from over 400 organizations – everyone from warfighters themselves, the smallest of businesses to the largest of primes. If your favorite vendor technology isn’t already activated on MOTAR, have them contact us at teammotar@dynepic.com.
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 a part! Outside vendor technology can quickly be integrated with our open APIs to deliver new innovations, link to existing DoD systems and databases, and future proof training programs. We’ve had new vendors get activated, hosted, and achieve “hello world” in less than 10 minutes! Activating on MOTAR is super straightforward, check out how to via our public documentation at https://docs.motar.io/
Now for the new stuff!
What exactly is MOTAR-In-A-Box??
MOTAR-In-A-Box, or MIAB, empowers everyone to operate and train online, offline, anytime, anywhere, and on any device!
It's everything you love about MOTAR in a portable unit that will sync and download MOTAR-hosted third-party training content and courses, regardless of whether or not you have 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.
So I can stream content through MIAB?
You sure can! MIAB works everywhere - even at ‘The Edge’ - and allows users to stream content including Augmented and Virtual Reality applications to ensure they can train and operate with skill wherever the mission takes them.
Does MOTAR Have an ATO?
YES!
Dynepic officially secured an Authorization To Operate (ATO) from the United States Air Force for MOTAR in February 2023 and is now available on MOTAR Live via NIPRNet (the DoD’s network for unclassified data exchange) at https://motar.af.mil.
Earning an ATO to operate on US military networks at Impact Level 4 (IL4) requires strict cybersecurity compliance and significant coordination with federal law andDepartment 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) within 3D models, training lessons, 360 videos, third-party applications, AI and much more. The ATO also means more students and instructors can use virtual reality (VR) headsets for multi-modal learning, including XR applications.
Can anyone leverage MOTAR’s ATO to deploy apps to the US military?
Great question! Earning an ATO requires significant time, money, and expertise, and is often a huge roadblock for small companies whose focus is on creating the best learning and training apps. By integrating with MOTAR, approved applications can go through MOTAR Fastlane, the company’s new eXtended Reality (XR) optimized application delivery pipeline (full list or requirements here). MOTAR Fastlane allows software applications to inherit MOTAR security controls, deploy to an IL4 environment, and deliver to approved devices (even XR headsets!) in weeks instead of years. The first company to participate was Janus Research Group with its B-52 training app in early May 2024.
I heard someone mention MOTAR’s Digital Thread - what is that?
MOTAR’s Digital Thread Version Control System is your very own version tree for real-time tracking and monitoring of anything hosted within MOTAR. This ensures all training is leveraging the most current, certified versions and is trackingremixes across updates. If you’re interested, you can learn more here.
Up Next
Dynepic continues to focus on our vision to level up humanity, and our mission to power an open ecosystem of multi-dimensional knowledge for a better tomorrow. And, we’re big dreamers and doers, so there’s MUCH MORE to come this year!
If you’d like to follow along on this journey, or get involved, the best thing to do is follow us on LinkedIn and Instagram, and of course reach out to us directly! (Emailing teammotar@dynepic.com is the best route!)