Subscribe
Software developed at Naval Surface Warfare Center, Port Hueneme Division (NSWC PHD), and recently licensed to a private company, could potentially help transform Navy ship maintenance and training.
The command in August agreed to non-exclusively license NSWC PHD-developed software to Oakland, Calif.-based startup Axis3, which plans to use the technology to create applications for Microsoft Corp.’s HoloLens 2 head-mounted display, an augmented reality device. The agreement is NSWC PHD’s first opportunity to license software developed under the command.
The HoloLens 2 allows device wearers to see holograms superimposed over real-life objects as they also listen to audio commands. The holograms could be a blueprint of an object, as an example.
“Axis3’s idea is to make software applications for the HoloLens 2 that the Navy could eventually use for training and maintenance operations on ships,” said Alan Jaeger, NSWC PHD’s Office of Research & Technology Applications (ORTA) manager and chair of the Invention Evaluation Board (IEB). “If this commercial entity can develop this concept and come up with software, the Navy would be able to purchase it without paying industry licensing fees, thereby providing a cost effective solution to the warfighter.”
The IEB, which reviews NSWC PHD-developed technology for how to best protect it, submitted the software to the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office and received three patents. Axis3 learned of the software once NSWC PHD advertised it on the open market that the patents were available for potential commercialization, required under federal law.
“Our goal in licensing the technology is to see it developed into a product—which ultimately helps the warfighter and taxpayer,” Jaeger said. NSWC PHD and the inventors will get royalty fees should a product be developed using the technology.
The IEB and NSWC PHD’s legal counsel first met with Axis3 and reviewed its business plan, the investors financing the company and its revenue potential, Jaeger said.
“We meet with them to make sure they are valid, and have financing,” he added. “We wanted to make sure the company is legitimate and not just trying to tie up the intellectual property so it can’t compete.”
The IEB also negotiated licensing terms, including royalty fees for NSWC PHD and the inventors, once its product starts generating revenue; what those fees will be based on—revenue or income—and what the company will pay to maintain the patents. The command also gave Axis3 exclusive licensing rights.
The fees, said Jaeger and Greg DeVogel, an IEB member and NSWC PHD’s chief technology officer, are reasonable but must reimburse the command for paying $35,000 to protect the technology with three patents.
The technology includes a voice command interface and visual recognition systems applications that enable the HoloLens 2 and Axis3 software, once developed, to work in secure spaces, such as a ship.
“It’s one thing to use the HoloLens 2 in a room with lights and ceilings it can use to orient itself, but on a ship, shapes have to help the system orient itself and understand its space,” DeVogel said. The technology also will help the device orient itself in a complex environment, like a rocking ship.
“It (the HoloLens 2) has to orient itself in these types of environments it wasn’t designed for,” he added.
The pair expect it will take about two years for Axis3 to produce a saleable product. In the meantime, the company will report to the IEB annually on its progress.
Axis3 is also investigating using NSWC PHD’s technology to create augmented reality programs for medical and surgical training, Jaeger added.
NSWC PHD has nine patents, four awarded this fiscal year. The command has been encouraging inventors to present their technology to the IEB as part of its newer effort to be an innovative developer of technology that would benefit the Navy, warfighter and fleet.
That’s important, DeVogel said, because patented technologies align with the command’s role as the In-Service Engineering Agent of the Future and its strategic objectives to advance new capabilities for the fleet.
“What this shows is that PHD is really developing a culture of innovation,” he said. “The ORTA group is very excited.”
| Date Taken: | 10.03.2019 |
| Date Posted: | 10.03.2019 20:19 |
| Story ID: | 345936 |
| Location: | PORT HUENEME, CA, US |
| Web Views: | 50 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
This work, NSWC PHD Licenses Technology so Ship Maintenance Programs Can Use Augmented Reality, by Carol Lawrence, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
LEAVE A COMMENT