GovWire

Autonomous Devices Ltd is being funded by the Centre for Defence Enterprise (CDE) to develop its real-time interactive query language (RIQL) platform.

RIQL is a system which will enable requirements for information and intelligence to be turned into a tasking on a combination of software agents and human users. These will then work together to determine the required information and intelligence from available data sources.

It allows people and software systems to all collaborate on a single query, which could provide commanders with faster and higher quality intelligence in support of high-tempo operations. The solution by Autonomous Devices handles big data sources while allowing someone to filter and prioritise in real time.

As well as having applications for defence and security, RIQL could be used in the civil world, where businesses must also respond rapidly and with limited resources to evolving information landscapes.

Autonomous Devices now aims to demonstrate a fully-fledged intelligence scenario including human analysts, software components capable of processing high bandwidth data, and deployed robotic collection assets (unmanned air vehicles and unmanned surface vehicles), in a synthetic environment.

Ken Wahren, Founder, Autonomous Devices Ltd says:

CDEs support of 3 key, strategically coherent projects within the space of just over a year means that we are now much further along our road map than we could have hoped for at this stage. CDE fulfils a vital role amongst small UK technology companies whose innovations could be of enormous benefit to defence and beyond, but which are not at a sufficient stage of maturity for venture capital funding. Providing funding and support for our innovations at an early stage means that we can offer investors a much better value proposition than would otherwise be the case. This in turn maximises the chances of our best ideas emerging from the innovation funnel as successful products, where they can be exploited by MOD.

Founded in 2015, Autonomous Devices Ltd is an SME based in Milton Keynes, Buckinghamshire, and currently employs 3 people.

About CDE

CDE funds novel, high-risk, high-potential-benefit research. We work with the broadest possible range of science and technology providers, including academia and small companies, to develop cost-effective capabilities for UK armed forces and national security.

CDE is part of Dstl.

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