NorthPole AI Processor Flight Testing

Lincoln Laboratory flight tested an IBM-developed AI processor to assess its potential application in warfighting missions.

A man types on a keyboard onboard an aircraft.

Richard Muri configures multimodal sensors for integration with NorthPole on the Airborne Radar Test Bed.

Artificial intelligence has emerged as a powerful tool for rapidly processing data in challenging environments, providing insights for real-time decision-making. Lincoln Laboratory is evaluating a commercial AI processor developed by IBM for its potential use in various applications, such as automatically identifying objects in airborne images. Called NorthPole, the AI processor can perform complex tasks at high speed and low power in remote settings.

For the evaluation, the team integrated NorthPole into our Airborne Radar Testbed (ARTB), equipped with multimodal sensors. As the ARTB flew over Joint Base Cape Cod and acquired multimodal sensor images, NorthPole accurately detected test vehicles on the ground at the speed of data while consuming significantly less power than other commercial AI processors. This efficiency gain could be leveraged to quickly process additional data or different types of data simultaneously. We are now working with the warfighter community on validating the technology to enhance its effectiveness and efficiency.

This flight testing opened entirely new ways of bringing AI inference to the edge with multimodal sensor fusion, and showcases Lincoln Laboratory's unique position in advancing cutting-edge science and technology in service of the nation.

—Dharmendra Modha, chief scientist, IBM