EP 48 — EolianVR's Michael Simmons on Revolutionizing Military Mission Planning Through Immersive AR/VR Technology

Join Michael Simmons, Co-founder & COO of EolianVR, as he details the company's journey from conception — a chance reunion with his now business partner at Rockefeller Center — to becoming a leading innovator in defense technology. Their flagship product, ARTAK, is revolutionizing military mission planning by combining AR/VR capabilities with real-time data integration, creating immersive 3D environments for collaborative mission preparation. 

Michael shares with Dave how Eolian has differentiated themselves in the crowded AR/VR space by focusing on mission planning rather than training, enabling users to create detailed digital twins of operational environments through drone scanning, LIDAR, and satellite imagery. The conversation also explores Eolian's evolution from early prototypes to a production OTA with SOCOM, their approach to rapid iteration based on user feedback, and the challenges of building a defense tech startup including security compliance, funding cycles, and navigating the complex defense acquisition process.

Topics discussed:

• Development of the ARTAK platform for military mission planning, combining AR/VR technology with real-time data integration capabilities.
• Evolution from early defense industry prototype to full production OTA contract with SOCOM with the help of AFID funding.
• Integration of multiple data sources including drone scanning, LIDAR, satellite imagery to create comprehensive digital twins.
• Challenges and solutions for security compliance in AR/VR technology within the defense sector.
• The strategic decision to focus on mission planning rather than training applications in the military AR/VR space.
• Building relationships and securing contracts in the defense industry through events, accelerators, and technical exchanges.
• Implementation of rapid development cycles with 180 releases in one year based on direct warfighter feedback.
• Navigation of defense acquisition processes and funding cycles as a small technology company.
• Creation of the "World in a Box" capability, providing global 3D mapping for mission planning.
• Development of edge computing solutions for disconnected environments while maintaining collaborative capabilities.

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Guest Quote: 

“We kind of early on realized we got to meet people where they are. And while the hardware is not quite where we think it needed to be just yet, we wanted to make sure that people still had access to it. So it's a patented platform that again, it's hardware agnostic. We kind of knew who we kind of picked some of the people we thought would kind of take a lead, made sure we built for that, but really it's hard to tell really who the winners in this space are going to be long term.”