{"id":13282,"date":"2021-04-02T18:17:56","date_gmt":"2021-04-02T18:17:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/airforcetimes\/uncategorized\/2021\/04\/02\/tyndall-bets-on-3d-digital-twin-modeling-for-a-safer-smarter-base\/"},"modified":"2026-08-07T20:19:15","modified_gmt":"2026-08-07T20:19:15","slug":"tyndall-bets-on-3d-digital-twin-modeling-for-a-safer-smarter-base","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/airforcetimes\/news\/your-air-force\/2021\/04\/02\/tyndall-bets-on-3d-digital-twin-modeling-for-a-safer-smarter-base\/","title":{"rendered":"Tyndall bets on 3D \u2018digital twin\u2019 modeling for a safer, smarter base"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Some small technology could make a big difference as Tyndall Air Force Base looks to rebuild as a 21st-century \u201csmart\u201d installation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The fighter jet base in the Florida Panhandle is taking three-dimensional scans of its buildings and what grounds that were left after Hurricane Michael, a Category 5 storm, pummeled the installation in late 2018. That data will generate computer renderings of base infrastructure that could change how airmen \u2014 from maintenance crews to security forces \u2014 handle their jobs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Using sophisticated cameras and a \u201ccool backpack\u201d with GPS-enabled radars that take laser measurements, a team captured the interior and exterior layouts of Tyndall\u2019s facilities, roads and runways, Lowell Usrey, integration division chief in the office overseeing Tyndall\u2019s reconstruction, told Air Force Times. Those scans of the nooks and crannies on base will pair with existing blueprints and geographic data to create the 3D image known as a \u201cdigital twin.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

USAF is partnering with Booz Allen Hamilton and Virginia-based Ares Security under a $10 million, three-year prototyping agreement to get the concept up and running.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Think of it in the same way as a Roomba maps a home\u2019s layout to know where to vacuum, or how a Google Maps car uses a 3D depth sensor to create a model of the world around it, officials with the Tyndall reconstruction program office said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt will tell you where potholes are, it can tell you where cracks are in that pavement. That potentially enables future use cases where you could do artificial intelligence analytics of that pavement to see where it\u2019s going to fail,\u201d Usrey said of one scanning system.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Most importantly, the team is building digital models of the flight line area that will host three F-35A Lightning II fighter jets starting in 2023, and potentially other airframes like the MQ-9 Reaper drone. Mapping the mission support group facilities is also a high priority so the Air Force can see how the key mechanical infrastructure might be affected by another big storm.<\/p>\n\n\n\t