Phase I SBIR US Army - Quantum-Secure Wireless Data Transfer for Predictive Logistics

Forward Edge-AI, in partnership with Verizon Business, has proposed a secure wireless data transfer solution under Topic A254-P007 that directly addresses the Army’s Predictive Logistics modernization priority. The project focuses on enabling seamless transmission of data from digital source collectors (DSCs) on tactical wheeled vehicles to centralized systems, specifically the Army Vantage dashboard.

By leveraging Isidore Quantum®, a quantum-resistant encryption device licensed from the NSA, combined with Verizon’s robust cellular and satellite backhaul capabilities, the solution ensures real-time, secure, and scalable logistics data flow. This approach allows commanders and maintainers to move from motorpool-based data collection to mission-ready, field-based predictive analytics, significantly enhancing decision speed, readiness, and operational agility.

Modern supply chains and military sustainment operations face mounting challenges from global instability, fluctuating demand, and fragile infrastructure. The U.S. Army’s modernization initiatives have introduced new streams of sensor data from vehicles and platforms, yet current communications systems are not designed to securely transmit this information during missions. Data in Phase I includes J1939 CANBUS Sensors, mounted on Wheeled Vehicles (non-CANBUS), body worn sensors, and tethered drones with sensors.

To address this gap, Forward Edge-AI’s A254-P007 project, in partnership with Verizon Business, is developing a secure and scalable solution that integrates Isidore Quantum® encryption technology with Verizon’s 5G and satellite backhaul capabilities, ensuring resilient and secure logistics data transfer under both domestic and deployed conditions.

Building on this foundation, agentic AI adds an autonomous intelligence layer that transforms predictive logistics from a reactive monitoring tool into a proactive decision-making system. Unlike traditional generative AI, which depends on human prompts, agentic AI continuously senses, plans, and executes logistics functions with minimal oversight. It enables proactive supply and inventory management, autonomous logistics optimization through scenario simulation, predictive maintenance based on real-time vehicle sensor data, and resilient battlefield adaptation even in degraded communications environments. These capabilities reduce manual intervention, increase operational speed, and enhance overall readiness.

The integration of agentic AI with Forward Edge-AI’s secure wireless framework delivers significant strategic benefits to military operations. Commanders gain decision superiority by receiving faster, autonomous responses to logistics challenges, while organizations realize operational efficiency through automated workflows. The system ensures resilience by adapting to disruptions in real time, while its quantum-resistant architecture future-proofs logistics against emerging threats. Together, these innovations create a self-healing, adaptive sustainment network that strengthens mission readiness and provides a decisive advantage in increasingly complex operational environments.

Moreover, Global supply chains, particularly in military sustainment operations, are increasingly vulnerable to disruption, data manipulation, and cyber threats. Embedding blockchain into the predictive logistics architecture provides a decentralized, immutable ledger that ensures trusted data provenance and secure record-keeping across distributed environments. Blockchain’s inherent transparency and tamper-resistance introduce a trustworthy foundation for real-time logistics data—whether tracking sensor outputs, inventory movements, or maintenance actions—making the entire system auditable and resilient to external interference. This immutability not only strengthens data integrity but also enables enhanced traceability and accountability across all nodes in the supply chain.

In practice, blockchain complements both the Isidore Quantum® secure wireless backbone and the Agentic AI autonomy layer. While Isidore Quantum®, with its post-quantum zero-trust encryption, ensures that sensitive logistics data remains secure during transmission—even over 5G and satellite links—the blockchain fingerprints and logs each transaction in a decentralized ledger. Agentic AI agents then draw upon this verifiable on-chain history, enabling them to autonomously diagnose supply needs, forecast inventory levels, simulate logistics scenarios, and initiate maintenance actions with high confidence in data integrity. Smart contracts embedded in the blockchain can automate these decisions under defined rules (e.g., executing resupply orders when thresholds are met), while smart agents close the feedback loop seamlessly and independently.

Together, the triad of Isidore Quantum®, Agentic AI, and blockchain creates a powerful predictive logistics system that is simultaneously secure, autonomous, and transparent. Organizations benefit from tactical decision superiority—as Agentic AI acts on verifiably accurate data—while gaining resilience through encrypted communication channels and tamper-proof audit trails. This integration future-proofs logistics networks by safeguarding against quantum-era threats, minimizing human oversight, and ensuring that every logistics event—from data capture to action execution—is trustworthy, traceable, and fully aligned with mission goals.

The solution offers multiple advantages over traditional approaches. Isidore Quantum® provides protocol-agnostic Layer 2 encryption, compliant with CNSA Suite 2.0, ensuring both quantum resistance and ease of integration with existing Army networks. Compared to legacy encryption solutions, it is 75% faster to implement and 60% more cost-effective, while avoiding the administrative burden of Controlled Cryptographic Items (CCI). Verizon’s global telecommunications infrastructure adds further value, enabling scalable deployment across CONUS and OCONUS environments through cellular and low-cost satellite backhaul. The combined system is not only secure, “set-and-forget,” and cost-efficient, but also resilient to Denied, Degraded, Intermittent, and Limited (DDIL) communications environments—an essential requirement for contested battlefield conditions.

The solution is designed as a dual-use technology, with wide applicability in both military and commercial markets. Militarily, it supports predictive logistics by enabling commanders to access real-time vehicle health, fuel, ammunition, and fault codes, thus improving readiness, sustainment, and mission execution. Commercially, the same capabilities extend to fleet management, logistics, transportation, and supply chain optimization. Use cases include predictive maintenance for civilian vehicle fleets, AI-driven decision support for manufacturing and healthcare, real-time monitoring for agriculture, emergency services coordination, and maritime operations. In essence, the technology directly supports both the Army’s integrated network systems-of-systems modernization priorities and diverse commercial sectors requiring secure wireless data transfer.

Anticipated outcomes from Phase I and beyond include a validated, scalable, and secure proof-of-concept architecture that moves predictive logistics from concept to field implementation. The project will demonstrate how encrypted, near-real-time data feeds enhance operational decision-making while future-proofing communications against quantum threats. For the military, this translates into improved sustainment, reduced risk, and greater operational resilience. For commercial stakeholders, the benefits include reduced downtime, improved safety, lower operational costs, and enhanced supply chain responsiveness. Collectively, the solution delivers a transformative step toward digital transformation in logistics, offering both immediate tactical gains and long-term strategic value to defense and civilian industries.

Army Project VISTA Eligible: Yes

Tradewinds Market Place Awardable: Yes

A Federal Agency may enter into a Phase III SBIR/STTR agreement at any time with a Phase I OR II Awardee. A subcontract to a Federally funded prime contract may be a Phase III award.

© 2024 Forward Edge-AI, Inc. All rights reserved.

Awarding Agency: US Army

Contract Number: Phase I - W5170125CA232

Contractor Name: Forward Edge-AI, Inc.

Contractor Address: 10108 Carter Canyon, San Antonio, TX 78255

Expiration of SBIR Data: 11 August 2045

Protection Period: 20 years from award of contract on 11 August 2025

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