Translation Devices
Written by Tom Marlowe
“They have moved the state of the art ahead enormously well. There are a lot of neat things there and we are very glad to be associated with it,” Tim McCune, president of Integrated Wave Technologies (IWT), told Special Operations Technology.
IWT, a TRANSTAC contractor based in Fremont, Calif., meanwhile has moved forward with revising its popular Miltrans Voice Response Translator (VRT), which offers hands-free, eyes-free translation capabilities to U.S. warfighters who must communicate to foreign populations around them in Iraq and Afghanistan.
“We have been focusing on the core things that make it effective for people to use,” McCune said. “We have completely redone the basic software application. The recognition has improved. We have expanded the number of languages. There are 50 languages on it now in response to requests. There are SOF folks all over the place. We also have increased the number of phrases on it.”
IWT has expanded the capability of the system to hold up to 199 languages and to go 65 hours between recharges.
“You have guys from the 1st Group who go from the Philippines to Indonesia to Afghanistan, and they will never have to change the software because we can plug in the whole group of languages they are going to need,” McCune noted. “The design parameters that we have been able to meet that no one else has met are pretty key for a certain group of SOF users.”
The company also is testing a stealth version of the VRT, inspired by soldiers who have worn it as a throat microphone under their clothes, thereby disguising the presence of the VRT.
INFLUENTIAL APPLICATIONS
Fluential Inc., based in Sunnyvale, Calif., also participates in the DARPA TRANSTAC program. The company claims to have two-way speech translation applications ready to field today with its Speaking Multilingual Interactive Natural Dialogue System (S-MINDS).
S-MINDS is a system that provides two-way speech applications for specific missions, enabling Americans and Iraqis to collaborate in training exercises, for example. Fluential bills S-MINDS as a means to train Iraqis without an interpreter, as the device understands English phrases (which it translates into Iraqi phrases) as well as Iraqi phrases (which it translates to English).
S-MINDS offers a means of communication with a high degree of accuracy for a broad range of interaction for training missions for Iraqi soldiers or police officers, according to Fluential. The system consists of a notebook and a hands-free microphone, and it listens to each respective speaker and then transcribes the speech. The system can operate wirelessly, which means the computer does not have to be with the operator, providing users with a hands-free, eyes-free translation capability.
S-MINDS also provides a Rapid Interview Translation editor that permits incorporation of new modules or topics in a new language in a short time with the assistance of a linguist. An image processing module enables users to take pictures of people, places or things and inquire about them.
The total S-MINDS system, which runs on Microsoft Windows, weighs 3 pounds and is ruggedized.
IMPORTANT PHRASES
Voxtec International Inc. of Annapolis, Md., manufactures one of the preeminent translation devices in use by U.S. military forces today— the Phraselator.
Voxtec is continually adding new languages and translation domains to its devices, based upon ongoing deployment of the systems, Voxtec President John Hall told SOTECH. The company also has added language training tools to the P2 to help warfighters practice speaking and reading a language.
“No one can promise that these systems are going to replace a human interpreter any time soon, but we’ve made tremendous improvements to the capabilities over the past several years,” Hall commented. “We like to think our systems are a force multiplier on the battlefield, freeing up human ‘terps to do more critical, complex language tasks as the translation systems are used for more general, quick interactions. These systems are just one part of the solution to breakdown critical language barriers.” The current version of the system, the Phraselator P2mX-2 is the fifth generation hardware platform, since the original Model 1000. The P2mX-2 is running the company’s sixth generation software application, referred to simply as version 3.0.
From its holster, the SQUID SQ.200 provides hands-free, eyes-free translation, offering up to 2,400 phrases for communication to foreign speakers.
In March 2008, Voxtec International sold 105 SQ.200 wearable translation systems to soldiers at Fort Hood, Texas. The devices were configured to supply warfighters with one-way translation capabilities in the languages of Arabic, Duri, Iraqi, Kurmanji, Pashto and Urdu.
The SQ.200 devices came in kits supplied by Atlantic Diving Supply Inc., which supplies special operations equipment to warfighters in all services. These kits, known as Escalation of Force kits, were specifically designed to reduce casualties caused by improvised explosive devices or suicide bombers. The SQUID SQ.200 comes with more than 2,000 preloaded phrases, which were recorded by professional linguists. The phrases are organized by categories for easy searching and access. In May 2008, Aardvark Tactical Inc. fielded the Phraselator P2 in many of its kits, including the Force Protection Capability Set for the Marine Corps; Brigade Combat Team Set for the U.S. Army; and the Escalation of Force set for the Army. Soldiers and Marines with these sets could use the Phraselator P2 for crowd control, riot control, convoy operations and checkpoint operations. The U.S. military currently uses more than 6,000 Phraselator devices overseas.
Voxtec International’s recently redesigned Website offers users of the Phraselator P2 and SQUID SQ.200 to explore the devices in 360 degrees with the ability to learn about specific features. They also can learn how to build custom language modules with the Voxtec Module Builder Pro software. LANGUAGE AND CULTURE
Several prominent applications make use of the commercially available iPod products from Apple Inc. to convert the devices into language tools.
Vcom3D Inc. of Orlando, Fla., has introduced its Vcommunicator Mobile as such a device. The Vcommunicator kit modifies an iPod by attaching it to a small speaker by a cord. Both parts fit into a pouch that straps to a soldier’s arm. The Vcommunicator also comes with a solar charger. The company recognized the need for soldiers to communicate when confronted with unknown languages in Iraq and Afghanistan, so it developed an application to go onto an iPod that uses scenario-specific phrases to assist soldiers in language training. It also offers video of behaviors that are culturally appropriate to teach warfighters appropriate manners when in foreign nations.
U.S. military servicemembers have employed more than 700 Vcommunicator-configured iPods in Iraq, Afghanistan and Sudan. Warfighters also can opt to use the Vcommunicator Authoring Suite to create and modify content in the Vcommunicator Mobile software. The authoring suite allows warfighters in the field to easily add content such as maps, photos or audio to the Vcommunicator.
The device is preloaded with support for specific preset missions such as raids, patrols, cordon and knock, and others. It’s easy to use and requires no training to get started, according to Vcom3D. The Vcommunicator offers realistic dialog and emotion in its phrases, teaching warfighters how to speak appropriately.
The cultural training videos of the Vcommunicator offer a searchable library of gestures and expressions. Preset characters in the video animations include soldiers and civilians. The Army’s 1st Cavalry Division received the Vcommunicator Mobile prior to deployment to Iraq last year with a demonstration at Fort Hood, Texas. Vcom3D equipped their devices with Iraqi Arabic, Kurdish, Dari, Pashto and Modern Standard Arabic.
VISUAL LANGUAGE
Alexandria, Virginia-based Gaia Communications LLC, (Kwikpoint), has created a non-electronic but successfully field-proven foreign language communication tool, the Kwikpoint Visual Language Translator (VLT). Several million VLTs have been supplied throughout the U.S. military, including special ops units of the U.S. Army, Marines and Air Force; and the Joint IED Defeat Organization (JIEDDO). VLTs are custom- designed, multi-panel, double-sided lightweight graphical pocket guides printed on durable synthetic paper and designed to assist U.S. forces in quickly and accurately communicating with and obtaining intel from non- English speaking locals. Using carefully researched and illustrated graphics, VLTs allow for a sequenced and rapid interactive two-way dialogue between people who do not share the same language by pointing to pictures to communicate.
JIEDDO’s Iraq and Afghanistan VLTs for IED detection were designed to foster communication using easily recognizable images regarding the manufacture, concealment, targets and emplacement of IEDs as well as weapons caches and enemy positions. VLTs are used alone or as a compliment to translation devices or interpreters. They provide an additional means of overcoming language barriers when graphical images are necessary for increased understanding.
Kwikpoint collaborates closely with customers to create new VLTs for specific requirements. Special ops, for example, contracted for a sanitized VLT version of its survival evasion resistance escape product. The U.S. Army worked with Kwikpoint to create Iraq and Afghanistan VLTs that incorporate graphics and icons together with supplemental text translations and phonetics of critical command and control words and phrases for the soldier to communicate with locals. Curt Henry a U.S. Navy commander and former DARPA program manager described Kwikpoint products as “a basic leap-ahead technology” and a “valuable resource” for use in the battlefield by “boots-on-the-ground troops who have direct contact with the local population deployed anywhere in the world.”
NAVIGATION DEVICES
VoiceBox Technologies Inc., based in Bellevue, Wash., offers a peek of the future with voice navigation in vehicles. The company develops applications such as its VoiceBox Conversational Voice Search Platform for use in personal automobiles, but it has made terrific strides in voice recognition for its platforms. The company kicked off 2009 with an announcement that it had received a U.S. patent on its conversational voice search applications. The technology relies upon speech-based queries to find information for users. It tries to learn from its environment and its users’ preferences as to the exact meaning of the commands it receives.
Last year, VoiceBox Technologies added the languages of Dutch, British English, French, Italian, German and Spanish to support already being provided for American English, Canadian French and Mexican Spanish. The company worked with phonetic transcribers to determine the appropriate pronunciation of words for its systems, based on the work of native speakers of those languages.
As such, the VoiceBox gained extended capabilities for tasks such as voice destination entry for navigation, local search and points of interest, as well as location-based address requests using city and street names. The increase in the number of languages provides the VoiceBox applications with functionality while operating in nations where those languages are spoken. VoiceBox Technologies first introduced its language set in its personal navigation devices and followed that up with its automotive telematic systems.
The VoiceBox devices determine context and intent from regular conversational speech and then determines a speaker’s intent to determine the nature of the request. Users of a VoiceBox system simply state their goal to the device, which then figures out destinations without the use of preset commands. The devices work well even in noisy environments, according to the company. ♦