The DARPA One-way is a hand-held, voice actuated phrase book.  Phrases are translated in advance by a native translator, recorded and saved in a phrase database.   When an English phrase is spoken into the system, the translation is played back.   The system is not a two-way translator.

What can you do with the PTS?

PTS Users

Military

Peacekeeping operations
Intelligence screening
Training
Ship boardings and inspections

Government and Law Enforcement

Police departments, fire departments
Customs inspectors and border patrols
Coast Guard inspections and safety

Humanitarian Assistance and Medical

Disaster relief
Medical diagnostics and treatment

Travel Industry

Business travelers, aviation flight crews, ticket agents, check-in

Background and History

The DARPA One-way development is sponsored by Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) Information Technology Office (ITO) Human Language Systems.  Originally developed as text-to-voice phrase translator by the Naval Operational Medical Institute (NOMI), speech recognition was later added to to enable voice-to-voice one-way communication.  Designated the Multilingual Interview System (MIS), the system was deployed to Bosnia 1997. 

In support of Maritime Intercept Operations (MIO), the DARPA One-way was deployed to the Arabian Gulf July 1998.  The MIO specific DARPA One-way system consists of commercial-off-the-shelf (COTS) hardware and voice recognition and translation software. The language module consists of approximately five hundred phrases and words translated into the four most common languages used in the Gulf: Arabic, Farsi, Hindi and Urdu. A two pound, 5x8 inch Toshiba Libretto 100CT with a 166 MHz processor runs the software. A sensitive noise-canceling microphone is used for speech input, and a small speaker is used for translation output.

The PTS has been used and demonstrated in recent military training exercises including Urban Warrior in 1999 and Strong Angel in the Spring of 2000.

In the Spring of 2000  ten custom PTSs were delivered to USCG units for use and evaluation in the conduct of Immigration and Naturalization Services (INS) boardings.  The delivered systems consist of PTS software, and the McSpeak custom microphone/speaker developed for use with the DARPA One-way PTS.

MAI was awarded a DARPA  SBIR grant January 2001 to develop a handheld PTS called the Phraselator.  After the 9/11 attack, the development was accelerated,  and about 500 Phraselators were built and delivered to military units in support of operation Enduring Freedom.  

Links

06/13/2002