BTS Behind the Scenes is a chance to showcase the people who are making things happen at BTS and give you a “behind the scenes” look into their worlds. In this month’s feature we’ll talk with Principal Software Engineer Hal Black on the recent Augury acquisition, technical challenges, and AI.

Augury built a strong reputation for tackling complex engineering challenges. What principles have guided the company from the very beginning?

From the very beginning, the two principles that guided the company were hiring selectively and empowering our employees. We deliberately targeted candidates with high technical skill and conscientiousness. We found that when leadership shows such employees respect and gives them autonomy, they use their genius to deliver creative and effective solutions.

What stood out to you about BTS that made this acquisition feel like the right next chapter for Augury?

BTS clearly communicated a vision for the future that would allow Augury to leverage its engineering acumen on a larger stage to result in a greater impact on our national security.

How do you see Augury’s capabilities complementing BTS, and what new opportunities does that create for customers?

Augury’s capabilities in full-stack application development and hardware design engineering mesh with some of the requirements BTS finds in its other domains. Customers will have access not only to exceptional engineering, but also to solution architectures that could reduce time-to-market, risk, and costs for our customers.

What kinds of technical challenges energize your team the most?

We most enjoy applying frontier technologies to solve problems that were previously intractable.  Over the years, technologies such as MapReduce and BigTable changed what was possible with data at scale. Later, GPU computing and deep learning transformed machine perception and pattern recognition. Today, generative artificial intelligence and large language models (LLMs) are creating similar opportunities in the domains of knowledge work and engineering. It is energizing to apply these leading-edge technologies to break through challenges that have stymied the engineering community’s efforts in the past.

As the technology landscape continues to evolve, where do you see the greatest opportunities for innovation across defense and national security?

The greatest opportunity for innovation right now is applying generative artificial intelligence and LLMs throughout the defense and national security space. The scale of work that a well-trained model allows per a unit cost is revolutionary. LLMs also provide many opportunities to increase velocity. These accelerators present opportunities in all areas of the defense space.

What are you most excited about as the Augury and BTS teams begin building together?

I am most excited to make an impact on some of the major challenges facing our nation’s national defense posture that have emerged over the past few years. Recent technological advancements have drastically changed the parameters of national defense. Upcoming new technologies will change it even more so. It’s an exciting opportunity to be able to work on something impactful in this new era.

Tags: augury, hal black