Three Brazilian cutting-edge defense technology projects have caught the attention of the US military and are vying for funding under the research, development, test and evaluation (RDT&E) agreement between both nations. The projects, which involve technologies such as mind mapping, bioprinting and artificial intelligence, are being developed by the Center for Defense and Security (CDS) of the National Service for Industrial Learning Integrated Manufacturing and Technology Center (SENAI CIMATEC).
Located in Salvador, Bahia, the center is a network of professional schools that offer technical education with the aim of promoting industrial innovation. If the projects are approved, it will be the first time that SENAI CIMATEC will have financial support from the US military.
One of the projects involves the use of an electroencephalogram to identify military decision-making patterns. The idea is to use the equipment to map the brain functions of military personnel who have a leadership role and advanced decision-making skills, to identify what stands out. “This is the first part of the project. The second will be to investigate the likelihood of somehow transferring this experience to the brains of military personnel during training,” Milton Deiró Neto, CDS senior consultant, told Diálogo.
In addition to defense and security, SENAI CIMATEC has 42 other areas of specialization, from food to biomedical engineering. Around 900 employees work in these areas, including technicians, professors and researchers. The project for the use of the encephalogram currently involves psychologists, doctors and engineers.
The other project that caught the attention of the US military is the bioprinting of cartilage tissue. “The focus is twofold, with application in the civilian area, as in the case of an athlete who might need to have a certain part of the body done, and in the military area, if we think for example of a combat wounded person, who would need to make a cartilage part of the body,” said Deiró.
Bioprinting is an existing technique inspired by 3D printing, which uses biomaterials as raw material, such as cells and water-based gel, for example. As such, the bioprinter can construct structures such as organs and tissues. In the case of the SINAI CIMATEC project, researchers are looking to print cartilage tissue. “Whoever had the idea and is developing the initial research is a professor of biomaterials at CIMATEC, in collaboration with the University of California San Diego [UCSD], which has a bioprinter,” said Deiró.
According to Deiró, the goal is for CIMATEC researchers to develop the biomaterial in Brazil to later perform print tests at UCSD. “We always try to do our research in partnership with US-based institutions, which have always been good partners for Brazil,” Deiró added.
SINAI CIMATEC’s third idea is the use of artificial intelligence to increase welding reliability in nuclear structures. According to Deiró, although nuclear structures already have high safety standards, SINAI CIMATEC’s project proposes to improve welding procedures and the subsequent maintenance of welded structures through artificial intelligence, “as has happened in other fields, which have shown a lower error rate than human handling” said Deiró .
The Brazilian Senate’s approval of the RDT&E agreement in April 2022 strengthened the technology exchange between Brazilian and US institutions in the military field. The RDT&E agreement, signed in 2020 during President Jair Bolsonaro’s visit to the U.S.S. Southern Command, Miami, Florida, provides an opportunity for closer cooperation in defense technology while attesting to the mutual trust that underpins the relationship between both nations.
