MEETING MINUTES

Edge AI Foundation — Defense Working Group

In person at WindRiver X and Virtual Meeting | September 17, 2026

Date	September 17, 2026
Format	Onsite and Virtual
Attendees	Working group members: Pete Bernard (Edge AI Foundation), Sek Chai (Latent AI), Tricia Fitzmaurice (WindRiverX), Tinoosh Mohsenin (Johns Hopkins University), Ethan Wais (Syntiant), Vikash Kodati (Godel Space),   Invited, not present: Hans Salomonsson (embedl), Steve Brightfield (BrainChip), Sandeep Modhvadia (Wind River), Roopa Vasan (Leidos), Chris Ritter (Dell Federal), David Aronchick (Expanso), Andres Castrillon (Qualcomm)   Program staff: Shelly Tzoumas (Latent AI),
Prepared by	Shelly Tzoumas (Latent AI)

Agenda Overview

• Symposium registration status and full agenda walkthrough
• Software supply chain white paper — findings and next steps
• Defense Working Group strategic focus areas (four pillars)
• State of Edge AI Survey — performance review and revised strategy
• Charter scope — expanding to include space

1. Symposium Registration & Agenda Walkthrough

Sek Chai walked the group through the finalized September 18 agenda. The symposium has reached 136 registered attendees, prompting the group to close walk-up registration. The full agenda runs:

• Welcome remarks (Pete Bernard)
• Government keynote (Deputy CDAO, Mr. Andrew Mapes)
• Industry keynote (Tricia Fitzmaurice, Neil Chaudhry)
• Drone Dominance panel ( Brigadier General Gibbs)
• Academic sessions (Johns Hopkins University)
• Industry talk on mission effectiveness (Graham Shellenberger, Latent AI)
• Industry panel on mission effectiveness (David Aronchick, Expanso)
• Trusted AI Supply Chain panel (Sek Chai, Latent AI)
• Coffee breaks / networking
• Closing fireside chat with the Lt Gen David A. Harris, Jr., USAF (Retired)

2. Software Supply Chain White Paper

Sek Chai introduced the newly drafted white paper, produced with a student intern and incorporating interviews with DWG members David Aronchick and Chris Ritter. The paper addresses software supply chain risk and data provenance in edge AI, covering peacetime risk accumulation, component sourcing, software bills of materials (SBOMs), and model replicability. The group discussed the government’s potential role in supplying baseline training data so vendors can reach an “80% solution,” with proprietary or classified data layered in at later stages. The group agreed this is a first iteration, with further contributions and additional academic co-authors expected.

3. Strategic Focus Areas for the DWG

The group outlined four focus areas going forward:

• Industry standards & interoperability — potential collaboration with LF Edge on reference architectures and modular open systems standards (MOSA); sustainment risk from device/OS fragmentation was also flagged.
• Test, evaluation & benchmarking — a gap left by instability in MLPerf; opportunity to guide third-party benchmarking startups toward defense-specific (e.g., drone) capability testing.
• Congressional & Department of War education — build custom learning modules (extending the existing “Edge AI Fundamentals” and “Physical AI and Security” courses) for Congress and DOW staff, emphasizing dual-use case studies from automotive autonomy and agricultural drones.
• Workforce development & academic partnerships — tailored edge AI curricula/certifications for war fighters, in partnership with the Naval Postgraduate School and Army/Air Force academies, modeled in part on Latent AI’s international AI boot camp program.
• Research roadmap & international partnerships — a public roadmap (modeled on the Semiconductor Research Consortium) to guide congressional funding priorities, alongside continued engagement with NATO, Five Eyes, and the NATO DIANA program.

4. State of Edge AI Survey — Performance Review

Pete Barnard reported low completion on the recent survey (137 views, 52 starts, 12 completions), attributing the drop-off to length and complexity. Proposed alternatives: shorter, more frequent surveys (2–3 questions) and/or direct, batched outreach (roughly 10 companies at a time) rather than mass distribution. The group also discussed gating future event registration behind a short survey to improve both data collection and visibility.

5. Charter Scope — Space

Pete Bernard suggested expanding the DWG charter to be more inclusive of space-related topics rather than standing up a separate working group, given overlap with existing initiatives. The group agreed.

Action Items

Owner	Action
All members	Support the September 18 symposium recap: contribute to a curated recap post and a YouTube live-stream discussion covering the event and the supply chain white paper.
All members	Contribute additional content/analysis to the supply chain white paper as it moves into its next iteration.
All members	Support development of a “war fighter” version of the Edge AI curriculum for defense training audiences.
All members	Evaluate expanding the Defense Working Group’s charter (and possibly its name) to formally include space.
Pete Bernard	Shift survey strategy: target individuals at member companies directly, in small batches, rather than mass distribution.
Shelly Tzoumas	Publish these meeting minutes to encourage broader DWG participation.

Next Meeting

Next DWG meeting: date to be confirmed; scheduling to follow.