Grant to Develop an Advanced, Miniaturized Voice Response Translator for Pre-Programmed Law Enforcement Phrases, Final Report

This project was to minimize and begin production of the Voice Response Translator (VRT), developed and demonstrated by Integrated Wave Technologies, Inc. (IWT) under a previous NIJ grant. This grant was extended on a no-cost basis until 2005 as IWT, Inc. worked with NIJ, the Defense Advanced Research Project Agency (DARPA), and other agencies to advance the VRT’s design. IWT supported field use and evaluation of the VRT during the grant period and documented successful operation. Technical performance in law enforcement applications has been very good, with eyes-free/hands-free capability that no other system has. Large police departments always have some in-house language translation capability, and officers often rely on personnel who speak the required language. More recently, testing focused on small departments without language resources. Immigrant influxes have created language requirements, and small departments often don’t have bilingual officers. Testing with the Shenandoah County (Virginia) Sheriff’s Office has produced promising results. Military and homeland security use of the VRT has been highly successful, with the VRT being the only system successfully used in direct action combat. Based on this successful use, DARPA has funded advanced development of the VRT, centering on new configurations and limited two-way capability.