By Amarachi Okafor
While operating a tank in the chaos of the battlefield, U.S. soldiers often have only seconds to identify friendly or hostile vehicles. Their quick decisions can result in accidental friendly fire –– and can end in tragedy.
A team of Carnegie Mellon University graduate and undergraduate students developed a solution to this problem during the fall 2024 semester, in collaboration with the U.S. Department of Defense. Their solution builds upon existing military technology to provide tank crews with real-time, visual confirmation of a potential target’s allegiance. The solution could reduce the number of friendly fires in the battlefield and improve the efficiency of tank crews.
The team was composed of Khushi Shah (MSISPM ‘25), Tanner Balluff (MSISPM ‘26), Cooper Zhu (MISM-BIDA ‘25) and Jeffrey Zhang (IS ‘25). They developed their solution as part of Professor J. David Riel’s Lean Innovation Lab course at Heinz College, in which groups of students work with officials from the Department of Defense to develop solutions to agency problems.
The project has gained recognition for its innovation and impact. The team was one of four selected to participate in the commercialization pathway of the Defense Innovation Unit’s summer fellowship, chosen from a pool of hundreds of applicants from across 70 universities. As part of the fellowship, the team began to develop a strategy for commercializing their system.
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Currently, tank crews use two primary means to find and identify targets, one of which is known as the Commander Independent Thermal Viewer (CITV). The CITV does not visually distinguish between friendly and hostile vehicles, leaving crews to make that determination amid the stresses of combat.
The team's solution places a symbol within the CITV viewfinder that indicates, in real time, whether an identified armored vehicle is friendly or hostile. The symbol used on the overlay comes from ADP 1-02 "Operational Terms and Military Symbols,” which is the standard for the military for the symbols used on maps.
The team's system augments the Army’s existing methods for identifying targets. The system uses artificial intelligence and makes its decisions based on its extensive training on armored vehicle profiles. The project also uses blue force tracking to help create the overlay on the CITV.
The team believes their system could dramatically reduce human error.
“We wanted to create something that would have a tangible impact. This project gave us the opportunity to take what we’ve learned at Heinz and apply it to something much bigger than ourselves,” said Shah, who is now a software engineer at Spotlight Security AI.
To build the system, the students interviewed Army personnel to understand how friendly-fire incidents occur and where identification issues occur. Then, they created a prototype overlay that displayed the ADP 1-02 symbol in real time, refining it through usability tests with military mentors and simulated field exercises in Germany and Poland.
The result was a functional proof of concept that demonstrated how clear, data-driven design could make split-second battlefield decisions safer and more accurate.
At first, I wasn’t sure how the team dynamics would work since we all came from different programs. But that diversity became our greatest strength. Everyone brought a unique skill set, and the support from Professor Riel and our mentors made it possible to turn our ideas into something concrete.Khushi Shah (MSISPM ‘25)
The team collaborated closely with DoD partners throughout the project. Early on, the team struggled to gather information from Army personnel because they lacked security clearances. With help from their assigned warfighter, SSG Aaron Velenchenko, and course mentors, the students secured the clearances, opening the door to deeper collaboration.
The students presented their solution to tank commanders and gunners during a site visit in Germany. There, the team was able to share their project’s real-world impact and gain even more support from military teams.
Riel, a distinguished service professor at Heinz College, has taught the Lean Innovation Lab course for several years, helping graduate and undergraduate students produce a number of impactful projects.
The course gives students direct access to national-security sponsors, startup tools and interdisciplinary teams, an experience rarely found in a typical policy or design course. Students graduate with both a transferable innovation toolkit and concrete work products that can be deployed by real organizations.
“The class is part of the Hacking for Defense Network, which is a network of about 60 different universities,” Riel said. “We teach lean methodology to students, and they apply lean methodology to solving a national and global problem.”
Shah said that, because students are put into project teams at random, the course encourages collaboration across disciplines and ensures students with diverse perspectives are working together on each project.
“At first, I wasn’t sure how the team dynamics would work since we all came from different programs,” Shah said. “But that diversity became our greatest strength. Everyone brought a unique skill set, and the support from Professor Riel and our mentors made it possible to turn our ideas into something concrete.”
Their story serves as a testament to how experimental learning at Heinz College empowers students to bridge the gap between technology, policy and human-centered design. The project exemplifies what can happen when students are given the tools and mentorship to tackle real-world problems.
“If you're taking the Lean Innovation Lab class, attach yourself to the impact that you're going to have, and that would make your class and project 100 times better than what you're planning,” Shah said.