A New Brunswick company is betting the future of battlefield equipment repair looks less like a phone call and more like a hologram.

Kognitiv Spark, founded in 2016 and now employing about 25 people across Canada, the UK and the US, builds SparkOps, marketed as RemoteSpark, a secure augmented reality platform that lets field workers connect with remote experts through AR headsets or smart glasses. 

A technician working on a piece of equipment can share a real-time video feed with an expert anywhere in the world, who can annotate what they see, overlay diagrams, and guide a repair step by step, all without the technician putting down their tools.

"The whole point is to get the equipment back up and running," said Yan Simard, co-founder of Kognitiv Spark, in an interview with Vanguard. "That's true in defence. It's true in industrial as well."

The company's core use case involves field breakdowns far from support. 

"I can't give too many specifics, but in defence we hear a lot about a vehicle breaking down in the middle of nowhere," Simard said. "They pull out a Starlink dish, do a quick call with whoever they need, troubleshoot, and keep going. Those ad hoc moments are where we really shine."

Backed by UK defence innovation funding

The company's UK defence work has been catalyzed by funding from UK Defence Innovation and the Defence and Security Accelerator (UKDI-DASA) through the Defence Technology Exploitation Programme, according to a UKDI-DASA case study published in November 2025. 

That support helped Kognitiv Spark deploy its platform on secure sovereign defence cloud infrastructure, working with higher-tier supplier Serco and cloud specialist Prolinx to build a replica of a Ministry of Defence secure network environment.

The funding also helped open doors with major defence manufacturers. Kognitiv Spark now works with Rheinmetall BAE Systems Land, Rheinmetall MAN Military Vehicles and MSI Defence Systems, providing remote support capabilities across their operations, per the case study. 

Adam Clay, the company's managing director for the UK and EMEA, said the goal for adoption at scale rests on three things staying aligned: "user demand, senior leaders who will champion it, and a sustained funding line."

A slower Canadian pace

Progress looks different on the Canadian side of the business, according to chief marketing officer Sean Williams. 

"In Canada, I think everyone's waiting to see the dollars actually being spent," he said. 

For the technology's core pitch, Williams put it plainly: "It's the 'we need help right now' scenario. The soldier in the field is trying to fix something, can't, and needs help from the engineer back at home base."

Built for contested and low-bandwidth environments

The platform is designed to operate on low-bandwidth connections, making it usable in field environments where network capacity is limited, and can run across deployment models ranging from public cloud to fully containerized, on-premises systems for contested settings. 

"When the deployment ends, they shred everything: laptops, the glasses, all of it," Simard said, describing how hardware is disposed of after some defence deployments.

Simard drew a contrast with other mixed and virtual reality companies, many of which focus on simulation or classroom training. Kognitiv Spark, he said, is built for workers doing real maintenance and repair work in the field, often with their hands occupied.

AI documentation and what's next

The company is developing artificial intelligence tools that can observe and document a worker's actions during a session, aimed at preserving institutional knowledge before experienced workers retire. 

"It's a way to document procedures that often only exist in people's heads," Simard said, estimating that roughly 80 per cent of field procedures are undocumented.

Williams said the company is also exploring new hardware partnerships. 

"We're always looking for solutions not just for energy and critical infrastructure customers, but also for field use, headgear or glasses that are durable, safe, and can fit under a helmet," he said.