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Archive for the ‘Tac Apps’ Category

USARCENT Tests Phone App That Detects Unmanned Aerial Systems

Friday, July 28th, 2023

SHAW AIR FORCE BASE, S.C. — U.S. Army Central’s Task Force 39, the team dedicated to developing innovative ideas throughout USARCENT, facilitated a test of CARPE Dronvm at McEntire Joint National Guard Base and Poinsett Range on July 18, 2023.

CARPE Dronvm is a DoD funded application developed by MITRE Corporation that uses crowd-sourced information to detect unmanned aerial systems, or UAS. This test used a version of the application on cell phones to detect a UAS. Maj. Travis Valley, the Task Force 39 operations officer, said the potential for crowd-sourced UAS detection increases force protection capabilities.

“The CARPE Dronvm experiment, or proof of principle, was a huge success for ARCENT.” said Valley. “This was the largest experiment ARCENT has conducted to date. We expanded the experiment footprint, covering 50 kilometers, with multiple individuals in the area using the CARPE Dronvm app. This was all to prove the CARPE Dronvm app works. It did, in fact it exceeded my expectations on the simplicity of use and the program’s drone detection ability. This has the potential as a force protection multiplier, adding another tool to help protect Soldiers in a deployed environment.”

During the test, Soldiers used government provided cellular devices to test the functionality and capability of the application by capturing images of a UAS. The UAS used in the test flew from McEntire JNGB to Poinsett Range to provide the maximum amount of testing space available.

CARPE Dronvm is the result of a U.S. Air Forces Central initiative to develop systems to detect UAS. U.S. Army Central is testing the ability to operate this application at the Soldier level.

“Countering the drone threat in the U.S. Central Command area of responsibility is essential to keeping our personnel, aircraft and equipment safe,” said U.S. Air Force Lt. Col. Steven Norris, AFCENT counter-UAS cell chief. “Our MITRE partners have been helping make CARPE Dronvm a reality since 2019. Every single warfighter can help sense and warn, creating a comprehensive layered defense that will tie into our existing command and control architecture and increase awareness of threats in the region.”

In recent years, the threat posed by UAS increased as malign regional actors continue to use and experiment with this relatively cheap weapons system. Due to its low cost to entry, it is becoming the weapon of choice for potential adversaries resulting in rapid technology proliferation and increased employment. Lt. Gen. Patrick Frank, the USARCENT commanding general said his command is focused on developing technologies to counter this threat.

“The UAS threat is a shared security challenge for the U.S. and our regional partners,” said Frank. “To combat this threat, CENTCOM and USARCENT will test and field counter-UAS systems. The advanced measures we intend to pursue regarding innovation and experimentation will provide critical, real-time data to inform Army and defense decisions on counter-UAS technologies.”

United States Army Central is the U.S. Army service component command for United States Central Command and is responsible to the Secretary of the Army for the support and administration of more than 12,000 Soldiers, including those assigned to joint task forces and embassies, across the 21 countries in the CENTCOM area of responsibility.

Story by CPT Richard Moore

Photos by SFC Michael Behlin, SSG Leo Jenkins, and SGT Amber Cobena

DroneOptID Firmware Update for Enhanced Drone Detection, ID and Tracking

Tuesday, February 28th, 2023

DroneShield is pleased to announce the release of the latest update for its DroneOptID platform.

DroneOptID is a computer vision-based system used to control various thermal and optical sensors, detect, classify and track small drones or UAV targets.

Customers enrolled in DroneShield’s DroneSentry-C2 with DroneOptID software subscription, receive quarterly updates to the proprietary DroneOptID classification engine. DroneOptID is a camera agnostic software solution and DroneShield offers multiple camera options along with it to support various customer use cases, performance and budget requirements.

Major upgrades include:

• Improved Scan Pattern Performance: Major performance improvement to the optical scan pattern algorithm for faster target acquisition from radar and RF detections.

• Improved Object Size Estimation: Significant improvement to the passive optical object size estimation, enabling dynamic optical distance estimation adjustments when distance was previously acquired by other sensors.

• Deep DroneOpt2 Integration: Full featured integration of the DroneOpt2 model supporting both thermal and optical feeds with DroneOptID classification.

• AI Model Optimisation: Detection model optimisation for faster acquisition and improved high-speed target optical tracking.

• Integration for Sensor Fusion Applications: DroneOptID provides data stream designed to integrate with Sensor Fusion based systems such as DroneSentry-C2.

• Reduced Optical False Detections: Expansion of the DroneOptID data sets, reducing false detection probability.


DroneShield DroneSentry-C2 Command-and-Control System with DroneOptID module

Angus Bean, DroneShield Chief Technology Officer, commented, “As the counterdrone industry matures and our end user community begin taking back control of their low altitude airspace, the use of electronic countermeasures becomes a vital part of the response action. Our partners often require visual confirmation of target prior to the use of such countermeasures. This DroneOptID quarterly firmware release expands the reliability, accuracy, and functionality of a critical piece of technology.”

Army Software Factory, USAREUR-AF Partner on Tech Modernization

Tuesday, February 28th, 2023

GRAFENWÖHR, Germany — In today’s rapidly evolving digital landscape, many organizations strive to stay ahead of the curve in terms of technology and innovation. The Department of the Army is no exception, and its efforts to modernize and streamline its operations have recently taken a leap forward due to the agile software development processes of the Army Software Factory, or ASF.

The ASF is a significant step forward in the modernization of military operations. By streamlining an agile software development cycle, minimizing the need for external acquisition and promoting collaboration, the ASF is positioned to deliver innovative solutions to the military.

“The idea here is that we’re trying to meet Soldiers where they are at,” said 1st Lt. Aanand Shah, a software engineer for ASF. “What that means here in Europe is we are able to develop solutions that can work across multiple networks with Allies, partner countries and nations as well as internally within theater.”

During a recent interoperability exercise at 7th Army Training Command the Soldier-led ASF, in collaboration with U.S. Army Europe and Africa Mission Command Support Branch, developed new solutions directly addressing issues that in the past created challenges for U.S. and NATO allied system interoperability.

“My developer initially wrote an application that would bridge data between U.S. and NATO systems from the Army Tactical Assault Kit,” said Martin Christian Dudel, a civilian senior software engineer with USAREUR-AF. “The Army Software Factory came to Europe and helped us modernize the code and take it from a standalone application that must run on a server, into a container that can operate in a cloud native environment on the tactical edge bridging U.S. and NATO systems. This is a capability that we didn’t have before.”

The solution opens an entirely new range of possibilities as now essentially any application can be developed, deployed and seamlessly interact with the data of a partner nation’s application operating at the tactical edge.

“We’ve developed a path to production where apps go from origin to security scanning to deployment into Kubernetes clusters that will run on a TSI stack here on the edge of the battlefield,” said Sgt. 1st Class Joshua Millett, a platform engineer with ASF.

At the heart of ASF is a commitment to continuous improvement and a focus on collaboration. Teams within the ASF are encouraged to work together and closely with their end users to cultivate user stories, share ideas, determine best practices and learn from each other. This helps foster a culture of innovation and ensures that everyone is working toward a common goal of delivering high-quality software solutions to meet the needs of the military.

“It’s incredibly rewarding for our Soldiers to assist USAREUR-AF in accomplishing its challenging mission while we help Army Futures Command design the Army of 2040,” said Col. Vito Errico, director of ASF. “The Army has exceptionally talented Soldiers who can help lead us through digital transformation at the lowest levels.”

Upon meeting with representatives from the 7th Army Training Command’s public affairs team, Col. Michael Kaloostian, a senior leader and decision maker with USAREUR-AF’s G-6 division, confirmed the ongoing collaboration and solutions from ASF’s efforts.

“Our relationship with the Army Software Factory is essential to the command’s digital transformation,” said Col. Kaloostian. “The European theater’s digital landscape is complicated, and it’s our responsibility to simplify it by innovating software-based solutions that are shareable with our mission partners at the speed of conflict. Incorporating a DevSecOps model into our cloud environment assures that we can rapidly meet the command’s operational priorities and truly become data-centric.”

One of 7th Army Training Command’s core missions is to lead the Army in developing Allied and partner nation interoperability by providing the Army with an active learning, near-peer environment to press modernization initiatives. Working with ASF to furnish a realistic operational training environment for U.S., NATO, Allied and partner nations to introduce solutions to the military’s modern challenges is one of the ways 7th ATC works toward accomplishing that mission.

Story by CPT Darryl Padgett

Photos by SSG Ashley Low

ATAK 4.7 Available Now

Tuesday, August 2nd, 2022

Android Team Awareness Kit (ATAK-CIV) is an open source app providing mission planning, geospatial, Full Motion Video (FMV), and system administrator tools that reduces the operational footprint from a tactical laptop, to a commercial mobile device. The geospatial engine and communications component support Department of Defense (DoD) and commercial sector standards. Extensibility of the core platform is supported by the Software Development Kit (https://takmaps.com/), which enables any partner to develop mission-specific capability or contribute to the advancement of the baseline. Data can be pre-loaded into ATAK or downloaded from the network when available.

Civil use capabilities of ATAK-CIV include:

• Online and offline mapping (most standard formats), with a blazing fast rendering engine

• Support for very high-resolution imagery (sub 1 cm resolution)

• Collaborative mapping, including points, drawings, locations of interest

• Extensive and customizable set of Icons

• Overlay Manager which allows the Import and display of KML, KMZ, GPX overlays, maps and imagery including both online and offline sources with adjustable transparency. These overlays can be treated as Gridded Refrence Gaphics.

• Location marking, sharing, history

• Chat, file sharing, photo sharing, video sharing, streaming

• Navigation-walking/hiking, driving, also useful flying and air-ground coordination

• Elevation Tools, heat maps, computed contour maps, viewsheds, routes w/DTED, SRTM, including dynamic profiling

• Hashtags and Sticky tags

• Center on Self, Center on other objects (e.g. another person in the network)

• Range, bearing, and other measurement tools

• Network-aware geofences with triggers

• “Bloodhound” destination tracking, including on moving objects

• Team Emergency Beacons

• Customizable Toolbar

• Radio controls and Integration

• Photo to map capability (aka Rubber Sheeting)

• Casualty evacuation tool

• Icon support for a wide variety of First Responder missions with further extensible Icons

• 3D perspective and ability to display 3D geospatial models

• Useful for First Responders, Hunting, fishing, ornithology, wildlife site survey

Get it here.?

Software Factory Helps Transform Army from Industrial to Information Age

Thursday, June 2nd, 2022

REDSTONE ARSENAL, Ala. — Anyone can submit a problem to the Army Software Factory.

To be clear, that is not just anyone at the factory, or in the formation, or anyone of a certain rank or office. Anyone in the U.S. Army can submit a problem to the Army Software Factory. It is an innovative concept but one that fulfills the promise of Army Futures Command.

When AFC was stood up in 2018, it was understood that it would not be business as usual. And when AFC opened the Army Software Factory in 2021, it was making good on that promise. The first-of-its-kind factory brings in rotating groups of Soldiers and Army civilians through a highly competitive application process and trains them in modern agile software development. Joshua Farrington of the U.S. Army Combat Capabilities Development Command Aviation & Missile Center, or AvMC, is one of those civilians chosen for a prestigious factory rotation. Farrington is currently in a three-year assignment at the factory located in Austin, Texas.

“Employees that accept a rotation with the Army Software Factory bring their unique perspectives and capabilities from their home organizations and share those ideas into our ecosystem which further widens our vision of what is possible,” said Maj. Christopher Bennett, product manager at the Army Software Factory. “In addition to building their collaboration skills, rotations of employees that come through the Software Factory will encourage innovation through context-sharing on problems and products. When more people see a greater variety of problems and pains solved by software across the Army, it helps build a repository of ideas more easily shared across teams to reference.”

The program starts with a 16-week boot camp. There are four different tracks — platform engineer, software developer, product manager and designer. Farrington is on the software development track.

When a problem is submitted, the factory has a team to vet it. They do interviews, an initial scoping, and then decide whether to accept the problem. Once a problem is accepted, the assigned team works with partners to build a web application to address the problem — providing the collaboration that Army Futures Command is striving to foster Army-wide. Currently, Farrington is working on an application that will assist the 101st Airborne Division in their air assault mission planning process.

Another innovative aspect of the factory is that it is “rank agnostic” with Soldiers solving problems for Soldiers — an experience that Farrington said has been personally beneficial.

“It has been impactful for me — working directly with a lot of Soldiers,” Farrington shared. “At AvMC, we were doing things for the Warfighter but I was not around the Warfighter. Now, here, I am on a team with three other Soldiers who have directly dealt with the problem we are trying to solve. My impact for the Warfighter feels a lot more tangible.

“I was a civilian at AvMC writing Army-related software and I just wouldn’t have the context on what the app was actually doing because I had never flown a helicopter. So a Soldier who actually understands the context of how an app is actually going to be used – it just makes it so much easier to make decisions. I think having more Soldiers writing software will be a huge asset to the Army.”

In the Army’s continuing mission to transform itself from the industrial age to the information age, the Army Software Factory is a key player in the future fight — one that will be as much in the virtual cloud as it is in the physical ones.

“One of the big purposes of the Software Factory is to increase the software that is in the Army’s technical capabilities,” Farrington said. “The talent is already there, the Software Factory is finding a way to make the most of it.”

By Katie Davis Skelley, DEVCOM Aviation & Missile Center Public Affairs

Six Industries Takes it to the Next Level with Tertia Optio

Wednesday, May 25th, 2022

Scotsdale, AZ May 23, 2022 The Tertia Optio, Hyper-awareness Enabled Battlespace, Advanced Digital Management and Networking System (HEBADMAN System) is a Mosaic Warfighter Network military infrastructure system including hardware support, software support and layered encryption in order to provide the warfighter, on all levels, with common operational cross-domain secure battlefield data enabling new levels of dynamic combat agility. It is a software networking suite designed for cell phone, internet of things (IoT) and desktop integration of military Command, Control, Computers, Communication, Cyber, Intelligences, Surveillance, Reconnaissance Networking (C5ISRNET) to provide a Commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) solution enabling tactical and strategic information advantage, battlefield dominance, speed of command and maximizing mission effectiveness in the Mosaic Battlefield Environment.

It does this by leveraging the latest in cellular phone hardware technologies advancements to integrate them with the latest cutting-edge redundant encryption algorithms, advancements in geo-spatial technologies, and cloud computing capabilities couching them all in a server-side mission adaptable, user-managed, user interface, and customizable to mission requirements in dynamic combat environments.

The goal of this technology is to enable the warfighter and Commanders access to immediate actionable intelligence and capabilities to fight and win in increasing electronics dominated battlefields, while simultaneously eliminating digital information vulnerabilities inherent to use of private or unsecured mobile communications within a widely interoperable common information operating environment.

The system is nominally secured by end-to-end AES256 encryption, with cloud storage of encrypted signals until the target receiving device is available for download. This non-linear, elliptical curve encryption technology is considered secure by the US military for transmission of Top-Secret level signals. The data is then couched with-in a permissioned blockchain network, this decentralizes the network storage, maintains a permanent ledger and secures the already encrypted data. Then, and only then, is the data transmitted via Virtual Private Network (VPN) to the receiving nodes.

Features Included:

• Custom group building and tiering (operations): Enables units to be digitally structured in the system. A Battalion Commander could send directions to his whole Battalion simultaneously or pass down via the Chain of Command to all or a portion of his command, or in extreme cases could reach out directly to an individual Soldier via text or voice.

• Facial and fingerprint secure up-load (reporting): Using the High Value Identification (HVID) Module and a photo-capable, tactile capable phone, field sampling and upload of facial recognition features along with fingerprint scanning data to headquarters is completed in seconds for field identification of human high-value targets.

• HUMINT Contact Module (Reporting): Using elements from the HVID Module and the SPOTReporting modules, users are able to snap a photo of the individual(s) and their ID cards, fill out text space regarding said interaction and record the interaction which is then sent up the chain of command to be reviewed and filed.

• Contact reporting (reporting): Using the Contact Report Module, units in contact with the enemy can describe the enemy, their number and armaments, with accurate error-free location information instantly and silently. This module uses standard reporting formats such as; SALUTE, SALT and SPOT or user defined formats. Attached photos or video give Command an immediate visual snapshot of the contact situation.

• Medical Evacuation (support): The MEDEVAC Module allows service members on the ground to quickly and accurately, via dropdown menu, request Emergency Medical Evacuation, with no location transcription errors, silently. Using the touch-to-target function, this module also allows service member to select a requested pick-up zone away from their current location if they are moving rapidly in dynamic combat situations.

• Air support (support): The Close Air Support (CAS) Module allows service members to request CAS, select from a customizable menu the type of available CAS and using tap-to-target on the map request a specific target zone and approach vectors, additionally the target data could be sent and displayed on the aircrafts HUD for precise targeting or gun runs.

• Call for Fire Module (support): Similar to both the MEDEVAC and CAS functions, the Call for Fire uses a drop-down menu of the standardized Call for Fire request and tap-to-target functionality to request artillery support via their Tactical Operations Center (TOC). This streamlines the current multiple relay process where the request must be sent by radio after determining target’s location on a map the requestor radios their TOC, the TOC radio relays to the supporting Fire Direction Center (FDC), the FDC radio relays to the actual artillery squad who will aim and fire the gun. There are numerous opportunities for transcription errors in this system and it takes time. The Tertia Optio Call for Fire Module uniquely eliminates this problem by allowing the data to be sent through the system from the requestor to the gun crew in seconds, accurately and silently.

Six Industries also has just released for sale Emergency Management & Response (EMAR) to the Law Enforcement market as their Emergency Management System solution along the same vein as Tertia Optio. Contact Six Industries sales team at sales@six-industries.com to find out more information. Available in both Android and iOS today!

iTAK Now Available In Apple App Store

Thursday, April 7th, 2022

Team Awareness Kit (Tactical Awareness Kit in DoD) is the core of a suite of georeferenced imagery and communications tools that allow for scaled operational planning, data sharing, visualized elevation data, and target management. It’s been used for years on the Android platform but now it’s come to the iPhone.

If you use it at work, you can use it at home as well. If you haven’t used it, you’re going to use and share information in an entirely new way.

Regardless of the flavor of End User Device you use, Tactical Awareness Kit is designed to be used in the field. Protect your EUD with a Juggernaut Case.

Download iTAK here.

Here’s a press release from the developer who brought it from the Gov to the Apple App Store.

Syzygy Integration Releases iTAK in the App Store, a Cutting-Edge Situational Awareness App

PHILADELPHIA, April 7, 2022 // — Syzygy Integration, a company focused on providing next-generation situational awareness to those that protect the homeland, announced today that it was the sole developer of iTAK (iOS Team Awareness Kit / Tactical Assault Kit) that the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) released to the Apple App Store for public use. iTAK helps to enable situational awareness across law enforcement, humanitarian and disaster response, counterterrorism, search and rescue and many other operational needs. This initial public release includes chat, routes, drawing, digital pointers, spotted map, offline maps, data sync, video, QR code onboarding, and more.


Syzygy Integration LLC iTAK 2.0 App Store Release

Syzygy Integration approached the design and development of the iTAK application to make situational awareness intuitive and robust, allowing users of the systems to be fully functional without training. Syzygy built iTAK from the ground up, under contract from DHS’  Science and Technology Directorate (S&T). Syzygy’s collaboration with S&T enabled close coordination with federal, state, and local law enforcement and first responders to truly refine the user experience to provide maximum capability across a suite of use cases.

“We are extremely proud of the innovative technology we are putting forward. We hope that this release will help first responders, law enforcement, and military operators with enhanced situational awareness when they need it most. Syzygy is rapidly expanding, and we expect to release additional groundbreaking apps soon,” said Syzygy’s President and Founder, Wesley Mitchell.

Syzygy has multiple roles open for career opportunities. Check out our website tinyurl.com/yt7yhfxm.

iTAK is available for download here on the App Store: apps.apple.com/us/app/itak/id1561656396

Cytta Corp Development of SUPR TAK Video Streaming Solution for Integration Into TAK – Tactical Assault Kit/Team Awareness Kit Well Underway

Tuesday, December 21st, 2021

Tackling a $12.78 Billion Market with Proven Technology

LAS VEGAS, NV December 20, 2021 / Cytta Corp. (OTCQB:CYCA), a leader in video streaming solutions, announces the development program for their SUPR TAK full HD video streaming solution for the $12.78 Billion TAK/ATAK market. TAK is the Tactical Assault Kit for the military, the Team Awareness Kit for civilian applications, and ATAK (Android Tactical Assault Kit) when integrated into the U.S. and NATO’s preeminent battlefield management application. A Beta launch is expected in Q2 of 2022.

Mr. Gary Campbell CEO stated, “Cytta Corp’s. SUPR TAK development program will allow us to meet the demand for high quality video and audio throughput in demanding environments under stressful situations where life or death depends on the effectiveness of timely resource deployment and management. Currently, operators and users of these applications are being held back by the lack of quality video streaming abilities. The SUPR TAK video streaming technology that Cytta Corp. will deliver is proprietary and unique, creating a significant opportunity in the current market.”

The current TAK management application system that is utilized in 15 Department of Defense (“DOD”) programs and has a user base of over 380,000, does not sustain multiple, reliable full motion video (FMV) from live streaming assets and cameras in higher resolutions. Cytta Corp. will be able to solve the lack of quality video streaming that TAK faces with its SUPR video streaming by integrating the Cytta proprietary SUPR streaming technology. Beneficiaries of Cytta’s full resolution streaming capabilities and technology span federal, state, and local government departments as well as in the recreational environment with users that hike, research, and explore our world through various means. With more state and local agencies coming onboard, this will continue to expand in the government level sectors.

The Soldier System Market was valued at USD $12.78 billion in 2021 and is projected to reach USD $14.14 billion by 2023 according to ‘Soldier System Market, Industry Analysis and Market Forecast to 2023′.

Cytta was asked to develop the SUPR TAK, for the TAK/ATAK ecosystem, by various military partners like UK SOF, US Air Force, US National Guard, SOCOM, Border and Customs, and other Mil Spec users. By integrating Cytta’s patented SUPR technology capabilities, TAK will now be capable of delivering full resolution streaming over low-bandwidth with low-latency. All users will be able to utilize this exclusive solution that Cytta alone can provide

This is yet another unique and significant step forward for a Company already trusted by major players in the military, first responders and industry. This new SUPR TAK initiative will enhance integration of the Company’s proprietary technology and is in response to customer requirements. Cytta’s technology applications make a critical difference to the safety and operational effectiveness of personnel in the defense, first responder and security industries.