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FirstSpear Friday Focus— Comm Pack

Friday, April 16th, 2021

Based off of the popular Exigent Circumstance Pack, the Comm Pack offers a distinctly urban style. The zippered main compartment offers ample storage for a wide variety of communications devices or other equipment and the cable access ports are discreetly located. Inside, there’s a padded laptop sleeve and zippered mesh pocket.

• Discrete backpack
• Distinct urban feel
• Internal laptop sleeve
• 2 Sizes: 980 cu in or 1800 cu in

The pack incorporates padded shoulder straps with QR buckles as well as a low profile, padded haul loop handle at the top of the pack. The mesh, padded back of the pack offers the distinctive FirstSpear logo stitched design. Each side of the pack features a mesh pocket for water bottles or other items. There is also an exterior, beavertail-style flap with dual zippered compartments for quick storage. Additionally, there is a flat zippered pocket at the front of the pack under the flap.

The Comm Pack is available in Black, Blue/Silver, Ranger Green/Coyote and the Ripstop Light Grey.

Check out the Comm Pack at www.first-spear.com/comm-pack-and-comm-pack-large

Posted in Advertiser, Comms, FS Friday Focus, Guest Post, Packs | Comments Off on FirstSpear Friday Focus— Comm Pack

U.S. Inauguration’s Military Units Used Draper-developed WebTAK for Communications, Situational Awareness

Thursday, April 15th, 2021

CAMBRIDGE, MA—April 15, 2021—At the recent presidential inauguration, public safety was top of mind as thousands of military personnel were posted throughout the U.S. Capitol and the surrounding neighborhoods. Behind the scenes, a new software program developed by Draper called WebTAK gave military units a way to communicate and respond to potential threats in real-time.

The software is based on the Android Tactical Assault Kit (ATAK), which was developed by the Department of Defense and used by Special Operations forces and warfighters. ATAK has been tested through years of real-world use in combat situations, by more than 10,000 active warfighters.

After countless successful military operations, ATAK has grown to a broader product line known as TAK, which is also known as the Tactical Awareness Kit. The software has been deployed on popular technology platforms that include Android OS (ATAK), Microsoft Windows OS (WinTAK) and soon on Apple OS (iTAK). Now, along with contributing to the development of ATAK and WinTAK, Draper has developed a web-based version called WebTAK.

At the inauguration, WebTAK was used to share situational awareness and coordinate across multiple agencies. While specifics of the deployment are unavailable for security reasons, the goal of WebTAK is to enhance decision support, situational awareness (SA) and protect military and civilian populations from threats, both intentional and incidental, including chemical, biological, radiological, nuclear and high yield explosives (CBRNE).

Like ATAK, WebTAK is a geospatial collaboration platform that allows teams to share information and access data to improve real-time situation awareness. WebTAK provides a wide variety of useful SA functions including mapping and navigation, range and bearing, text chat, force tracking, geospatial markup tools, image and file sharing and video playback.

“For the first time, operators can access TAK from a password protected and encrypted website on any internet-connected device, instantly,” said Dan Nissen, a software engineer on Draper’s WebTAK team.

As the company’s technical director on WebTAK, Kyle Finley says Draper is not just about creating new technologies, but also ensuring that the full potential of those technologies is realized. “WebTAK’s foundation is a set of core capabilities built using modern web software principles and practices. The recent addition of plugin support to that core opens WebTAK to a whole new world of uses,” Finley said.

WebTAK’s Software Development Kit (SDK) gives developers a framework to quickly develop those custom plugins. These plugins enable rapid integration of innovative technologies into WebTAK, allowing the application to adapt to the continually evolving user needs for situational awareness. In other words, WebTAK was built to be flexible enough so when there is a new “must have” communication device or other technology, anyone with general coding skills can quickly write code enabling the use of that technology within WebTAK.

With WebTAK running on an internet-connected device, a user enters a URL, logs into the system and instantly receives information that can inform situational awareness of an event. The software offers protections through a secure socket layer and end-to-end encryption. As a device-agnostic application, WebTAK is designed to run equally well across various mobile or desktop devices.

“Maintaining continuous situational awareness is the foundation for maintaining security. With WebTAK, warfighters, first responders and public safety officials can customize their operating environment, depending on their role or mission, and benefit from anywhere, anytime secure connectivity through the internet,” explained Brad Vautour, sound designer and senior enterprise software engineer at Draper.

The work is sponsored by the Defense Threat Reduction Agency (DTRA). DTRA is funding development of ATAK, WinTAK, and WebTAK decision support tools, along with supporting leading edge technologies.

www.draper.com

Posted in Comms, Digitization, Press Release | Comments Off on U.S. Inauguration’s Military Units Used Draper-developed WebTAK for Communications, Situational Awareness

ISOtunes Sport Launches ADVANCE: Hearing Solution for Sport Shooters

Wednesday, April 14th, 2021

Carmel, IN – ISOtunes®, creator of some of the world’s most innovative outdoor hearing protection, recently announced it has officially entered the shooting sports market with ISOtunes Sport. Now ISOtunes is excited to announce one of the first products to come from its new Sport lineup, the ISOtunes Sport ADVANCE. Blending cutting-edge design with advanced protection, ISOtunes Sport ADVANCE is full of innovative features.

A tactical shooter’s dream, ISOtunes Sport ADVANCE is the first of its kind in-ear tactical hearing protection. The ADVANCE provides firearm enthusiasts a unique combination of protection and functionality. Environmental awareness, active gunshot noise reduction, Bluetooth connectivity, and a comfortable fit are just a few of the baseline features of the ADVANCE.

Thanks to features like Tactical Sound Control™ and SafeMax Technology™ the ISOtunes Sport ADVANCE does what no other sport hearing protection can do. The ADVANCE enhances your hearing by 8x while protecting you from high-impact noises in under 2 milliseconds. It has a noise-isolating microphone for clear communication in loud environments, provides up to 10 hours of Bluetooth connectivity on a single charge, and limits volume output to no more than 85dB for all-day, damage-free listening. ADVANCE’s innovative design allows it to weigh less than 24 grams and is completely dust, sweat, and waterproof with an IP67 durability rating. With an assortment of eartip options to guarantee shooters a comfortable fit, ADVANCE is an ideal hearing protection solution for shooters of all shapes, sizes, and activity levels.

The next generation of tactical hearing protection is here. Enjoy all-day safety, focus, and performance from the new ISOtunes Sport ADVANCE. For more information on the ADVANCE or any of ISOtunes’ other products, visit www.ISOtunesSport.com.

Posted in Comms, Press Release | Comments Off on ISOtunes Sport Launches ADVANCE: Hearing Solution for Sport Shooters

Machine Learning Shows Potential to Enhance Quantum Information Transfer

Friday, March 26th, 2021

RESEARCH TRIANGLE PARK, N.C. – Army-funded researchers demonstrated a machine learning approach that corrects quantum information in systems composed of photons, improving the outlook for deploying quantum sensing and quantum communications technologies on the battlefield.

When photons are used as the carriers of quantum information to transmit data, that information is often distorted due to environment fluctuations destroying the fragile quantum states necessary to preserve it.

Researchers from Louisiana State University exploited a type of machine learning to correct for information distortion in quantum systems composed of photons. Published in Advanced Quantum Technologies, the team demonstrated that machine learning techniques using the self-learning and self-evolving features of artificial neural networks can help correct distorted information. This results outperformed traditional protocols that rely on conventional adaptive optics.

“We are still in the fairly early stages of understanding the potential for machine learning techniques to play a role in quantum information science,” said Dr. Sara Gamble, program manager at the Army Research Office, an element of U.S. Army Combat Capabilities Development Command, known as DEVCOM, Army Research Laboratory. “The team’s result is an exciting step forward in developing this understanding, and it has the potential to ultimately enhance the Army’s sensing and communication capabilities on the battlefield.”

For this research, the team used a type of neural network to correct for distorted spatial modes of light at the single-photon level.

“The random phase distortion is one of the biggest challenges in using spatial modes of light in a wide variety of quantum technologies, such as quantum communication, quantum cryptography, and quantum sensing,” said Narayan Bhusal, doctoral candidate at LSU. “Our method is remarkably effective and time-efficient compared to conventional techniques. This is an exciting development for the future of free-space quantum technologies.”

According to the research team, this smart quantum technology demonstrates the possibility of encoding of multiple bits of information in a single photon in realistic communication protocols affected by atmospheric turbulence.

“Our technique has enormous implications for optical communication and quantum cryptography,” said Omar Magaña?Loaiza, assistant professor of physics at LSU. “We are now exploring paths to implement our machine learning scheme in the Louisiana Optical Network Initiative to make it smart, more secure, and quantum.”

Visit the laboratory’s Media Center to discover more Army science and technology stories.

By US Army DEVCOM Army Research Laboratory Public Affairs

Posted in Army, Comms, Digitization, Guest Post | 6 Comments »

USAF’s Agile Combat Employment Demonstration Leverages Persistent Systems MANET Technology

Friday, March 19th, 2021

Company’s mobile ad hoc network enables capabilities necessary to establish and operate small, rapidly deployable air bases in geographically dispersed areas, during conflict with near-peer power.

NEW YORK, N.Y. – Persistent Systems, LLC (“Persistent”) announced today that its Wave Relay® mobile ad hoc networking (MANET) technology successfully supported the U.S. Air Force’s demonstration of its Agile Combat Employment (ACE) concept.

ACE seeks to counter the threat near-peer powers like China and Russia pose to American force projection by shifting from large, established air bases to smaller, rapidly deployable, temporary airstrips manned by skeleton crews.

“Normally, you would have hundreds of people on a large Air Force base to support a squadron of fighter jets,” said Todd Grant, Persistent’s Director of Business Development for the Air Force and C4ISR. “With ACE, you get the same capability from a smaller, harder-to-target footprint that moves.”

To accomplish this, the U.S. Air Force requires a highly versatile and mobile command-and-control network that can tie together the core elements a combat wing required to plan missions, maintain jets, put them in the air, and defend the airstrip. An additional goal is to minimize the cost by leveraging existing Air Force assets, such as legacy radios, computer servers, and satellite terminals.

“That’s what we have shown with our Wave Relay® MANET during this recent demonstration,” said Adrien Robenhymer, Persistent’s VP for Business Development for Air Force, Intelligence Community, and Department of Energy Programs. “We connected geographically dispersed units at different military bases, providing users with direct communication, situational awareness, full motion video, and audio.”

The demonstration proved that the Air Force has the networking capability to support expeditionary air bases in an A2AD environment while saving hundreds of millions of dollars.

Persistent also demonstrated automated PACE (Primary, Alternate, Contingency, and Emergency) communications via satellite, internet, and 5G cellular, as well as by local area network for conditions when a beyond-line-of-sight capability is not available.

“In a world where technologies increasingly depend upon Cloud Computing availability, Persistent’s Base Defense and Missile Field Solutions can operate completely standalone when the Cloud is not available, enabling operation in a ‘CloudNONE’ scenario,” said Robenhymer.

But the implications of the ACE demonstration are even greater than that.

“The interoperability lessons that were learned here flow into the Advanced Battle Management System, the Air Force’s multi-billion-dollar effort to connect computers, sensors and shooters at machine-speed, in keeping with the U.S. Department of Defense’s vision of Joint All Domain Command and Control,” he said.

The next step, Persistent officials say, is to take the real-life capabilities shown with ACE and merge them with future Advanced Battle Management System work.

Posted in Air Force, Comms, Digitization, Press Release | 1 Comment »

RfPatrol and MPU5 Create Integrated Soldier System

Thursday, March 18th, 2021

DroneShield Ltd (ASX:DRO) (“DroneShield” or the “Company”) is pleased to announce the integration of its body-worn UAS passive detection device RfPatrol with the Persistent Systems MPU5 – the worlds most advanced, scalable, and efficient Mobile Ad Hoc Networking (MANET) soldier radio system. The MPU5 is offered in Australia by CISTECH Solutions, the premier Radio over IP and Network Services integrator.

Together, RfPatrol™ and the MPU5 offer a body-worn passive detection capability, with RfPatrol™ output via its Battle Management System securely relayed in real time to a central command point via the MPU5, for a common operating picture showing location of the dismounted forces carrying the RfPatrol devices, displaying UAS and other threat alerts in real time and locations.

Oleg Vornik, DroneShield’s CEO, commented, “This is world’s first capability of its kind, enabling a common operating picture of C-UAS and other improvised threat detection from dismounted units in the field. We are excited to partner with CISTECH Solutions and Persistent Systems to deliver this solution to our customers.”

Posted in Comms, Digitization, Press Release | Comments Off on RfPatrol and MPU5 Create Integrated Soldier System

DARPA Awards Silvus Up to $13.1M to Develop Distributed Beamforming Solution

Wednesday, March 17th, 2021

Under RN DMC Program, Silvus to Enable Resilient, Long-Range Comms Over Large Geographic Areas

Los Angeles, California (March 16, 2021) – Silvus Technologies, Inc. (“Silvus”) today announced the company has been awarded a contract worth up to $13.1 million as part of DARPA’s Resilient Networked Distributed Mosaic Communications (RN DMC) program. Under RN DMC, Silvus will develop a distributed beamforming/beamnulling solution to enable resilient, long-range terrestrial communications of up to 100km using multiple collaborative radios distributed over hundreds of meters.

RN DMC stems from DARPA’s investment in mosaic warfare, a concept in which large numbers of lower-cost systems, referred to as “tiles,” are deployed to perform complex mission functions in a coordinated fashion. By building a mosaic of inter-connected tiles, functions such as command and control, communications, and sensing can be performed with more resilience and higher performance.

Building on a proven track record of developing real-time solutions enabling distributed frequency and time synchronization, Silvus’ solution for RN DMC is dubbed Mosaic Scattered Wide-Area Resilient Network (MScWRN or M2N). M2N will enable spatially distributed beamforming and beamnulling with minimal communications required between tiles, resulting in mosaic clusters that are able to bridge large range gaps while seamlessly interoperating with the rest of a traditional Silvus mesh network.

“The reliability of long-range communications utilizing multiple radios distributed over large distances is a critical component in DARPA’s vision of mosaic warfare,” said Dr. Babak Daneshrad, Chief Executive Officer of Silvus. “The RN DMC program will enable the continued development of our M2N solution, and we look forward to demonstrating its matured operation.”

Note to readers:

Since 2018, DARPA has placed significant emphasis on the development of “Mosaic Warfare,” bringing together individual warfighting platforms to create a larger “force package.”

Under the Resilient Networked Distributed Mosaic Communications (RN DMC) program, Silvus will develop a beamforming/beamnulling solution that will enable reliable and resilient long range terrestrial communications utilizing multiple collaborative radios distributed over large distances – an integral component to DARPA’s vision for the future of Mosaic Warfare.

Posted in Comms, Disruptive Tech, Press Release | 3 Comments »

General Dynamics To Provide FAA With Radios For Backup Emergency Air Traffic Control Communications

Sunday, March 14th, 2021

General Dynamics awarded $99 million contract to provide new URC-300E transceivers to the FAA to replace legacy emergency backup radios

SCOTTSDALE, Arizona – The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has chosen General Dynamics Mission Systems to provide new URC-300E transceivers as part of their Emergency Transceiver Replacement (ETR) program. The eight-year, IDIQ contract has a value of $99 million if all options are exercised.

The URC-300E will replace current legacy radios and provide both Very High Frequency (VHF) and Ultra High Frequency (UHF) operation for civil and military air traffic control (ATC) communications in the event of a catastrophic failure, such as a facility fire or natural disaster. ATC controllers will use the URC-300E to maintain essential ground-to-air communications with aircraft during the critical moments after such an event. The new URC-300E transceiver is specifically designed to maximize radio frequency (RF) performance and enable users to operate multiple URC-300Es as close as 6.5 feet apart without interference – an unprecedented capability compared to currently available man-pack radios which can require up to 50 feet of separation. This close proximity capability enables rapid grab-and-go, multi-channel operations during emergency situations.

“For the past three decades General Dynamics has provided ground-to-air radio systems to the FAA including the recent delivery of the 20,000th CM-300/350 (V2) radio as part of the NEXCOM 2 program,” said Bill Ross, a vice president of General Dynamics Mission Systems. “The URC-300E is another example of our team’s dedication to delivering technologies and products that support the FAA’s efforts to continuously improve the National Airspace and safety of flight.”

The URC-300E, the FAA variant of the URC-300 transceiver, is a versatile, software-defined platform that supports multiple waveforms with exceptional radio frequency (RF) performance to support ground-to-air, line-of-sight and other mission critical applications. It is designed with a flexible, core architecture similar to a commercial smartphone that enables additional features and functions to be added in the field via quick and simple software upgrades, as they become available. This enhanced technology, coupled with the radio’s ability to operate on standard lithium ion batteries, essentially makes the radio “future proof”, resulting in significant time and life cycle cost savings.

The URC-300 is the first ruggedized man-pack radio to achieve compliance with global standards and certifications including Radio Equipment Directive (RED), REACH, RoHS, ETSI EN 300 676 compliance, and it readily supports worldwide 25 kHz and 8.33 kHz deployments. The radio is also currently being certified by the Federal Communications Commission for civilian use and is sponsored by the U.S. Air Force for the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) Spectrum authorization. In addition to supporting emergency grab-and-go scenarios, the URC-300 supports many other applications including man-pack, vehicular, scalable deployment and rackmount applications as it is ruggedized and meets MIL-STD-810 requirements and is interoperable with its predecessor, the URC-200 (V2) radio, and many of its accessories. General Dynamics began delivering URC-300 radio systems to commercial and DoD customers in Q4 2020.

For additional information on the URC-300, please visit gdmissionsystems.com/URC300.

Posted in Aviation, Comms, Contracts, Press Release | Comments Off on General Dynamics To Provide FAA With Radios For Backup Emergency Air Traffic Control Communications