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Archive for the ‘Digitization’ Category

Tobyhanna Army Depot Expands NETT Warrior Support, Improves Soldier Experience

Monday, September 14th, 2020

Tobyhanna Army Depot, PA —

Tobyhanna Army Depot now fabricates a new type of cable that furthers its support of a critical Soldier communication system.

The depot recently stood up capability for production of flat cables for the Nett Warrior program. Nett Warrior is a smartphone-based system that provides situational awareness to dismounted Soldiers during combat operations. The program arrived at the depot in 2012 and, since then, engineers have designed more than 70 cables to support the system. Because the system is worn by Soldiers in the battlefield, ergonomics is key.

“The flat design of this cable will make the system more comfortable for Soldiers when they use Nett Warrior,” said Stanley Czock, lead engineer for the program. “The new cables also eliminate the likelihood of snagging in the field by holding more tightly to the vest. Both of these improvements directly benefit Soldiers.”

Production of the flat cables is aided by two new machines, a computer numerical control (CNC) sewing machine and a laser cutting machine. The machines allow for tighter stitching and the fabrication of scalloped tabs, which slide into the MOLLE system on the system’s Modular Scalable Vest and allow for a 90 degree bend in the cable without performance problems – another significant improvement for the end user. The equipment also allows for fabrication of conformal battery pouches and antenna mast holders, items used extensively by Soldiers when wearing Nett Warrior.

Acquisition of the new equipment is part of a larger effort to expand capability in the depot’s Systems Integration and Support directorate. The effort stems from Tobyhanna’s long-range strategic initiative, Toby 2028.

“Modernizing the shops with newer technology allows us to explore previously unreachable opportunities for customer and product support with the added benefit of remaining competitive.  Anywhere there is an opportunity to improve our capabilities, we have a Toby 2028 team looking into it and how it will shape our future,” said Michael Vivlemore, Lead for the Toby 2028 line of effort focused on technology impacts.

Depot personnel also worked closely with engineers from the U.S Army Sustainment Command’s Packaging, Storage and Containerization Center to perform extensive testing on the new cable prior to launch. They say this proactive approach is crucial to ensuring project success.

“Upfront testing allows us to ensure our product will meet warfighter requirements. It also allows us to address any potential defects before the product reaches the battlefield,” Czock said. “All in all, we’re thrilled to support a project that helps make life easier for the warfighter.”

Personnel from the Production Management directorate’s Sustainment Planning Division (SPD) say this new capability may also lead to additional workload for the depot.

“The addition of the CNC and laser-cutting machine greatly enhance the depot’s ability to adapt and support evolving Soldier requirements. We have seen interest from customers for new workload as a direct result of this new capability,” said Tracy Kraftchisin, a Logistics Management Specialist (LMS) in SPD. Fellow LMS Michelle Reese agreed.

“Right now, we are working on a Public Private Partnership (P3) with Microsoft in support of the Integrated Visual Augmentation System (IVAS). Under this P3, we have the potential to fabricate different types of cables for IVAS, a workload that falls under the Army Futures Command and represents an exciting opportunity for Team Tobyhanna.”

Depot personnel say the Nett Warrior program is planned through 2025 and will result in more than 200,000 cables for service members.

Tobyhanna Army Depot is a recognized leader in providing world-class logistics support for command, control, communications, computers, cyber, intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (C5ISR) systems across the Department of Defense. Tobyhanna’s Corporate Philosophy, dedicated work force and electronics expertise ensure the depot is the Joint C5ISR provider of choice for all branches of the Armed Forces and industry partners.

Tobyhanna’s unparalleled capabilities include full-spectrum logistics support for sustainment, overhaul and repair, fabrication and manufacturing, engineering design and development, systems integration, post production software support, technology insertion, modification, foreign military sales and global field support to our joint warfighters.

About 4,000 personnel are employed at Tobyhanna, which is located in the Pocono Mountains of northeastern Pennsylvania. Tobyhanna Army Depot is part of the U.S. Army Communications-Electronics Command. Headquartered at Aberdeen Proving Ground, Maryland, the command’s mission is to empower the Soldier with winning C5ISR capabilities.

Story by Ms. Danielle E. Weinschenk

Photos by Thomas Robbins

SOFWERX – Automated Analytics Virtual Tech Sprint

Friday, August 28th, 2020

SOFWERX in conjunction with the USSOCOM Joint Acquisition Task Force (JATF) will host an Automated Analytics Virtual Tech Sprint 19 October-13 November 2020.

The event aims to identify technologies that are relevant to assist with automated analytics during Phase 0 Irregular Warfare (IW) operations. Phase 0 shapes the environment both globally and in theater. This phase involves those joint, interagency and multinational activities conducted in an ongoing, routine basis to assure or solidify friendly relationships and alliances and/or deter potential adversaries. Employment of cyber, irregular capability, space capability, and information operations are activities that are initiated in Phase 0 and continue up through all phases of conflict. This phase relies heavily on collecting and assessing information at the edge.

Generally, although the needed information is collected foreward, the actual integrating, analyzing, and interpreting the data to produce usable information is frequently the job of analysts who sit far from the tactical edge.

To speed things up, USSOCOM seeks to take advantage of the capabilities of artificial intelligence running on edge computing platforms to provide SOF teams with the organic capacity to distill mission-relevant information from operator-born sensor data.

Interested parties must submit NLT 25 September 11:59 PM ET.

To learn more and register, go here.

Savage’s Launches Virtual Training Tools for 2020 Fall Season

Friday, August 21st, 2020

WESTFIELD, Massachusetts – August 19, 2020 – In light of the exceptional circumstances facing traditional sales and distribution channels, Savage Arms has developed the 2020 Fall Sales Training video series to help educate retailers and customers. The informational content highlights Savage’s technological advancements and will serve as an introduction to new products.

“We were hoping we’d be back to business as usual by now,” said Rob Gates, Vice President of Sales and Marketing for Savage. “While we won’t be able to see many of our customers face-to-face, we can still keep everyone informed on what’s happening here at Savage—and that starts with our 2020 Fall Sales Training videos.”

The 2020 Fall Sales Training curriculum will cover a range of subjects. Introductory topics will help new customers build a comprehensive overview of the brand and its innovations. The breadth of the catalog will be broken out into segments dedicated to Savage’s centerfire rifles, rimfires, and shotguns. In addition to announcing new products, these videos will help facilitate person to person training sessions and can be passed along to dealer and retailer store staff.

To access the training videos, please contact your local Savage sales representative. Topics include:

1 Why Savage?

2 Savage Technology                  

3 2020 New Products

4 Centerfire Product Information

5 Rimfire Products Information

6 Shotgun Product Information

7 Marketing Overview and Tools

The 2020 Fall Training series is available now through your local Savage representative. In addition, Savage reps will be available for virtual appointments with customers and buy groups.

Email salessupport@savagearms.com to contact your local sales representative.

Safran Optics 1 ECOTI

Wednesday, August 5th, 2020

The Enhanced Clip-On Thermal Imager or ECOTI from Safran Optics 1 adds a thermal overlay to the image intensified (I2) NVD scene without modification of existing hardware. It also offers HUD (Heads Up Display) capability that provides real-time, geo-referenced navigation/route execution. When used with Android devices, the NVD becomes a remote display for identifying teammates, targets and route points.

www.optics1.com/products/ecoti-enhanced-clip-on-thermal-imager

Quantum Chip Fabrication Paves Way for Scalable Processors, Producing the Largest Quantum Chip of its Type Using Diamond-Based Qubits and Quantum Photonics

Sunday, August 2nd, 2020

RESEARCH TRIANGLE PARK, N.C. — An Army-funded project marks a turning point in the field of scalable quantum processors, producing the largest quantum chip of its type using diamond-based qubits and quantum photonics.

Millions of quantum processors will be needed to build quantum computers, and new research at MIT and Sandia National Laboratories, funded and managed in part by the U.S. Army Combat Capability Development’s Command’s Army Research Laboratory’s Center for Distributed Quantum Information, demonstrates a viable way to scale-up processor production.

“Building large scale quantum devices will entail both the assembly of large numbers of high-quality qubits and the creation of reliable circuits for transmitting and manipulating quantum information between them,” said Dr. Fredrik Fatemi, Army researcher and CDQI co-manager. “Here, the research team has demonstrated exceptional progress toward reliably manufacturing complex quantum chips with both critical elements.”

Unlike classical computers, which process and store information using bits represented by either 0s and 1s, quantum computers operate using quantum bits, or qubits, which can represent 0, 1, or both at the same time. This strange property allows quantum computers to simultaneously perform multiple calculations, solving problems that would be intractable for classical computers.

The qubits in the new chip are artificial atoms made from defects in the diamond, which can be prodded with visible light and microwaves to emit photons that carry quantum information. The process, which the researchers describe in the peer-reviewed journal Nature, is a hybrid approach, in which carefully selected quantum micro-chiplets containing multiple diamond-based qubits are placed on an aluminum nitride photonic integrated circuit.

“In the past 20 years of quantum engineering, it has been the ultimate vision to manufacture such artificial qubit systems at volumes comparable to integrated electronics,” said Dirk Englund, an associate professor in MIT’s Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science. “Although there has been remarkable progress in this very active area of research, fabrication and materials complications have thus far yielded just two to three emitters per photonic system.”

Using their hybrid method, the researchers were able to build a 128-qubit system — the largest integrated artificial atom-photonics chip yet.

The artificial atoms in the chiplets consist of color centers in diamonds, defects in diamond’s carbon lattice where adjacent carbon atoms are missing, with their spaces either filled by a different element or left vacant. In the chiplets, the replacement elements are germanium and silicon. Each center functions as an atom-like emitter whose spin states can form a qubit. The artificial atoms emit colored particles of light, or photons, that carry the quantum information represented by the qubit.

Diamond color centers make good solid-state qubits, but “the bottleneck with this platform is actually building a system and device architecture that can scale to thousands and millions of qubits,” said Noel Wan, MIT research and the paper’s coauthor. “Artificial atoms are in a solid crystal, and unwanted contamination can affect important quantum properties such as coherence times. Furthermore, variations within the crystal can cause the qubits to be different from one another, and that makes it difficult to scale these systems.”

Instead of trying to build a large quantum chip entirely in diamond, the researchers decided to take a modular and hybrid approach.

“We use semiconductor fabrication techniques to make these small chiplets of diamond, from which we select only the highest quality qubit modules,” Wan said. “Then we integrate those chiplets piece-by-piece into another chip that wires the chiplets together into a larger device.”

The integration takes place on a photonic integrated circuit, which is analogous to an electronic integrated circuit but uses photons rather than electrons to carry information. Photonics provides the underlying architecture to route and switch photons between modules in the circuit with low loss. The circuit platform is aluminum nitride, rather than the traditional silicon of some integrated circuits.

Using this hybrid approach of photonic circuits and diamond chiplets, the researchers were able to connect 128 qubits on one platform. The qubits are stable and long-lived, and their emissions can be tuned within the circuit to produce spectrally indistinguishable photons, according to the researchers.

While the platform offers a scalable process to produce artificial atom-photonics chips, the next step will be to test its processing skills.

“This is a proof of concept that solid-state qubit emitters are very scalable quantum technologies,” Wan said. “In order to process quantum information, the next step would be to control these large numbers of qubits and also induce interactions between them.”

The qubits in this type of chip design wouldn’t necessarily have to be these particular diamond color centers. Other chip designers might choose other types of diamond color centers, atomic defects in other semiconductor crystals like silicon carbide, certain semiconductor quantum dots, or rare-earth ions in crystals.

“Because the integration technique is hybrid and modular, we can choose the best material suitable for each component, rather than relying on natural properties of only one material, thus allowing us to combine the best properties of each disparate material into one system,” said Tsung-Ju Lu, MIT researcher and the paper’s co-author.

Finding a way to automate the process and demonstrate further integration with optoelectronic components such as modulators and detectors will be necessary to build even bigger chips necessary for modular quantum computers and multichannel quantum repeaters that transport qubits over long distances, the researchers said.

“The team has made an incredible advance toward the large-scale integration of artificial atoms and photonics and, looking forward, we are very excited for increasingly complex testing of the devices,” said Dr. Sara Gamble, program manager at the Army Research Office, an element of CCDC ARL, and CDQI co-manager. “The modular approach so far successfully demonstrated by the team has enormous promise for the future quantum computers and quantum networks of high interest to the Army.”

By U.S. Army CCDC Army Research Laboratory Public Affairs

*Adapted with permission from an article by Becky Ham, MIT News.

Quantico Tactical Showcases ATAK Enabled Gear from Safran Optics 1

Friday, July 10th, 2020

Aberdeen, North Carolina – July 9, 2020– Quantico Tactical®, the largest North Carolina based federal contractor, is proud to showcase ATAK enabled devices for the dismounted soldier.

Quantico Tactical® has been a longstanding partner with Safran Optics 1. Together these two companies are teaming to offer the latest in Android Tactical Assault Kit, ATAK, enabled devices. ATAK is an app-based technology that identifies and views teammates, targets, and route points. Operators can also see points of interest, such as terrain, topographical elements, and even weather.

The Optics 1 Enhanced Clip-On Thermal Imager, ECOTI, provides unmatched detection capability and situational awareness by adding a long wave infrared thermal overlay on the user’s night vision device, NVD. The ECOTI is a low power consuming thermal sensor that mounts to existing NVD’s.  The ECOTI has a Heads Up Display, HUD, that provides real-time, geo-referenced navigation information.  When combined with an Android device, the NVD becomes a remote display for identifying teammates, targets, and route points.

The Optics 1 Enhanced Clip-On SWIR Imager, ECOSI, is bears the same physical design as the ECOTI, yet provides short-wave infrared, SWIR overlay on to the user’s NVD.  It helps see out-of-band short-wave infrared items like strobes, markers, beacons, and other devices. The ECOSI also integrates augmented reality through the use of ATAK.

“ATAK is a game-changer for properly relaying information,” said Rett Vandenberg, C4ISR Category Manager for Quantico Tactical. “Having the right devices that connect via ATAK can dramatically change the battlefield.”

The Pocket Laser Rangefinder, PLRF25C, is a reconnaissance, surveillance, and targeting device, also by Optics 1 that provides accurate distance and angle measurement. The PLRF25C is a small, lightweight, and ruggedized laser rangefinder that connects via Bluetooth® to wirelessly transmit distance, azimuth, inclination, horizontal distance and vertical distance to a target. The ATAK unit will automatically populate the target location information on the ATAK map.

Bollé Launches First Ever Augmented Reality Sunglass Experience For Smartphones

Tuesday, June 23rd, 2020

New AR Technology Allows Users to Experience Bollé Phantom lenses on their Smartphone and Purchase From a Participating Retailer.

Lyon, France, (JUNE 23, 2020) – Bollé, maker of the most innovative lenses in the world is forever changing the way people try and buy sunglasses. With the introduction of an exclusive Augmented Reality Sunglass experience, shoppers can now try-out Bollé’s flagship Phantom lens technology without ever having to physically touch the glasses. 

Partnering with QReal and M7 Innovations, Bollé’s AR experience is a first for the sunglass industry. Within Instagram, the demonstration invites users to try out Bollé’s Phantom lens through one of the brand’s iconic models – the Chronoshield. After seeing the glasses on their face, users simply flip their camera from selfie-view to front-facing and Phantom lenses are superimposed on their actual view. Users then introduce sunglass effects like high contrast, anti-fog, and light-adaptive into their real surroundings to see Phantom lenses in action. Once users select a lens that suits their style and needs, they can search for a retailer that carries Bollé. 

“AR is routinely used for try-on and certainly enhances the buying experience. But AR for try-out, this is a first,” said Louis Cisti, Vice President of Global Marketing for Bollé Brands. “In the new normal of retail, Bollé recognizes that safety is now the most important thing. Consumers demand shopping encounters that minimize physical interaction. However, when it comes to buying premium sunglasses, they still have high expectations and expect to see tangible benefits. Bollé’s AR try-out does all that heavy lifting. Shoppers get to see perceivable performance benefits before making a purchase.” Cisti continued.

Using AR, users will experience several unique Bollé lens features that demonstrate Phantom’s superiority for spring skiing, cycling, running and more: 

• Light Adaptive Technology: the user is presented with a slider that allows them to change their exposure, making the scene brighter or darker. They watch Phantom’s molecular photochromic filter adapt to changes in ambient light. 

• Platinum Anti-Fog Treatment: The user’s view begins to fog up, simulating the fogging that occurs from sweat while riding, hiking, or spring skiing. Fog condenses outside the glasses, but the view through the sunglasses remains crystal clear, mimicking the real-world performance Phantom Lenses in a perspiring situation.

• High Contrast: The scene outside the glasses remains natural, but the user is able to experience improved color and depth perception as they look through the Phantom lenses. 

For the Try On part of the experience users will be able to see how they look in the Bollé Chronoshield, a new take on an original style from the 1980s. The Chronoshield offers an extra wide field of view, ideal for visual comfort and protection against wind or debris. Venting ensures the lenses never fog up and the adjustable Thermogrip nose-pads and temple tips gives a custom fit while making sure they stay in place.

To try-out Phantom Lenses using this augmented reality experience, users can either click on a QR code that will be included in Bollé marketing materials or may visit this link using their: Merged Single Lens Experience

Integrated Visual Augmentation System Update

Friday, June 19th, 2020

Here one of the latest photos of the US Army’s Integrated Visual Augmentation System, a which fuses image intensification and thermal imaging with Augmented Reality overlays. It’s built by Microsoft.

Interestingly, the form factor is pretty similar to the Soldier Integrated Protective Ensemble headborne subsystem from the early 90s.

Here’s an update from the Program Office.

Team IVAS Continues to Deliver Despite COVID Obstacles
“I can absolutely say that today we are on track to meet a fourth quarter ‘21 delivery for our first unit equipped.”
– COL. Chris Schneider, PM IVAS

FORT BELVOIR, Va.– Cutting-edge modernization efforts come with their own set of challenges, and COVID-19 has ensured that there are no exceptions.

Program Executive Office (PEO) Soldier’s Project Manager Integrated Visual Augmentation System (PM IVAS) continues to leverage the team’s unique structure, talents, and culture to contribute to the force’s readiness, even with the additional challenges presented by COVID-19.

Mark Stephens, PM IVAS Director of Acquisition and Operations, and Jared Walega, PM IVAS Test Director, highlighted how problem solving, routine distributed work solutions, modular architecture design, Soldier Centered Design (SCD), and Supply Chain Risk Management (SCRM) have allowed the project flexibility during the COVID pandemic.

Stephens emphasized how Team IVAS has applied efficient problem-solving skills from the project’s inception.

“Senior defense officials recognized the erosion in close combat capabilities and saw an immediate need to ensure overmatch for our dismounted force,” said Stephens. “Congress recognized the requirement and reprogrammed funds to start IVAS in FY19. Within six months from the Secretary of Defense’s approval in late May, Team IVAS awarded multiple Other Transaction Agreements to industry and kicked off IVAS before Christmas 2018.”

Team IVAS has rapidly solved problems ever since. This includes the successful integration of partners from around the country. Because the team overcame this initial obstacle, remote work is now routine.

The distributed team has built and relied on a digital infrastructure to manage the mission from any physical location. Therefore, they are able to maintain the mission even with the obstacles COVID has presented.

“When COVID hit we had already established a solid Integrated Product Team [IPT] Battle Rhythm using long distance collaboration methods like SharePoint, TEAMs, and Power BI,” Stephens said. “Using TEAMs over the past 18 months allowed video teleconferencing, sharing document collaboration, and reviewing our program management dashboards, so all our leaders were battle tested”.

Secure remote tools have allowed for continued IVAS prototyping through Army Enabled Tests (AET) even while team members are quarantined at home.

“We also implemented a practice of what we call Army Enabled Testing that allows us to get updates from our partners, test the updates in a safe environment, and provide feedback. This methodology helps us manage our performance risks, and not have to wait until Soldier Touchpoint 3 [STP 3] to discover problems,” said Stephens.

Team IVAS’ dynamic problem solving and reliable remote infrastructure guaranteed that aspects of testing continued to ensure minimal overall impacts to the program’s timeline.

“As COVID-19 impacted the organization, the Test Directorate determined we could still conduct a thorough AET with focus on Rapid Target Acquisition (RTA), Tactical Assault Kit (TAK), Synthetic Training Environment (STE), and other necessary capabilities while maintaining requisite social distance and implementing COVID-approved decontamination procedures for the Heads Up Displays (HUD),” said Walega.

“We have a dispersed team that is capable of downloading the latest software build and loading it onto their HUDs. This process has enabled remote testing of software builds and the ability to provide rapid feedback to Microsoft to include live fire video, data, and assessments,” Walega added.

The continued AET testing and iteration of specific IVAS capabilities through the COVID pandemic has been largely based on the Soldier feedback collected at every stage in development over the last 18 months.

“Soldier Centered Design (SCD) was developed in IVAS as a combination of Human Centered Design and tailored acquisition best practices,” said Walega. “SCD focuses on current Soldier and Marine input throughout the entire development process to prevent engineers and developers from building a product that does not meet the priorities of our warfighters.”

The process puts emphasis on making a product that Soldiers will enjoy using to increase their lethality in training and on the battlefield.

According to Walega, “If a Soldier loves and uses IVAS, then we have provided a system that has much greater capability than the current kit.”

In order to ensure that IVAS will truly maximize Soldier lethality, intentional Soldier feedback at every design and decision point has been a program priority.

“We have collected over 23,000 hours of Soldier feedback,” said COL. Christopher Schneider, Program Manager IVAS. “Because we’ve got so much feedback, we’re highly confident in the current design and STP 3.”

The Soldier-centric approach has turned out to be a key asset to the program during the change in normal operations. Though large scale events such as the IVAS STP 3 will shift due to COVID restrictions, the team has reorganized the internal program schedule so that IVAS is not delayed in deploying to the warfighter.

The team is reordering the intensive hardware and software design reviews that were initially planned for after STP 3, and is leveraging their ingenuity, remote tool infrastructure, and plethora of Soldier feedback to expedite the hardware design review to before the October event. This will allow the formal software design sprint to be completed after STP 3, and both designs to be finalized during Capability Set 4 iterations.

“We wouldn’t have the flexibility that we do, frankly, if we hadn’t been doing Soldier Touchpoints, user juries, user studies, and human factors engineering excursions throughout the last 18 months of the program,” said Schneider.

Though the pandemic has impacted every aspect of the program, including supply chain logistics, industry partners have continued to support with solutions.

“With the advent of the Coronavirus, the supply chain risk management strategy has taken on a new level of importance,” said Nicholas Pate, PM IVAS Manufacturing Engineer.

“IVAS vendors have worked tirelessly to assess, analyze, and make quick decisions to avert imminent delays. Luckily, the PM IVAS supply chain strategy, from the very start of the program, has always been to mitigate risk by avoiding sole sources of supply, cultivating multiple sensor vendors, and ensuring parallel paths of supply,” said Pate.

To date, IVAS vendors have been able to react quickly to minimize negative impacts from the Coronavirus.

“Microsoft, as well as the low light and thermal sensor vendors, delivered preliminary supply chain information on critical components for early risk mitigation assessment on the IVAS supply chain,” Pate added. “This information ensures that quality and security controls are implemented to ensure a stable and sustainable supply chain.”

As Team IVAS continues to overcome COVID’s obstacles, leadership is unwavering in its dedication to the safety of both Soldiers and the team.

“We really took a deliberate thought process and approach to moving the Soldier Touchpoint into October,” said Schneider. “We wanted to make sure that we had the opportunity to get it right.”

Overall, every decision has been made with the safety of the team and readiness of Soldiers as top priorities. Though STP 3 is now taking place in October at Fort Pickett, Va., the rest of the program deliverables remain on track.

“I can absolutely say that today we are on track to meet a fourth quarter ‘21 delivery for our first unit equipped,” said Schneider.

Story by Courtney Bacon.