SIGNAL Connections

Encryptor for High-Frequency Radios
This device is designed to support manpack radios and transceiver systems. The DV AES-256 Encryptor is engineered to improve the quality of voice communications in harsh and noisy environments. The encryptor can be programmed via a radio handset or the front panel of the transceiver. The device features 258-bit AES encryption, 128-bit CES encryption and frequency hopping keys. For more information, visit www.codanusinc.com.

Reinforced Weapons Cases

Managing bandwidth over military computer networks is critical for modern combat operations. An experimental networking protocol may help get vital information to warfighters by tracking data and giving priority to specific users, such as a unit involved in a firefight.

The Military Networking Protocol (MNP) program is an effort by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) to develop new techniques to improve cybersecurity, promote dynamic bandwidth allocation and create policy-based prioritization service levels at the individual and unit levels. To improve security, program engineers are working on router technologies that include strong authentication and self-configuration capabilities. Smart networks also would reduce the need for additional network support personnel and would lower life-cycle costs for managing the network.

One of the goals of the new protocol is the ability to track data across a network, from its origin to its end point. This is something that current computer systems cannot do, explains Dr. Timothy Gibson, DARPA’s MNP program manager. The program builds on a previous DARPA effort called Control Plane, which developed devices called flow routers that managed data traffic across computer networks, he adds.

Managing a variety of data flows provides administrators with a great degree of fine-tuned control over throughput and other aspects of the system. “Before, we couldn’t really manage flows,” Gibson observes. But if data flows can be managed, they can be tracked. He explains that placing identifiers into the data moving across a network also can provide full attribution down to the individual or unit level for each data stream.

CPI

CPI’s SuperLinear® TWTAs, including the 40 W Ka-band outdoor amplifier pictured, are designed for optimal operation at backoff power levels that are required in order to meet traditional international intermodulation specifications. This has resulted in a line of HPAs that is smaller, lighter and runs cooler than competing products.

Most traditional high power amplifiers (HPAs) are designed to run from small signal to saturated power. In practice however, the true usable power in a typical uplink application is limited by linearity requirements set by Intelsat and other satellite organizations. Thus, while power backoff of 3 to 7 dB is all that is ever required, one still needs the top end peak power to avoid clipping of the transmitted signal. This clipping results in Intermodulation products, spectral regrowth, and other non-linearities. Operating power must be limited to a maximum –3 dB from the maximum peak power for low bit-error rates when transmitting QPSK, QAM, CDMA, and OFDM signals.

Knowing the locations of friendly forces and enemy combatants can be the difference between life and death on the battlefield. The Joint Battle Command-Platform, or JBC-P, the second increment of the Force XXI Battle Command Brigade and Below (FBCB2), plots the participants of war for quick, precise identification. The JBC-P will employ both a celestial and terrestrial network to optimize bandwidth, efficiency and speed to adapt to various terrains and situations.

“JBC-P is one of the most relevant pieces of kit today,” Maj. Gen. Nickolas G. Justice, USA, the commanding general of the U.S. Army Research, Development and Engineering Command, says. He formerly served as the program executive officer for Program Executive Office Command, Control and Communications Tactical (PEO C3T), where he was the JBC-P Milestone B decision authority. “We are a ground-based force and everything we do, we do in the context of a map,” he states.

Homefront Help is SIGNAL Connections’ effort to support U.S. service members, veterans and their families. The column highlights programs that offer resources and assistance to the military community ranging from care packages to benefits and everything in between. In that same spirit, Homefront Help presents opportunities for readers to donate time, offer resources and send words of thanks to those who sacrifice for freedom. Programs that provide services are listed in red. Opportunities for the public to reach out to service members are listed in blue. Each program description includes a link to the organization's Web site, when available.

The U.S. military has added a third feature to its knowledge management tool suite milSuite by imitating a popular social networking site behind the firewall. MilBook enables users to create personal accounts as well as public and private groups to facilitate networking and data sharing. The application diminishes stovepipes by connecting people working on similar projects and moves information that might have been posted on a commercial site open to the world into a more protected environment.

MilBook went live at the beginning of October 2009, joining its predecessors milWiki and milBlog. Information about the features’ users is linked through virtual business cards. When people sign into milWiki or milBook, the cards are created automatically as the platforms pull core data from users' Army Knowledge Online/Defense Knowledge Online (AKO/DKO) profiles. People can expand their milBook profiles by adding additional information not present in their other profiles. Visitors can click on the wiki authors' names and learn more about them from the virtual business card.

Justin Filler, the deputy director of MilTech Solutions, says that the ability to learn more about other users allows visitors to validate information they find as well as to access contact information. MilTech Solutions, the office that created and manages the tool suite, falls under Program Executive Office Command, Control and Communications Tactical. The office works with a consortium of other organizations—mainly in the U.S. Army—to develop and provide the services.

Network Access Control Device

Laser Thin-Film Scriber

Homefront Help is SIGNAL Connections’ effort to support U.S. service members, veterans and their families. The column highlights programs that offer resources and assistance to the military community ranging from care packages to benefits and everything in between. In that same spirit, Homefront Help presents opportunities for readers to donate time, offer resources and send words of thanks to those who sacrifice for freedom. Programs that provide services are listed in red. Opportunities for the public to reach out to service members are listed in blue. Each program description includes a link to the organization's Web site, when available.

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is breaking rank with the current way of hiring government employees and instituting a new process to attract top talent in cybersecurity. The process, combined with an authority to hire up to 1,000 cybersecurity professionals over the next three years, enables the department to fill critical positions with qualified personnel who otherwise might overlook government employ. The change reduces the government bureaucracy to streamline hiring in a way officials believe will appeal to today's cyberprofessionals.

Under the new system, applicants no longer will have to submit written responses to KSAs (knowledge, skills and abilities), nor will they be rated on a points system. Instead, qualified individuals will submit résumés and cover letters, which hiring managers will review. "It's the same thing we would ask for if we were DHS Inc.," Jeff Neal, the department's chief human capital officer, says. Though the traditional government points system will not be used, the DHS is eager to recruit those who have served in the military. "You don't have to have points to have a high degree of interest in hiring veterans," Neal states.

Government and defense agencies can use a new data mining application to help gather and share information and intelligence as well as look for national security and terrorist threats. The tool searches the Internet and provides organizations with data that enables them to make informed decisions and, if necessary, respond quickly.

Attensity Cloud is offered by the Attensity Group, whose clients include U.S. Africa Command, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. Attensity’s Michelle de Haaff says, “We have deep roots and relationships with government agencies in North America and Europe. Our applications help intelligence analysts and law enforcement analysts use unstructured data and turn it into information.”

Attensity Cloud focuses on mining social media platforms for information that organizations can use for a variety of purposes, such as how the public feels about a product or service. “Social media is not for the young or the tech savvy anymore—everyone’s on it,” de Haaff notes. “It’s a massive treasure trove of information that government agencies can use to listen to and filter [data] so intel can access and research the information.” Additional information sources include online communities, e-mails and knowledge bases.