Technology

The Command and Control Incident Management Emergency Response Application, or C2IMERA, software tool, created by Kessel Run, one of the U.S. Air Force’s software factories, will now be employed at all of Air Combat Command’s facilities, the Boston-based Kessel Run announced on September 1.

Gen. Mark Kelly, USAF, commander of Air Combat Command (ACC), has specified that the tool—which provides installation reporting, planning, force generation, emergency management, and command and control (C2) monitoring and execution functions—be used at all of its installations.

It will be a long time, if ever, before it’s possible to securely deploy internet voting systems for most Americans, but even the most skeptical experts are coming around to the idea that online ballots are OK in certain circumstances, attendees of AFCEA’s 2021 Federal Identity Forum and Expo heard Monday.

That was the takeaway from a panel on election identity, featuring technical experts discussing the development and use of identity technologies in voting. Inevitably, the conversation turned to online voting.

The FBI has been running a full-scale iris-print ID service as part of its Next Generation Identification, or NGI, system for almost a year now, Douglas Sprouse, a management and program analyst with the bureau’s Biometric Services Section told the 2021 Federal Identity Forum and Expo Monday.

Soldiers on the battlefield may be using ray guns to defend against airborne threats sooner rather than later. The U.S. Army Rapid Capabilities and Critical Technologies Office (RCCTO) is fielding four prototype units of Stryker-mounted laser systems in the Directed Energy Maneuver Short-Range Air Defense (DE M-SHORAD) effort.

Each of the four systems employs 50-kilowatt-class lasers powered internally by the Stryker using gasoline-fueled generators. The lasers are designed to protect divisions and brigade combat teams against unmanned aircraft systems, rotary- and fixed-wing threats, rocket artillery and mortar rounds, Army officials say.

Just a few years ago, the U.S. Army was sending compact discs with software updates through the mail, a process that could take weeks or even months in some cases, but its software sustainment efforts have improved dramatically and continues to do so, according to Jennifer Swanson, director, Software Engineering Center (SEC), Army Communications-Electronics Command (CECOM).

The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency’s Subterranean Challenge, an effort to develop robot technologies capable of performing underground, is expected to host its final contest next month, but the program has advanced robotics technology that already are being used.

The program aims to develop technologies to rapidly map, navigate and search complex underground environments such as human-made tunnel systems, urban undergrounds and natural cave networks. The challenge run by the agency commonly known as DARPA might be described as two challenges in one since it focuses both on physical and virtual robot technologies.

U.S. Army researchers are developing spectrum visualization technology that offers an array of benefits, including the ability to maintain contact with—and control of—remotely controlled vehicles on the battlefield.

Officials assessed the Network Coverage Overlay (NCO), which has been nicknamed “Nico,” during the recent Network Modernization Experiment at Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst in New Jersey.

With plans for future U.S. Army soldiers to work with a cadre of autonomous systems, scientists at the Army Research Laboratory are examining the intricacies of communication to support effective operations between groups of soldiers and robotic systems. They are finding ways to measure communication and study conversational processes to understand human-autonomy team performance, trust and cohesion.

Satellites are the military communicator’s easy button. As long as the operating environment is permissive, communications planners can easily establish high bandwidth links that satisfy the demands of data-hungry commanders and their staffs. But this go-to solution is a hollow one, as any adversary that can contest the electromagnetic spectrum or the space domain can knock satellite communications out of the fight. Jamming, spoofing and other means of electronic warfare can render satellites ineffective, while missiles and lasers can destroy satellites from the Earth or from space.

Did you know, in 2020, there were a staggering 36 billion records exposed as a result of data breaches, according to a recent report from Risk Based Security? COVID-19 was of course the catalyst for these infringements, as the pandemic gravely impacted industries all over the globe and opened the door for cyber criminals to attack.

The U.S. Army for the first time has demonstrated during its Network Modernization Experiment the integration of three capability cards—one for positioning, navigation and timing, another for mounted mission command, and a third for the TSM tactical communications waveform. The capabilities are associated with the service’s open suite of standards and were integrated onto a Stryker combat vehicle.

Technology is evolving at an incredibly rapid pace. IT professionals today, whether in government or industry, must stay current with new technology trends and skills to secure the jobs of tomorrow. And given the speed of change and progress, IT professionals must constantly be learning, unlearning and relearning technologies to remain relevant. Having a support system with like-minded technologists and the opportunity to network with a diverse group of government, industry, academic and scientific experts can help immensely. That’s where AFCEA’s Technology Committee comes in.

The next onslaught on the power grid may come not from a cyber adversary but from our warmest neighbor. Scientists at Los Alamos National Laboratory are exploring how to protect the grid against a coronal mass ejection from the sun that could physically damage the nation’s electrical infrastructure and knock out power for several weeks with resultant societal chaos and massive economic losses.

With social media platforms representing one of the main conduits for adversarial propaganda, researchers are examining how information spreads across the digital environment and how it spills into action outside of the online presence. A recent breakthrough in sentiment analysis—with an algorithm that can detect sarcasm—from the University of Central Florida as part of the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency’s SocialSim project, aids in this understanding and in defense.

The next-generation battlefield has gone digital. The United States Air Force (USAF) is taking a major defensive leap into that new reality with its Advanced Battle Management System (ABMS) initiative.

During large-scale combat operations and operations in austere environments, the modern warfighter must remain light and agile and enjoy ease of communication with both higher and lower echelons. These requirements highlight the necessity for and relevance of devices such as the Global Rapid Response Information Package.

After 15 months of enduring a deadly pandemic, the world is beginning to take stock of the looming unknown future. The shape of things to come remains uncertain, but what is certain is that research and development will lead us into that future.

Two things the pandemic has brought home about research and development: first, the new normal will require changes in technology that will be born of research and development advances; and second, the future economy will be more technology-oriented than today’s, which will require a surge in research to develop new capabilities. These are broad umbrella outlooks, but achieving them will require more specific and nuanced efforts.

The Department of the Navy (DON) has set a course to add a “large number” of air, surface and subsurface unmanned platforms to operate in all domain alongside manned systems. In March, the Navy and the Marine Corps published the Unmanned Campaign Framework to guide their investments in and integration of unmanned platforms. The service should not stray from this effort, despite cultural, operational and funding barriers, said a panel of experts, led by moderator Capt. George Galdorisi, USN (Ret.), director, Strategic Assessments and Technical Futures, Naval Information Warfare Center Pacific, speaking at the virtual West 2021 conference. 

The U.S. Air Force’s innovation arm, AFWERX, is looking for state-of-the-art data, sensor and communication solutions in three concurrent competition areas: the Aircraft Maintenance Operations Challenge; the Flightline Security Challenge; and the Airfield Maintenance and Repair Challenge, which are all part of a greater effort called the Revolutionizing USAF Flightline Operations Challenge.

Scientists at Sandia National Laboratories in Albuquerque, New Mexico, have constructed a miniaturized acoustic amplifier, which they claim is the world’s smallest. The new acoustic, 276-megahertz amplifier is 0.0008 square inch (0.5 square millimeter). The Sandia researchers made the amplifier with thin-film semiconductor materials that are only 83 layers of atoms thick—1,000 times thinner than a human hair, the laboratory reported. In addition, the researchers were able to successfully harness the use of sound waves for the acousto-electric chip that includes the radio-frequency amplifier, circulator and filter.

Imagery is yielding to meaning as extended reality heads down a new path of evolution. Where developers traditionally have concentrated on improving graphics to the point of realism, they now are shifting their focus to a different kind of realism that emphasizes meaning over appearance.

This approach is opening new doors for applications of extended reality, also known as XR. Uses such as automated driving, design for manufacturing, augmented reality and firefighting assistance already are growing in popularity and effectiveness, and varieties of those applications are on the horizon. In a few years, XR may be able to aid fighter pilots and the vision impaired.

NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory is using a 3D visualization tool to design innovative space probes, including the Mars 2020 Perseverance Rover and its Ingenuity helicopter. The same tool can help researchers plan work in space’s complex environment.

The mixed reality, computer aided design (CAD) 3D visualization tool is known as ProtoSpace. It has been crucial to the lab’s collaborative development of spacecraft, says the technical lead for ProtoSpace, Benjamin Nuernberger.

The U.S. Navy and Marines Corps are harnessing virtual platforms and advanced methods to teach cyber and communications skills. In some cases, the services are looking to a “blended model” of instruction from both industry and military cyber experts that produces multitudes of trained personnel for a single investment. Additionally, to create a powerful cyber force, technical training needs to be as realistic as possible, with high-fidelity cyber training ranges that can meet high standards for mission rehearsals and training on a daily basis and can be accessed anywhere in the world. 

The U.S. Army already is fielding its Common Infrared Countermeasures system to some units and will deliver the system simultaneously to all types of aircraft, Army officials told reporters during a recent telephonic roundtable.