News Briefs

DHS Boosts Emergency Communications
More than 60,000 emergency response agencies nationwide can now ensure the interoperability of the communications equipment they purchase using a consistent and traceable method to gather Project 25 Compliance Assessment Program (P25 CAP) information. The U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has formally approved eight laboratories throughout the United States as part of the P25 CAP to conduct the independent compliance assessment process. In partnership with the National Institute of Standards and Technology, DHS P25 standards enable radios to interoperate regardless of the manufacturer.

Services Sign Interoperability Agreement
U.S. service logistics chiefs have signed the Joint Expeditionary Basing Working Group (JEBWG) charter to achieve commonality and interoperability through joint solutions. The logistics divisions of the Air Force, Army, Navy, Marine Corps and Joint Staff are the lead JEBWG organizations. Members of the working group will review services’ expeditionary basing capability requirements, potential hardware solutions, availability, procurement timelines, and current and future acquisition objectives. The efforts should reduce research and development by decreasing service-unique efforts as well as leverage economies of scale and effective and efficient total life-cycle management.

U.S. Navy Approves Second Trimaran
The U.S. Navy’s 419-foot Coronado, the second trimaran Littoral Combat Ship (LCS), is now under construction. The high-speed trimaran is equipped with an open architecture-based combat systems computing environment. The first trimaran LCS, the Independence, is in the last stages of construction in preparation for sea trials. Both ships feature an open architecture computing environment, developed by General Dynamics. The environment provides a flexible information technology backbone that permits the plug-and-play integration of core systems and mission modules. The mission modules allow the LCS to modify itself to a variety of missions quickly such as mine detection/elimination, antisubmarine warfare and antisurface warfare.

Energy Frontier Research Centers Obtain Funding
The U.S. Department of Energy is establishing 46 Energy Frontier Research Centers (EFRCs) at universities, national laboratories, nonprofit organizations and private firms across the nation to pursue advanced scientific research on energy. Each center will receive $2 million to $5 million a year for an initial five-year period. EFRC researchers will use novel capabilities in nanotechnology, high-intensity light sources, neutron scattering sources, supercomputing and other advanced instrumentation for fundamental advances. Areas of research include solar energy, transportation, energy efficiency, electricity storage and transmission, biofuels and nuclear energy.

Optical Solution Receives Defense Department Certification
The U.S. Defense Department’s Joint Interoperability Testing Command (JITC) has approved the Optical Multiservice Edge 6500 (OME 6500) for product listing status. JITC certification ensures that products provide the performance and security needed for mission-critical military deployments. Produced by Nortel Government Solutions, the OME 6500 is an optical convergence platform with integrated time-division multiplexing (TDM), wavelength division multiplexing and Ethernet capabilities that support circuit-based TDM private-line, optical, packet transport and transparent wavelength services. The platform, which can increase network capacity up to 40 gigabits per second per wavelength, is estimated to provide capital and operational savings of up to 40 percent over next-generation solutions and up to 53 percent in capital savings over traditional networking solutions.

Houston Police Helicopters Go Digital
The City of Houston’s police force is switching its helicopters’ communications systems from analog to digital. As part of a homeland security grant, the city is equipping its helicopter fleet with $2.5 million in advanced aircraft-based digital microwave equipment that can transmit standard and high-definition encrypted video to fixed locations such as mobile command posts and handheld receivers and monitors. The equipment, provided by Nucomm and RF Central, also will be installed on a small number of police patrol vehicles to test their capacity and connection—by universal serial bus cable—to each vehicle’s laptop computer.

U.S. Army Units Receive Video/Sensor Fusion Software
Soldiers soon will have an improved view of the battlefield as the result of a video exploitation and analysis technology. TerraSight is an advanced command, control, communications, computers, intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance software suite that merges video and data feeds to create a three-dimensional common operating picture. Developed by the Sarnoff Corporation under a licensing agreement with the Army, unlimited copies of the software will be distributed across the service to support missions such as persistent surveillance, area reconnaissance, mission planning and operations, and battle or collateral damage assessments.

Division Shifts to Meet Government Needs
Microsoft Corporation is realigning its federal business division to meet the needs of its federal customers. The company’s national security group aims at consolidating research, products and services as well as increasing its focus on cybersecurity solutions and strategies for security-related agencies. Company officials say they want the federal division to be “nimble and responsive to better equip our nation’s front-line defenses in the mission to fight cyberattacks.”