Health Care Systems Oncology, Imaging and Pharmacology, particularly for Prostate Cancer.
Technology that interests me: Sensors (Radar, Sonar, EO/IR,Fusion) Communications, Satellites, Unmanned Vehicles (UAV), Information Technology, Intelligent Transportation
Australia begins decommissioning navaids; moves to satellite navigation | Air Traffic Management content from ATWOnline
Australia has begun the process of decommissioning a number of
ground-based navigation aids, meaning that associated non-precision
approach procedures will be withdrawn from service this week.
On May 26, the process was initiated to switch off 179 navigation aids,
including non-directional beacons (NDBs), VHF omni-directional radio
ranges (VORs) and distance measuring equipment (DMEs) as part of the
Airservices Navigation Rationalization Project
Starting today, Airservices Australia will begin switching off 179
ground based navigation aids such as Distance Measuring Equipment (DME),
Non Directional Beaons (NDBs) and VHF Omnidirectional Range (VOR)
beacons.
From now on aircraft will look up at Global Navigation Satellite
System (GNSS) satellites for Instrument Flight Rules (IFR) guidance, not
down at ground based aids. Airservices will no longer need to maintain
the mechanical devices across Australia, some of which entered service
in 1962.
Google built a tiny radar system into a smartwatch for gesture controls | The Verge
"If you can put something in a smartwatch, you can put it anywhere,"
Poupyrev says. So ATAP redesigned the Soli chip to make it smaller and
draw less power. And then it redesigned it to do the same thing again.
And again. Finally, according to Hakim Raja, Soli's lead hardware and
production engineer, the team created the tiniest of the chips you see
above. It's a tiny sliver you could balance on your pinky toenail, with
four antennas that provide full duplex communication for sending and
receiving radar pings. The first iteration of Soli, which shipped to in a
development kit, drew 1.2w of power. This one draws 0.054w, a 22x
reduction.
But making a chip that tiny has drawbacks. Radar was designed to
detect massive flying metal objects from miles away, not tiny millimeter
movement from your fingers inches away. Until very recently, nobody
bothered worrying about the power draw at this scale and nobody had to
deal with figuring out what the signal would even look like when it was
shrunk down this small. Jaime Lien is the lead research engineer for Soli, and it's her job
to tune the machine learning algorithms which ultimately get hardwired
into the chip. Her first realization was that it made sense to convert
the spatial signal radar provides into a temporal one that makes more
sense on a computer. But that was nothing compared to noise problems you
run into at these tiny scales. She showed me the "glitch zoo," a huge
set of screenshots of every kind of impenetrable noise that her
algorithms have to find signal in. At these scales, it's impossible to
do any sort of beam forming and the very electrons running through the
chip have to be accounted for.
BREAKING: 100M LinkedIn Emails, Passwords From 2012 Hack Posted Online - Law360
By Allison Grande
Law360, New York (May 18, 2016, 12:33 PM ET) -- LinkedIn said Wednesday that more than 100 million email and password combinations believed to have been compromised in a 2012 data breach have recently been posted online, expanding the fallout from a data theft that resulted in a separate set of 6.5 million passwords being publicly released four years ago.
The data breach first grabbed headlines in 2012, when LinkedIn Corp. revealed that a file containing more than 6.46 million hashed passwords that allegedly belonged to LinkedIn users were posted to a Russian “hacker website.”...
Much more than the 6.5 million originally thought.
Remember LinkedIn’s 2012 data breach?
A hacker stole
6.5 million encrypted passwords from the site and posted them to a
Russian crime forum. Now it appears that data theft was just the tip of
the iceberg.
A Russian hacker, who goes by “Peace,” is selling 117 million email
and password combinations on a dark web marketplace, Vice Motherboard reports. The going rate for the loot is five Bitcoins, or about $2,300.
The U.S. Army Contracting Command (ACC) - New Jersey, in support of the Armament Research, Development, and Engineering Center (ARDEC), is conducting a market survey to understand industry capability to provide a radar capable of generating fire-control quality data, enabling the kinetic defeat of small aerial targets. This requires tracking small Radar Cross Section (RCS) aerial targets and kinetic rounds (e.g. bullets). The radar would be vehicle mounted, small, lightweight, affordable, and be suitable for stationary and on-the-move operations.
As a result of issuing this Request for Information (RFI), the Government expects to receive white papers describing proposed concepts and technologies. The RFI responses should identify radar designs that will support the ARDEC system concept and include a credible development path, with estimates provided on costs and timeline.
SYSTEM OVERVIEW:
ARDEC has developed a system of systems concept to address low flying, small RCS aerial threats in support of maneuver forces. This system is comprised of Unmanned Aerial Systems (UAS) detection and tracking sensors being networked to defeat mechanisms such as the Common Remotely Operated Weapon Station (CROWS).
A component of this overarching concept, and the subject of this RFI, is a tactical fire control radar. Initially, ARDEC is seeking a tactical fire control radar capable of:
Detecting and tracking Group 1 UAS.
Capable of integration onto a vehicle-mounted CROWS.
Other UAS categories and other threats are of interest, but are not the focus of this RFI. The tactical fire control radar will provide target engagement data to an on-board fire control system for a weapon system, as well as track outgoing projectiles for purposes of increasing the accuracy of the on-board weapon. It is envisioned that the system will ultimately have a full, on-the-move capability. In the near-term, the system may operate in a stationary configuration.
REQUIREMENTS:
ARDEC envisions an incremental, evolutionary approach to system development, culminating in a system that has 360 degree azimuth coverage and on-the-move capability. Initial efforts will focus on a near-term demonstration of specific parameters. Requirements for the near-term demonstrator and the long-term capability are listed below.
Near-Term Demonstrator:
Threshold Requirements
Ability to simultaneously search to a range of 3km, track one or more hovering and/or maneuvering Group 1 UAS, and track outbound projectiles used for engagement.
Update rate and accuracy measurements in search mode should be sufficient to initiate track at 1.5km.
Track Group 1 UAS threat at range of 50m to 1.5km with accuracy requirements ≤750 microradian angular accuracy, ≤1m range accuracy, and ≥20Hz update rate.
Must be able to track an outbound .50 caliber round for the purpose of increasing accuracy. For modelling and performance prediction purposes, the .50 caliber munition can be treated as having the RCS of a 1.5cm conducting sphere.
Must detect and track both rotary and fixed wing Group 1 UAS. Group 1 is defined as <20lbs 100="" a="" above="" and="" are="" at="" class.="" feet="" ground="" in="" knots.="" level="" li="" lift-off="" of="" operating="" raven="" representative="" rq-11="" speed="" the="" this="" to="" u.s.="" uass="" up="" wasp="" with="">
Angular radar coverage should be +/- 45 degree azimuth (aligned on weapon boresight) with an elevation coverage of -20 to 60 degrees. Weapon boresight can be directed to any fixed azimuth position across 360 degrees, at the discretion of the operator.
Must be able to accept real-time search-quality external cues.
Must communicate target data to an external system in real-time.
System must be integrated onto a vehicle-mounted CROWS. The radar front-end receive and transmit antenna assembly must be integrated onto the CROWS, with or without the radar signal/data processor, which may be installed elsewhere in or on the vehicle. The CROWS common interface can support up to approximately 65lb weight and 29in maximum width.
Must be operable on Stryker power.
Must be air cooled.
Objective Requirements (Objectives exceeding thresholds noted in Bold font)
Ability to simultaneously search to a range of 5.5km, track 10 Group 1 UAS, and track outbound projectiles used for engagement.
Track Group 1 UAS threat at a range of 50m to 2.5km with accuracy requirements ≤400 microradian angular accuracy, ≤1m range accuracy, and ≥20Hz update rate.
Angular radar coverage should be +/- 45 degree azimuth (aligned on weapon boresight) with an elevation coverage of -20 to 90 degrees.
Demonstrate ability for the system to operate on-the-move. This capability can be demonstrated in a tiered approach, initially search on the move, and ultimately track-while-search.
Futuristic US Navy Zumwalt Destroyers to be Deployed to the Pacific Facing China : Science : Chinatopix
The first ship of this class, the USS Zumwalt (DDG-1000),
successfully underwent a series of hull, mechanical and engineering
(HM&E) trials to uncover bugs
in its first-of-its-kind Integrated Propulsion System. This system
generates 80,000 megawatts, more than enough power to fire an electromagnetic railgun.
Once other sea trials are successfully completed, the USS Zumwalt will head for the Pacific Ocean to complete the activation
of its combat systems. The destroyer will be home-ported at Naval Base
San Diego in California, principal homeport of the United States Pacific
Fleet consisting of 50 ships.
The Pacific Fleet has command over the U.S. Navy Third Fleet defending the West Coast and the Seventh Fleet in Asia.
THIS IS A REQUEST FOR INFORMATION ONLY. THERE IS NO SOLICITATION PACKAGE
AVAILABLE. The following information is provided to assist the Naval Air Warfare Center Aircraft Division (NAVAIR) Lakehurst, NJ in conducting market research of industry to identify if there are alternate options to meet USN needs for applied research development and testing of new
radar algorithms for the APY-10 and APG-79 radars. This effort includes research of emerging technologies related to the radar technologies including correlation with other sensor systems to improve identification confidence and aide in classification of targets. This
contracting effort will result in the delivery of an integrated control and test system with multiple node access. In addition, integration of the systems onboard the test aircraft is required.
At this time, pending market research results, NAVAIR Lakehurst, NJ intends to negotiate on a non-competitive basis with Compass Systems Inc. of Lexington Park, Md for the required research and development.Compass Systems is the sole designer, developer and provider of key components of the
software system which is crucial to the continued development of several radar systems the Navy already is using operationally.
The Arleigh-Burke class guided-missile destroyer, USS Benfold (DDG
65) returns to homeport San Diego after completing a seven-month,
independent deployment to the 7th Fleet Area of Responsibility. (U.S.
Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Rosalie
Garcia/Released)
Navy Matters: You Can't Surge A Modern Navy
In recent years, in response to budget constraints, there has been discussion of homeporting major elements of the Navy and simply surging them, if needed. The claimed benefits include reduced physical wear on the ships since they would remain docked most of the time, reduced manpower requirements since the ships would need nothing more than a caretaker crew, and reduced operating costs due to the reduced crew and curtailed deployments.
This was simply an examination of the concept of homeporting/surging a fleet. Properly done, it has some advantages but it also comes with disadvantages. However, done as the Navy and many supporters would have it, a modern Navy cannot be surged and the Navy is unintentionally proving it right now.
U.S. Navy’s Overseas Force Structure Changes Navy Moving Two Additional BMD Destroyers To Japan - USNI News
The U.S. Navy announced today that the ballistic missile defense (BMD)-capable guided missile destroyer USS Benfold (DDG 65) and USS Milius (DDG 69) will become part of the Forward Deployed Naval Forces (FDNF) based at Commander Fleet Activities Yokosuka, Japan.
As part of the U.S. Navy’s long-range plan to put the most advanced and capable units forward, Benfold and Milius will leave their current homeport of San Diego and forward deploy to Yokosuka in the summers of 2015 and 2017, respectively. The move directly supports the announcement made by Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel in April of this year that the Navy would commit to sending two additional BMD-capable ships to the defense of Japan by 2017.
The Next Act for Aegis - USNI News
Aside from the success of the BMD missions, the Aegis program made the most headlines due to problems in the force.
The 2010 final report of the Fleet Review Panel of Surface Force
Readiness (short-handed as the Balisle Report, after panel leader,
retired Vice Adm. Philip Balisle) found the condition of the Aegis
systems fleet wide suffering due to lack of parts, training and lack of
qualified personnel.
“That was the biggest klaxon at the time and that brought everyone’s focus to bear,” Kilby said.
In 2011, the Navy kicked off the Aegis wholeness project and four
years after the Balisle report, the Navy claims the day-to-day Aegis
woes are largely behind them.
What remains to be seen is how well the Navy can integrate the new surface capabilities into the fleet.
“We are entering for the first time into the world of integrated air and missile defense,” Kilby said.
“Let’s get good at it.”
U.S. GAO - Navy
Force Structure: Sustainable Plan and Comprehensive Assessment Needed to
Mitigate Long-Term Risks to Ships Assigned to Overseas Homeports
Homeporting ships overseas considerably increases the forward presence—
U.S. naval forces in overseas operating areas—that the Navy's existing
fleet provides and has other near-term benefits such as rapid crisis
response, but incurs higher operations and support costs when compared
to U.S.-homeported ships. GAO found that casualty reports—incidents of
degraded or out-of-service equipment—have doubled over the past 5 years
and that the material condition of overseas-homeported ships has
decreased slightly faster than that of U.S.-homeported ships (see figure
below). In addition, the Navy has spent hundreds of millions of dollars
on overseas infrastructure and base operating costs since 2009, while
moving large numbers of sailors, dependents, and ship repair work
overseas. GAO also found that the high pace of operations the Navy uses
for overseas-homeported ships limits dedicated training and maintenance
periods, which has resulted in difficulty keeping crews fully trained
and ships maintained.
A
comparison between the cumulative maintenance levels for the DDG-51 and
the levels specified in the Navy's technical foundation papers showed
that the Navy is not in general funding to the level as stated in the
technical foundation papers. This casts doubt on the validity of the
technical foundation papers' requirements and the Navy's commitment to
carrying out the maintenance stated in these published papers. Given
this, the Navy will need to consider alternatives to the technical
foundation papers' process as it formulates requirements and source
plans.
Ships of similar age and operating histories whose major difference is basing histories, e.g., foreign homeporting — with the attendant effects on maintenance — can show dramatic differences between the overall costs to maintain. Maintenance deferrals exact an extremely high premium that drives ship cost up in ways inconsistent with the need to contain costs. Any maintenance construct needs to understand and budget for the high cost of deferral or devise mitigations for cases where deferral is inevitable.
General Atomics Aeronautical Systems Awarded Iraqi Air Force Intelligence Surveillance and Reconnaissance Contract $53 Million Order Received For Manned ISR Aircraft and Ground Stations
SAN
DIEGO – 11 June 2007 – General Atomics Aeronautical Systems, Inc. (GA
ASI), a leading manufacturer of unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) and
tactical reconnaissance radars, today announced that it has received
notification of an award of a $53 million ceiling price order from
Raytheon Aircraft Company of Wichita, Kan., to provide an initial lot of
five integrated Intelligence Surveillance and Reconnaissance (ISR)
suites for the company’s Beechcraft King Air 350ER (Extended Range)
aircraft and related ground stations to be supplied to the Iraqi Air
Force under the U.S. Government’s Foreign Military Sales (FMS) program.
Under
the terms of the contract, the GA-ASI team – which consists of L-3
Communications West, L-3 EO/IR Inc., and Exclusive Charter Services –
will provide airborne payloads and operator workstations (which run
CLAW® sensor control and analysis software), as well as fixed, mobile
and man-transportable data linked ground stations, support equipment,
and training and logistics support.
“This program for Iraq
represents a total end-to-end airborne ISR solution,” said Linden P.
Blue, president, Reconnaissance Systems Group, General Atomics
Aeronautical Systems, Inc. “It integrates the airborne payload package
with an operator console station that collects, formats, and displays
sensor data for optimum exploitation. Imagery and exploitation products
can then be sent via an airborne data link to ground stations for
further analysis. This equipment will increase current Iraqi Air Force
airborne reconnaissance and intelligence collection capabilities
significantly.”
The GA-ASI team will equip modified Beechcraft King Air 350ER aircraft
that will be used by the Iraqi Air Force as it assumes greater control
of the ISR mission within the country. Each ISR aircraft will include a
Lynx® IIE SAR/GMTI radar, MX-15i Electro-Optical/Infrared (EO/IR) camera
system, CLAW software, and a high-bandwidth data link system. GA-ASI Successfully Passes ATP Testing of First Iraqi Air Force ISR Aircraft and Ground Station
The IqAF ISR ATP consisted of a series of test flights demonstrating
the sensor and communications equipment aboard the modified Beechcraft
King Air 350 Extended Range (ER) aircraft, including the L-3
Communications Wescam MX-15i electro-optical/infrared (EO/IR) turret,
L-3 Communications West mini-T series airborne data link, Exclusive
Charter Services tailored sensor operator consoles, and GA-ASI CLAW®
integrated sensor software. The GA-ASI Lynx® II synthetic aperture
radar/ground moving target indicator (SAR/GMTI) was demonstrated and
will be delivered this month after program modifications are made.
On
the ground side, multiple man-transportable laptop video receivers and a
fixed ground station (FGS) received real-time ISR data via data link
communications from the aircraft from a considerable distance. The
first ground station was shipped to Iraq immediately after testing, and
the first aircraft departed for Iraq in late June.
Representing a
total end-to-end airborne ISR solution, the equipment will increase
current IqAF airborne reconnaissance and intelligence collection
capabilities significantly. GA-ASI assembled and integrated the sensor
and communications equipment onto the aircraft operator console station
and the fixed ground station at its facilities in San Diego, Calif. The
company recently completed sensor operator and maintenance training for
U.S. and Iraqi Air Force operators and contract logistics support (CLS)
personnel.
Iraq to get another King Air Iraq
is to get another Hawker Beechcraft King Air 350ER aircraft under a
USD7.85 million contract announced by the US Department of Defense (DoD)
on 30 June. The contract is expected to be completed by 30 March 2015.
The
Iraqi Air Force already operates King Air 350ERs that have been
modified into intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (ISR)
platforms and one King Air 350 light transport aircraft. The six
aircraft were delivered under a USD10.5 million contract announced by
the DoD in September 2008 and are based at Baghdad's New al-Muthana
Airbase.
Iraq's 350ER-ISR version carries an L-3 Wescam MX-15i
electro-optical turret and a GA-ASI Lynx Block 30E synthetic aperture
radar/ground moving target indicator.
GA-ASI’s
Lynx is a state-of-the-art, lightweight, high-performance,
multi-function radar that operates in Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) and
Ground Moving Target Indicator (GMTI) modes. An all-weather sensor,
Lynx provides photographic-quality images through clouds, rain, dust,
smoke, and fog, in daylight or total darkness. As a result, Lynx
detects time-sensitive targets and changes on the ground that may be
undetectable by Electro-optical/Infrared (EO/IR) sensors. Additionally,
Lynx’s long-range, wide-area surveillance capability provides
high-resolution SAR imagery slant ranges well beyond effective EO/IR
range.
Lynx’s broad area GMTI scanning capability detects and
tracks moving targets in real-time and cues aircraft EO/IR payloads or
ground units for target acquisition and prosecution.
The Lynx
Multi-mode Radar sensor continues to be in deployment on manned and
Unmanned Aircraft Systems throughout the world. Lynx is utilized by the
U.S. Army aboard its Sky Warrior® Alpha and Gray Eagle® UAS, and on a
variety of manned aircraft, including the C-12, U-21 and DH-7. Lynx is
also utilized by the U.S. Air Force and the Royal Air Force on their
MQ-9 Reaper™ UAS; by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security aboard its
Predator Bs; and the Italian Air Force on its MQ-9s. Additionally,
Lynx is utilized by the Iraqi Air Force aboard its Peace Dragon manned
Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance (ISR) aircraft.
The
Lynx product family currently consists of the AN/APY-8 Block 20 radar
(system weight 120 lbs) and the AN/DPY-1 Block 30 radar (system weight
< 85 lbs).
Features/Benefits:
High-resolution imagery
Long-range, up to 80 km
High reliability, enclosed chassis
Low weight and volume
Real-time detection of vehicular movement
Automatic cross-cue to EO/IR
Available as a Commercial-Off-The-Shelf (COTS) sensor
Intelligence, Surveillance and
Reconnaissance (ISR) communities around the world are exploring ways in which
different services can collaborate on naval missions. These communities
envision UAS capabilities supporting joint warfighter missions over land, and
littoral and blue water regions. To achieve this, GA-ASI Mission Systems has
expressed interest in adding an ISAR mode to the Lynx Multi-Mode Radar, a
standard payload for the USAF MQ-9 Reaper and Predator XP systems.
“Because ships and small watercraft
at sea are usually in motion — having both forward velocity and other linear
and angular motions, for example, pitch and roll and heave and sway — this
creates a problem for typical ISAR platforms,” said Thomas Pizzillo, head, NRL
Radar Analysis Branch. “The addition of a maritime-ISAR mode to the General
Atomics Lynx radar, as a software only upgrade, is the most cost effective
alternative to introduce this capability to the MQ-9 fleet.”
Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) is a
radar imaging method using multiple pulses transmitted from a moving platform.
The received signals are combined to form a high quality two-dimensional (2D)
image of the ground-terrain of interest. Classical SAR algorithms assume the
target scene (background) is stationary and any motion in the scene shows up as
a smear or streak in the image. ISAR algorithms assume the target itself is
moving, and through a set of complex algorithms, calculates enhanced angular or
cross-range resolution by analyzing subtle differences in range-rates caused by
the target motion. The net effect is to focus the image of a moving target
without smearing.
“Often with unknown velocities, both
linear and angular, it is a much more difficult problem because the motions are
not known as in typical ISAR,” Pizzillo says. “NRL has successfully adapted the
necessary changes to ISAR image formation in which the rotational motion of the
target is not known beforehand. This provides the end-user with an imaging
software tool that can produce high-quality imagery in conditions with
significantly complex target motion.”
Synthetic
Aperture Radar (SAR) is a radar imaging method using multiple pulses
transmitted from a moving platform. The received signals are combined to
form a high quality two-dimensional (2D) image of the ground-terrain of
interest. Classical SAR algorithms assume the target scene (background)
is stationary and any motion in the scene shows up as a smear or streak
in the image. ISAR algorithms assume the target itself is moving, and
through a set of complex algorithms, calculates enhanced angular or
cross-range resolution by analyzing subtle differences in range-rates
caused by the target motion. The net effect is to focus the image of a
moving target without smearing.
“Often with unknown velocities, both linear and angular, it is a much
more difficult problem because the motions are not known as in typical
ISAR,” Pizzillo says. “NRL has successfully adapted the necessary
changes to ISAR image formation in which the rotational motion of the
target is not known beforehand. This provides the end-user with an
imaging software tool that can produce high-quality imagery in
conditions with significantly complex target motion.”
- See more at:
http://www.nrl.navy.mil/media/news-releases/2016/NRL-Invokes-Cost-Effective-Approach-to-Improve-Joint-ISR-Missions#sthash.EJyT6LbF.dpuf
The U.S. Naval Research Laboratory (NRL) Radar Division has teamed with San Diego-based General Atomics Aeronautical Systems Inc.
(GA-ASI) to integrate maritime mode inverse synthetic aperture radar
(maritime-ISAR) imaging capability with GA-ASI’s Lynx Multi-Mode Radar
deployed on its Unmanned Aerial Systems (UAS).
Developed for the U.S. Air Force (USAF) through funding by General
Atomics Aeronautical Systems Inc. (GA-ASI), the MQ-9 unmanned aerial
vehicle (UAV) is designed to execute time-sensitive targets with
persistence and precision, and destroy or disable those targets. To
expand on its mission and improve joint-service ISR capability, GA-ASI
has teamed with the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory to implement an
Inverse Synthetic Aperture Radar (ISAR) imaging capability in the
GA-ASI’s Lynx Multi Mode Radar currently deployed on UASAF MQ-9 UAVs.
(Courtesy U.S. Air Force/Lt. Col. Leslie Pratt)
Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance (ISR) communities
around the world are exploring ways in which different services can
collaborate on naval missions. These communities envision UAS
capabilities supporting joint warfighter missions over land, and
littoral and blue water regions. To achieve this, GA-ASI Mission Systems
has expressed interest in adding an ISAR mode to the Lynx Multi-Mode
Radar, a standard payload for the USAF MQ-9 Reaper and Predator XP
systems.
“Because ships and small watercraft at sea are usually in motion —
having both forward velocity and other linear and angular motions, for
example, pitch and roll and heave and sway — this creates a problem for
typical ISAR platforms,” said Thomas Pizzillo, head, NRL Radar Analysis
Branch. “The addition of a maritime-ISAR mode to the General Atomics
Lynx radar, as a software only upgrade, is the most cost effective
alternative to introduce this capability to the MQ-9 fleet.”
Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) is a radar imaging method using
multiple pulses transmitted from a moving platform. The received signals
are combined to form a high quality two-dimensional (2D) image of the
ground-terrain of interest. Classical SAR algorithms assume the target
scene (background) is stationary and any motion in the scene shows up as
a smear or streak in the image. ISAR algorithms assume the target
itself is moving, and through a set of complex algorithms, calculates
enhanced angular or cross-range resolution by analyzing subtle
differences in range-rates caused by the target motion. The net effect
is to focus the image of a moving target without smearing.
- See
more at:
http://www.nrl.navy.mil/media/news-releases/2016/NRL-Invokes-Cost-Effective-Approach-to-Improve-Joint-ISR-Missions#sthash.EJyT6LbF.dpuf
The U.S. Naval Research Laboratory (NRL) Radar Division has teamed with San Diego-based General Atomics Aeronautical Systems Inc.
(GA-ASI) to integrate maritime mode inverse synthetic aperture radar
(maritime-ISAR) imaging capability with GA-ASI’s Lynx Multi-Mode Radar
deployed on its Unmanned Aerial Systems (UAS).
Developed for the U.S. Air Force (USAF) through funding by General
Atomics Aeronautical Systems Inc. (GA-ASI), the MQ-9 unmanned aerial
vehicle (UAV) is designed to execute time-sensitive targets with
persistence and precision, and destroy or disable those targets. To
expand on its mission and improve joint-service ISR capability, GA-ASI
has teamed with the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory to implement an
Inverse Synthetic Aperture Radar (ISAR) imaging capability in the
GA-ASI’s Lynx Multi Mode Radar currently deployed on UASAF MQ-9 UAVs.
(Courtesy U.S. Air Force/Lt. Col. Leslie Pratt)
Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance (ISR) communities
around the world are exploring ways in which different services can
collaborate on naval missions. These communities envision UAS
capabilities supporting joint warfighter missions over land, and
littoral and blue water regions. To achieve this, GA-ASI Mission Systems
has expressed interest in adding an ISAR mode to the Lynx Multi-Mode
Radar, a standard payload for the USAF MQ-9 Reaper and Predator XP
systems.
“Because ships and small watercraft at sea are usually in motion —
having both forward velocity and other linear and angular motions, for
example, pitch and roll and heave and sway — this creates a problem for
typical ISAR platforms,” said Thomas Pizzillo, head, NRL Radar Analysis
Branch. “The addition of a maritime-ISAR mode to the General Atomics
Lynx radar, as a software only upgrade, is the most cost effective
alternative to introduce this capability to the MQ-9 fleet.”
Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) is a radar imaging method using
multiple pulses transmitted from a moving platform. The received signals
are combined to form a high quality two-dimensional (2D) image of the
ground-terrain of interest. Classical SAR algorithms assume the target
scene (background) is stationary and any motion in the scene shows up as
a smear or streak in the image. ISAR algorithms assume the target
itself is moving, and through a set of complex algorithms, calculates
enhanced angular or cross-range resolution by analyzing subtle
differences in range-rates caused by the target motion. The net effect
is to focus the image of a moving target without smearing.
- See
more at:
http://www.nrl.navy.mil/media/news-releases/2016/NRL-Invokes-Cost-Effective-Approach-to-Improve-Joint-ISR-Missions#sthash.EJyT6LbF.dpuf
This was the first time a remotely piloted aircraft (RPA) hit a maritime target.
"It was the first time we had put live weapons into boats and
participated in maritime (exercises)," said Capt. Timothy Ford, a 26th
Weapons Squadron flight commander. "For our (RPA) community it's a big
step forward, it's a mission set we had looked at for a long time and
training opportunities over water are not very prevalent (at Nellis)."
In addition to this being the first time an RPA squadron hit a maritime
target; it was also a chance to integrate with other aircraft including
A-10 Thunderbolt IIs, F-16 Fighting Falcons and F-35A Lightning IIs.
GA-ASI MQ-9 Reaper / Predator B
The Predator B multi-mission aircraft is highly modular and is easily
configured with a variety of payloads to meet mission requirements.
Predator B is capable of carrying multiple mission payloads to include:
Title: FY 17 Communications and Networking Discovery and Investigation
Sol. #: N00014-16-S-BA11
Agency: Department of the Navy
Office: Office of Naval Research
Location: ONR
Posted On: May 06, 2016 1:51 pm
Base Type: Presolicitation
Link: https://www.fbo.gov/spg/DON/ONR/ONR/N00014-16-S-BA11/listing.html
Communications technology that can provide seamless, robust, connectivity is at the foundation of the Sea Power 21 and FORCEnet Vision "... to have the right information, at the right place, at the right time ..." The performance of Command and Control (C2) systems and decision making at all levels of command depend critically on reliable, interoperable, survivable, secure, and timely communications and networking, and the availability of high capacity multimedia (voice, data, imagery) communication networks is fundamental to nearly all Department of Navy missions.
The current evolution of naval warfighting from a platform-centric to a network-centric paradigm depends on successfully meeting the implied need for significantly enhanced communications and networking capabilities of C2, sensor and weapon systems. These systems are deployed on a variety of platforms and users, both manned and unmanned, operating under challenging battlefield conditions (lack of infrastructure, mobility, spectrum, interference, multipath, atmospherics, size/weight/power constraint, etc.) in different environments (space, terrestrial and undersea).
The goal of the Communications and Networking Program within the Office of Naval Research (ONR 311) is to support the FORCEnet vision by developing measurable advances in technology that can directly enable and enhance end-to-end connectivity and quality-of-service for mission-critical information exchange among such widely dispersed naval, joint, and coalition forces. The vision is to provide high throughput robust communications and networking to ensure all warfighters -- from the operational command to the tactical edge -- have access to information, knowledge, and decision-making necessary to perform their assigned tasks.
Objective and Areas of Interest:
White papers for potential FY17 Exploratory Development/Applied Research (Budget category 6.2) projects are sought under the following focus areas:
Compact and deployable circular polarization antenna in the UHF-, X-, or Ka-, band with high radiation efficiency and adaptive gain pattern for multi-U form factor cube-satellite communications.
Near-capacity (Shannon) wideband communications mode operation over multi-channel AESA pulsed radar hardware chain (beamformer - T/R module - antenna array). Potential challenges for high bit rate communications include, amongst others, novel coding/modulation schemes resilient to saturated nonlinear power amplifier regimes, exploitation of pulse-to-pulse phase coherence and MIMO.
Enhanced waveform and diversity techniques including innovative tracking for mobile troposcatter (C- to Ku- bands). S&T focus on solutions that can reuse existing apertures, minimally impact HW, and permit modular upgrade.
Robust and (throughput) efficient wireless medium access mechanisms for mobile LPI/LPD network communications operating under high dynamic range, and high-interference rejection (e.g., spectral underlay), receive conditions.
Mechanisms to guarantee delivery of traffic across a multi-hop ad-hoc network within a specified latency; optimization of traffic based on multiple parameters (e.g., priority, latency, jitter, etc.); multi-path TCP implementations that are cognizant of variations in path characteristics and traffic priority, and do not impact application performance; store/forward and disruption-tolerant network implementations across a cipher-text core.
ABERDEEN PROVING GROUND, Md., 27 Feb. 2015. U.S. Army
researchers are reaching out to industry for new ways to speed
actionable intelligence to the field commanders and warfighters on the
front-lines who need it most.
To do this, researchers are asking industry for ideas on creating a
common electronic architecture for performing multi-modal fusion within
signal processors, on the payload of sensor platforms, on maneuvering
vehicles, and at fixed site locations.
Officials of the Army Communications-Electronics Research,
Development and Engineering Center at Aberdeen Proving Ground, Md., have
issued a request for information (W56KGU-15-R-A025) for the Multi-modal
Signal and Fusion Processor project.
This initiative seeks new ideas for a common architecture that can
fuse information from several different kinds of battlefield sensors.
This common architecture for sensor fusion,
furthermore, could function within signal processors, on sensor
payloads, on maneuvering vehicles and aircraft, and at fixed-site
locations.
[GA-ASI Chris] Pehrson: There are more platforms and more sensors collecting more
data than at any time in history. The greatest challenge to C4ISR will
be distilling this sea of data to produce accurate, reliable, timely,
and actionable intelligence. General Atomics Aeronautical Systems (GA-ASI) Remotely Piloted Aircraft (RPA) systems compound this challenge
because our Predator®/Gray Eagle-series aircraft are flying
in greater numbers, with more endurance, and with sensor payloads that
collect exponentially increasing amounts of data.
Our vision is to fuse Multi-INT data such as Full-motion Video,
Synthetic Aperture Radar/Ground Moving Target Indicator radar, and
SIGINT in order to reduce the workload of intelligence analysts on the
ground. We also envision networked platforms working collaboratively in
real-time to support ISR requirements.
Chris Pehrson
Chris Pehrson serves as director of strategic development for General Atomics-Aeronautical Systems Inc.,
where he is responsible for business acquisition strategies to
promote company’s unmanned aircraft systems, tactical reconnaissance
radars and sensor systems in U.S. and international markets.
Pehrson joined the company in 2010 after service in the U.S. Air Force,
where he commanded an operations group and two squadrons as well as
completed staff tours at Air Force headquarters and the Office of the
Secretary of Defense.
GA-ASI - build it and they will come:
Pehrson: Because GA-ASI is a privately-held company, we are more agile
than most aerospace defense companies. We can take a longer view of
market opportunities and generally have more flexibility when investing
Internal Research and Development (IRAD) resources. For example, when we
introduced the U.S. Air Force to Predator B in 2001, and subsequently
Predator C in 2009, there was no government funding for aircraft
development. GA-ASI saw capability gaps, produced aircraft to fill those
gaps, and introduced fully mission capable RPA to the U.S. government
as an off-the-shelf solution. Both aircraft proved highly capable, which
led to further procurement, but we assumed development risk and
maintained an aggressive schedule because of our unique position in the
marketplace. Incentivizing a long-term perspective with rapid
acquisition processes is one way the government could stimulate
innovation and improve the way it purchases C4ISR goods and services.
