The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) has selected 12 qualifying teams to compete in the next phase of a contest that will showcase algorithms designed to help robots navigate simulated underground scenarios for object localization work.

Participants can submit their autonomous systems for the preliminary round of the Subterranean Challenge virtual competition finals on the program's online portal through July 29 and the top teams will advance to the prize round that will take place from Sept. 21st to 24th, DARPA said Wednesday.

The agency chose eligible virtual robots from SubT Tech Repo, a digital library of subterranean technologies. DARPA will hold the SubT Challenge's virtual and real-world segments simultaneously, with the latter setting taking place at the Louisville Mega Cavern in Kentucky.

Both events will feature tunnel, cave and urban environments with similar challenge elements such as a rough terrain. The grand winner will receive $750,000 while the second and third placers will get $500,000 and $250,000, respectively.

The Federal Risk and Authorization Management Program is seeking public feedback on initial draft guidance meant to help cloud service providers develop the authorization boundary associated with their cloud offerings.

The guidance document provides CSPs with information on how to illustrate their cloud services’ authorization boundary, network interconnections and data flow diagrams, FedRAMP said Wednesday.

The document presents an overview of definitions of several terms, including authorization boundary, federal information, federal metadata, interconnections and external services, outlined in the Office of Management and Budget A-130 and National Institute of Standards and Technology Special Publication 800-37 and SP 800-53.

The FedRAMP Program Management Office and Joint Authorization Board also offered guidance on how CSPs should approach and handle such terms. For example, service providers should include in an authorization boundary all federal data, including metadata, generated by a federal customer within the cloud service offering.

Public comments are due Sept. 13.

The U.S. Army has asked information on potential vendors with a capability to supply commercial items to meet the requirements of the Common Hardware Systems-5 contract.

The CHS-5 indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract enables the rapid procurement of hardware, commercial off-the-shelf items and other commercial information technology products and services in support of the tactical and operational requirements of the Army, Department of Defense and federal government agencies, according to a request for information posted Wednesday.

CHS-5 supports the acquisition of common hardware components and related peripherals to facilitate the delivery of command, control, communications and computers mission equipment aimed at improving connectivity and interoperability on the battlefield.

Army Contracting Command is asking interested stakeholders about their capability to provide equipment with warranties, procure an average of 60,000 items and deliver approximately 125 orders annually and support requests to ruggedize or configure items managed by General Dynamics’ mission systems business, which is the incumbent on the IDIQ contract.

Responses to the RFI are due July 21.

Verizon announced on Wednesday that the company remains the most reliable network in the latest RootMetrics’ latest 1H 2021 US State of the Mobile Union report. The company ranked first in accessibility, call and text award categories.

“Customers have come to expect a higher level of reliability and performance from their mobile network after spending the past 15 months largely connected to a wired internet connection,” commented Kyle Malady, Verizon’s chief technology officer.

“RootMetrics’ stringent nationwide drive-test methodology demonstrates that Verizon customers can expect unbeaten reliability and network performance whether they travel cross-town or cross-country,” added Malady.

The company’s well-known network was awarded best overall network performance and network reliability for the sixteenth consecutive time. Verizon has won best network performance more than any other wireless company in the history of RootMetrics testing.

The COVID-19 pandemic illustrated the value of network reliability. Morning Consult conducted a survey on Verizon’s behalf and network reliability was the most important factor to consumers when considering upgrades to a mobile plan, phone, or carrier, with nearly 9 in 10 Americans saying it is important.

The RootMetrics report reported Verizon won or shared an exceptional 738 Metro Area RootScore Awards out of 875 total chances. The company also won the most Network Speed RootScore Awards of any carrier at 85.

Verizon took home the Verizon registered 43 markets with median speeds of at least 40 Mbps, 117 Reliability RootScore Awards, more than all other carriers measured by RootMetrics.

RootMetrics conducted real-world tests by driving nearly 300,000 miles across the nation, covering all 50 states and 125 metro areas. RootMetrics testers conducted almost three million tests across seven categories. Their scientific methodology tests networks side-by-side, at the same time and in the same locations.

The National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) has completed the first production unit of the modernized version of a 1980s era nuclear warhead at the Pantex Plant in Texas.

The W88 Alteration 370 is designed to keep the aging W88/Mk5 strategic deterrent ready for launch onboard the U.S. Navy's Ohio-class submarines whenever needed, the Department of Energy said Tuesday.

The NNSA, DOE and the Department of Defense achieved the milestone a month ahead of schedule and after over 11 years of design, development, qualification and production processes.

Charles Verdon, the acting NNSA administrator, described the achievement as a testament to the capability of his organization's Nuclear Security Enterprise to modernize major systems.

"As we continue to modernize the stockpile, the successes and lessons learned from this program will bolster our future warhead activities to provide a safe, secure and reliable deterrent," continued Verdon.

According to the NNSA, the milestone was made possible with the help of the Enterprise, Navy Strategic Systems Program Office and a number of naval contractors.

Klas Government announced on Tuesday that the leading low SWaP technology company has opened a cutting edge, 42,000 square foot integration facility at Aberdeen Proving Ground (APG). The new facility will serve as a foundation to innovate, manage and integrate software and hardware components for U.S. warfighting capabilities.

“Klas’ new Aberdeen facility will break down silos when it comes to developing, fielding and use of soldier systems, so that innovation can occur in lock-step and accelerate delivery of the latest technologies for mission advantage on the modern battlefield,” said Wade Johnston, Director of  Innovation for Klas Government.

The company will publicly unveil the facility during a ribbon-cutting ceremony on Aug. 25th alongside the elite leaders from the Department of Defense (DOD) and other notable industry executives.

Klas will work to enhance recent Army programs such as the Voyager Tactical Cloud Platform (TCP), Voyager Tactical Data Link (TDL) and Voyager Virtual Multi-Enclave System (VMES) to deliver on the full potential of these programs and technology to rapidly integrate new products into an architecture to provide a single platform for more efficient warfighter communications.

“As the leader in extreme edge engineering, Klas is ideally suited to work with Army Programs, across the DoD and with our industry partners to provide the  tactical hardware piece and facilitate solution integration at the APG facility,” Johnston added.

About Klas Government 

Klas Government makes the world’s most powerful deployable communications solutions to meet the  needs of government and military communicators in any operational environment. The company enables  customers to communicate in extreme environments, where nobody else in the market can, by delivering tactical and executive communications systems specifically designed to move faster, travel lighter and work better under worse conditions than anything else available.