The Department of Energy (DOE) will award $18 million in funds through the second phase of the Next-Generation Energy Technologies for Connected and Automated On-Road Vehicles program to four projects that aim to lower automobile emissions.

Michigan Technical University will work to grow its test vehicle fleet and identify opportunities for range optimization while Southwest Research Institute will expand and implement hybrid power control, eco-driving and routing approaches into vehicles with level 4 automation capabilities, DOE said Thursday.

Ohio State University will incorporate system-level control and optimization tools into a plug-in hybrid electric vehicle in a bid to increase energy efficiency by 30 percent. The University of California Berkeley will focus on expanding its set of eco-drive, route and charge controls.

DOE initially awarded $32 million in funds to 10 teams during the first phase of NEXTCAR. The current group of awardees will receive additional funds at an undisclosed date to hold demonstration activities.

Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy launched the NEXTCAR effort to mitigate automobile energy consumption via the development of connected and automated vehicles.

The first phase of the program sought to build CAV technologies that could lower vehicle energy usage by 20 percent. Phase II seeks to decrease light-duty passenger vehicles' consumption by 30 percent.

Air Force Research Laboratory worked with Cornell University to create a new X-ray technology that can inspect composite components during the manufacturing process.

Micro-beam scanning and phase contrast imaging allow the technology to generate X-ray scattering images depicting the component's structure during and after manufacturing, AFRL said Thursday. Operators may use this tool to visualize errors that need to be fixed in a component's structure.

"If you could see the defect, you could pull the part out of production before it actually gets in a system and causes the system to fail, or (you can) adjust the processing parameters to correct for it," said Hilmar Koerner, who leads AFRL's research team for polymer matrix composites, materials and processes.

The U.S. Air Force expects the technology to reduce costs in certifying composite parts for satellites and unmanned aircraft systems.

AFRL used $7 million to establish two X-ray beamlines at the Cornell High Energy Synchrotron Source. The beamlines support the military's research pursuits in material science.

Maj. Gen. Richard Coffman, director of the U.S. Army's next-generation combat vehicle cross-functional team, said the service must modernize its armored vehicles to address Chinese threats in the Pacific, Military.com reported Thursday.

Coffman told attendees at an event hosted by the Center for Strategic and International Studies that the U.S. needs to secure a “position of relative advantage” and deploy advanced armored vehicles and tanks to establish its position against China. 

"The reason why you need the land component in [the Pacific] is because it's the only component that will be decisive," said Coffman. "If you want to take land, if you want to hold land, if you want to clear land, you need the ground element."

The team intends to deploy lightweight vehicles capable of protecting personnel in the field, he noted. The U.S. Marine Corps has begun transitioning out of M1A1 Abrams battle tanks as it prepares to conduct missions in the Pacific, according to the publication.

NASA has commenced efforts to resume operations of the Hubble Space Telescope, a space observatory that recently assumed safe mode due to a software error.

The space agency said Friday it plans to have the space telescope back to normal by next Thursday, following Hubble's entering safe mode last Sunday. Hubble's main computer experienced a software error, which caused the spacecraft to enter a stable state until NASA personnel can solve the issue.

NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center discovered the error during a software update meant to address fluctuations of Hubble's gyroscopes, which measure the spacecraft's turning speed.

The supposed software update could not enter the computer's memory due to lack of permission and in turn, caused the error. The spacecraft is now in a pre-science state as it awaits resumption of operations. NASA personnel will attempt to fix the software update for potential use in the future.

Lt. Col. Kristin Saling, a chief analytics officer at the U.S. Army, said the service branch must work to update its talent management practices as it moves towards multidomain operations, Federal News Network reported Thursday.

Saling, who works under the Army Talent Management Task Force within the office of the assistant Army secretary for manpower and reserve affairs, told the publication in an interview that the service must leverage its volumes of data and address data quality issues to inform decision-making.

The Army has used platforms such as the Integrated Personnel and Pay System – Army to expand its data inventory, she noted.

“We really started to realize we needed to bring together all this data that we had on our people to get after our force and understand essentially how we get the right person in the right job at the right time and how we change our processes so that we can do this over time,” said Saling.

She added that the Army seeks to enable personnel to have more control in developing their career trajectories through a “talent marketplace” concept.

James Burd, formerly the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency's (CISA) acting chief privacy officer (CPO), has been appointed to fill the CPO role on a full-time basis. Burd has been with CISA since November 2018 when he joined the agency as acting CPO, according to his LinkedIn profile.

He concurrently served as CISA's deputy CPO and acting CPO over a term of over two years. His past experience includes work with the National Protection and Programs Directorate, CISA's predecessor agency, where he held privacy officer and analyst roles.

Burd began his engagement with the federal government in 2002 when he joined NASA as an intern.

CohnReznick has become one of the first organizations to be recognized with a CMMC Third-Party Assessment Organization (C3PAO) and a Registered Provider Organization (RPO) by the Cybersecurity Maturity Model Certification (CMMC) accreditation body, the company announced on Friday.

“CohnReznick is excited to advance within the CMMC-AB ecosystem, enabling us to assist our clients in taking the next step toward CMMC compliance,” said Bhavesh Vadhani, National Director of CohnReznick’s Cybersecurity, Technology Risk, and Privacy Practice and a CMMC-AB Registered Practitioner.

Through its C3PAO certification, CohnRenick can now sponsor CMMC assessments, engage certified assessors, review assessment quality and submit assessment results to CMMC-AB for approval. In addition, its RPO certification verifies that the company is familiar with the basic constructs of the CMMC Standard and delivers non-certified CMMC consulting services.

CohnReznick can guide and prepare organizations toward CMMC compliance as an RPO. The certifications also authorize CohnReznick to help Department of Defense (DOD) contractors achieve CMMC compliance.

“These credentials give us the opportunity to advise defense contractors throughout their journey in becoming CMMC-certified while helping to protect the DOD’s sensitive data and also playing a critical role in protecting our nation against cybersecurity threats from the adversaries,” Vadhani added.

About CohnReznick

As a leading advisory, assurance, and tax firm, CohnReznick helps forward-thinking organizations achieve their vision by optimizing performance, maximizing value, and managing risk. Clients benefit from the right team with the right capabilities; proven processes customized to their individual needs; and leaders with vital industry knowledge and relationships.

Admiral Philip Davidson, commanding general of the Indo-Pacific Command, emphasized before the House and Senate Armed Services committees on Wednesday that the funding Mission Partner Environment (MPE) is a critical element of geo-political strategy to hinder adversarial military interests. The MPE will allow Allied partner nations to link into U.S. military systems and communications.

Adm. Davidson’s command encompasses the entire pacific region, from the North Korean Border to New Zealand. China is the U.S.’s primary threat in the area. Davidson argued before Congress that U.S.’s most vital asset in the region is its partnership with allies such as South Korea, Japan and the Philippines. 

The MPE is the essential operational capacity to deepen those ties. By linking communications and tactical data networks with friendly countries, the U.S. and its allies will counter hostile threats more effectively and efficiently. 

The Department of Defense (DOD) is currently struggling to link data from the different services and domains for similar tactical reasons, even linking military networks between other countries will be an even more challenging endeavor due to language barriers. However, Davidson’s written testimony stated that  the MPE is critical to Pacific operations because it “provides universal battle management and automated decision making by accessing a multi-domain sensor network.”

If more funding is authorized in the 2022 Fiscal Budget, the money will flow to the MPE through the Pacific Deterrence Initiative (PDI). The PDI is a pool of money used to fund troop deployments and deterrence activities in the Pacific region.