///
New Collaborative Pilot Program Aims to Bolster DHS Tech Dev’t
Published on
New Collaborative Pilot Program Aims to Bolster DHS Tech Dev’t

The Department of Homeland Security has co-launched a collaborative pilot program that aims to accelerate the development of technologies in support of the DHS mission.

DHS said Tuesday its Science and Technology Directorate has partnered with technology company BMNT, nonprofit Common Mission Project and other DHS components to pursue the Hacking for Homeland Security or H4HS pilot program.

The program engages with academia to identify and develop new concepts and technologies that address real-world problems faced by DHS.

“The H4HS Program will be an opportunity for S&T and DHS components to test a unique innovation program focused on reframing problems and developing unique solutions,” said Megan Mahle, director of industry partnerships at S&T.

H4HS builds on the Hacking for Defense academic course that trains students to address national security and intelligence issues via modern entrepreneurial approaches.

Student participants of H4HS will receive opportunities to learn from experts about homeland security technologies. The program's next course will take place next spring with a focus on issues faced by the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency.

//
NASA Tests 3D-Printed Parts for Future Spacecraft
Published on
NASA Tests 3D-Printed Parts for Future Spacecraft

NASA has demonstrated the hot-fire performance of 3D-printed rocket engine parts designed for future lunar landers.

The space agency said Tuesday it tested a copper alloy combustion chamber and a hydrogen-resistant alloy-made nozzle that were produced via additive manufacturing.

NASA’s Alabama-based Marshall Space Flight Center conducted the tests under the Long-Life Additive Manufacturing Assembly project that seeks to produce 3D-printed parts for lunar landers.

“This 3D printed technology is a game-changer when it comes to reducing total hardware manufacturing time and cost,” said Tom Teasley, a test engineer at Marshall.

The effort’s assigned team ran 23 separate hot-fire tests within a 10-day period and generated data on pressure and temperature conditions.

NASA locally melted metal powder to produce the iron-nickel superalloy nozzle through a method known as laser powder directed energy deposition.

The LLAMA project is part of the larger Game Changing Development program that aims to explore new approaches to space technology and operations.

//
Army, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute Prototype Quadrotor Drone Maneuverability Element
Published on
Army, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute Prototype Quadrotor Drone Maneuverability Element

The U.S. Army has partnered with Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI) in New York to develop a “trajectory planner” element to help improve vertical takeoff-and-landing maneuverability for quadrotor drones. 

Researchers integrated the tail-sitter onto a Common Research Configuration quadrotor biplane to test the element's ability to affect rotor movement and wing aerodynamics particularly in dense locations and urban areas, the Army Research Laboratory said Tuesday.

Jean-Paul Reddinger, an aerospace engineer at ARL’s Vehicle Technology Directorate, said the trajectory planner’s capacity to transition the platform between hover and forward-flight could help the Army in applications such as aerial resupply and intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance.

“The goal of this work was to use a model-based trajectory planner that could capture the quadrotor’s dynamic characteristics sufficiently while executing quickly enough to provide trajectories in-flight,” he said. 

“The direction we’re trying to take this in is to incorporate obstacles and additional kinds of constraints on its maneuverability.”

RPI and the Army plan to conduct further simulation trials for the tail-sitter ahead of hardware integration activities and flight tests.

/
Cyware Names Rob Jacobs & Thomas Bain to VP Positions
Published on
Cyware Names Rob Jacobs & Thomas Bain to VP Positions

Cyware has appointed Rob Jacobs as vice president of Finance and Thomas Bain as vice president of Marketing to expand the company’s global go-to-market and business operations, Cyware reported on Wednesday.

“Adding Rob and Thomas will help us further consolidate and enhance our core competencies in Finance and Marketing, as Cyware plans to make an aggressive push into the global marketplace. Both have extensive experience and exceptional levels of expertise channelizing the scale-up of very fast-growing companies," said Anuj Goel, founder and CEO, Cyware.

In their new roles, Jacobs and Bain will work to deliver innovation in cyber fusion, threat intelligence and security orchestration, automation, and response (SOAR) for its enterprise and mid-market customer base.

Jacobs most recently served with Bluecore, where he held the position of vice president of Finance. Prior to Bluecore, he served in financial leadership roles for Eyeview, Hailo and Willcare.

"I'm excited to join the team at Cyware to help drive the company's aggressive growth goals," said Jacobs. "My role is to help continue the build-out, including the financial infrastructure that sets the organization up for massive scale."

Prior to joining Cyware, Bain served with RiskRecon as senior vice president of Marketing. He previously served in marketing leadership roles for Morphisec, Centripetal Networks and GoSecure. 

“Cyware is supporting some of the biggest global brands by optimizing security operations and enabling security collaboration for customers and partners. Anuj has assembled a talented and experienced team and I'm honored to join as the company continues to experience rapid growth and innovation in the market," said Bain.

//
DoD Releases Guide on Mission Engineering; Stephanie Possehl Quoted
Published on
DoD Releases Guide on Mission Engineering; Stephanie Possehl Quoted

The Department of Defense (DoD) has published a document designed to guide industry partners in mission engineering activities.

 The DoD Mission Engineering Guide would help companies and military entities coordinate with each other in pursuit of ME efforts, the department said Tuesday. The guide offers a set of tools and depicts result scenarios to inform ME personnel as they develop technologies.

"The guide details an approach to ME analysis that delivers results to identify enhanced technology, capabilities and system interdependencies from a mission perspective as opposed to the traditional 'bottom-up approach,'" said Stephanie Possehl, acting deputy director for engineering and director for engineering policy and systems at the advanced capabilities directorate within the office of the undersecretary of defense for research and engineering. 

Possehl said ME emphasizes the mission architectures in the earlier phases of design and development. This approach provides the necessary information for prototyping and system requirements.

The acting deputy director added that ME breaks down and assesses activities and technologies relevant to the mission.

/
2021 NDAA to Establish 5G Cross-Functional Team
Published on
2021 NDAA to Establish 5G Cross-Functional Team

The 2021 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), which the House passed Tuesday, will develop a 5G cross-functional team inside the Department of Defense (DoD), and name a chief information officer (CIO) to spearhead the initiative, Defense News reported on Wednesday.

The NDAA will shift the 5G project from the research phase to an operational program. Following the DoD’s announcement of $600 million in funds to support 5G experiments at military bases across the nation, the experiments have the potential to become operational technologies. 

If signed into law, the NDAA would direct the undersecretary of defense for research and engineering, with support from the 5G cross-functional team, to create a plan for transitioning 5G wireless technology to operational use within the DoD.

The transition plan would need to include a “timeline for the transition of responsibility for 5G wireless networking to the chief information officer.” Additionally, the secretary of defense must name the CIO by Oct. 1, 2023.

“The secretary of defense shall designate the chief information officer as the senior official within DoD with primary responsibility for policy, oversight, guidance, research and coordination on matters relating to 5G wireless networking; and making proposals to the secretary on governance, management and organizational policy for 5G wireless networking,” the legislation stated.

The 5G cross-functional team will work across a variety of challenges related to 5G wireless network, including establishing acquisition authorities, strategy implementation, advancing adoption of next-generation commercial 5G technology, facilitating public-private partnerships and coordinating research and development.

The team will also be responsible for initiatives advancing 5G wireless network technologies. 5G cross-functional team will be charged with integrating  5G wireless networking into programs and initiatives “relating to secure microelectronics and command and control.”

The legislation places 5G procurement authorities with military department secretaries. The department would have to create a 5G security program to identify and mitigate vulnerabilities in the 5G telecommunications infrastructure.

///
GSA’s Allen Hill: Agencies Must Accelerate EIS Task Order Awards Before Transition Deadline
Published on
GSA’s Allen Hill: Agencies Must Accelerate EIS Task Order Awards Before Transition Deadline

Allen Hill, acting deputy assistant commissioner for category management at the General Services Administration’s (GSA) Office of Information Technology Category, has said that agencies must expedite their respective Enterprise Infrastructure Solutions (EIS) transition efforts, FedScoop reported Tuesday.

Hill told the publication that agencies need to coordinate with contractors to ensure access to EIS plans ahead of the March 31, 2021 deadline for transitioning 50 percent of agency services.

GSA is discontinuing permissions for agencies to modify their task orders under the potential $50 billion EIS telecommunications vehicle ahead of the predecessor Networx contract’s expiration date on May 31, 2023. Thirty percent of federal agencies have finished issuing EIS task orders as of Sept. 30th, according to the report.

“Agencies must award their EIS task orders and get replacement services installed,” noted Hill. “The longer it takes to award task orders, the less time is available to execute complex and lengthy transition activities, increasing the risk of disruptions to agency operations and the delivery of critical services to the public.”

/
Ball Aerospace Supports PDR Completion for NASA’s SPHEREx Mission
Published on
Ball Aerospace Supports PDR Completion for NASA’s SPHEREx Mission

Ball Aerospace has supported the completion of the preliminary design review (PDR) for NASA's Spectro-Photometer for the History of the Universe, Epoch of Reionization and Ices Explorer (SPHEREx), the company reported on Wednesday. 

"This latest program milestone is an important step forward in realizing NASA's mission to peer into the history of the universe," said Dr. Makenzie Lystrup, vice president and general manager, Civil Space, Ball Aerospace.

Ball has been charged with building the spacecraft and telescope. The company is also responsible for system integration and test, support for integration of the spacecraft onto a launch vehicle and commissioning of the spacecraft after launch.

The SPHEREx bus will be based on the Ball Configurable Platform (BCP) spacecraft. Ball’s platform has been designed for flexible, cost-effective applications. It will leverage a common spacecraft bus and standard payload interfaces to reduce cost, streamline payload accommodation and minimize delivery time. 

With PDR complete, the SPHEREx project will enter critical design review to complete the Key Decision Point C process in coordination with NASA, prior to beginning the implementation phase.

"Ball has a long heritage of delivering new and innovative solutions for tomorrow's science questions, partnering with our customers and the science community to provide science at any scale," Lystrup added.

About Ball Corporation

Ball Corporation (NYSE: BLL) supplies innovative, sustainable aluminum packaging solutions for beverage, personal care and household products customers, as well as aerospace and other technologies and services primarily for the U.S. government. Ball Corporation and its subsidiaries employ more than 18,300 people worldwide and reported 2019 net sales of $11.5 billion.

//
Air Force, DIU Plan 2021 Rollout for Immersive Aircraft Training System
Published on
Air Force, DIU Plan 2021 Rollout for Immersive Aircraft Training System

The U.S. Air Force plans to roll out an artificial intelligence-driven virtual training system for remote pilot exercises in 2021, DoD News reported Tuesday.

The Joint Immersive Training System will augment and integrate virtual reality, AI, machine learning and commercial off-the-shelf equipment to support training activities for fixed-wing aircraft, remotely pilot aircraft and helicopters. 

Lt. Col. Eric Frahm, program manager for the Defense Innovation Unit (DIU), said the Department of Defense (DoD) component is looking to deploy 50 JTS devices to Vance Air Force Base in Oklahoma and Randolph AFB in Texas for T-38 and T-6 trainer aircraft.

"Our team will collect detailed feedback from everyday instructors and students to understand how the system performs for them," he said. “In the end, we want a system that will be flexible, adaptable, scalable and speeds the rate of competency attainment within our pilot force."

The Air Force and DIU partnered with Google to provide a cloud platform for hosting JTS immersive training devices and storing performance data. CAE, Discovery Machine and Vertex will also work with USAF and DIU to develop JTS.

//
House Passes Reps. Will Hurd, Robin Kelly’s National AI Strategy
Published on
House Passes Reps. Will Hurd, Robin Kelly’s National AI Strategy

The U.S. House of Representatives has passed Reps. Will Hurd (R-Texas), two-time Wash100 Award recipient, and Robin Kelly’s (D-Ill.) legislation to pursue a national artificial intelligence (AI) strategy, FedScoop reported on Wednesday. 

“With the passage of H. Res. 1250 the House of Representatives has said America will take advantage of technology before it takes advantage of us by putting our nation on the path to retain an edge in AI and secure the next 70 years of American-led international prosperity and security,” said Hurd.

The bipartisan strategy was developed with the input of stakeholders and the Bipartisan Policy Center (BPC) to ensure that the nation retains global leadership in responsible AI innovation. The Hurd-Kelly legislation identifies four pillars to guide the strategy: Workforce Development, National Security, Research and Development and Ethical Use.    

“This resolution clearly articulates U.S. priorities for a U.S. National Strategy for Artificial Intelligence,” said Kelly. “If we are to meet the challenges of tomorrow, the U.S. must begin investing now in our workforce, education, research and development, and national security to ensure that this technology will positively benefit society.”

Since 2018, Hurd and Kelly have worked together to create the national AI strategy. With the recent passing of the resolution, it will progress the nation’s  ability to meet the challenges of the digital future. 

“A national strategy is imperative to sustaining U.S. leadership in artificial intelligence and ensuring that it strengthens our economy and bolsters national security. We are hopeful this resolution will lead to a coordinated federal approach on the best way to develop and use this evolving technology," said Jason Grumet, president and founder of the Bipartisan Policy Center.

1 … 1,286 1,287 1,288 1,289 1,290 … 2,672