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DHS S&T Seeks Public Input on Using Drones for Emergency Response, Law Enforcement
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DHS S&T Seeks Public Input on Using Drones for Emergency Response, Law Enforcement

The Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) Science and Technology Directorate (S&T) is looking for public feedback on the use of unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) for emergency response applications.

DHS S&T said in a Federal Register notice posted Tuesday that it seeks to collect information on the public’s perception of agencies using unmanned platforms for law enforcement as well as firefighting operations and emergency medical missions.

Respondents must report their knowledge of UAS technologies as well as their “general attitudes” over their use for government applications including search-and-rescue missions.

The directorate also requires respondents to “evaluate the effectiveness of different test messages” that DHS issued to disseminate information on drone use to the public.

According to the notice, first responders have used UAS platforms to locate missing individuals, conduct relief operations, identify high-risk areas in emergency events and prevent exposure of law enforcement personnel in shooting events.

DHS S&T will accept comments through July 9.

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DARPA Pursues Program for Lower-Profile Long-Range Communications System
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DARPA Pursues Program for Lower-Profile Long-Range Communications System

The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) has launched an effort to address the need for long-range communication antennas that emit lower radio frequency signatures compared to the standard larger ones.

DARPA said Tuesday that it wants to use multiple small or mosaic antennas for reduced jamming risks and significant weight, power and cost requirements under the Resilient Networked Distributed Mosaic Communications program.

The RN DMC program aims to replace large, high-power communications systems with tiles of mosaic transceivers, possibly worth $1K per piece, that entail lower SWaP-C requirements. The tiles would spread transmission power among themselves and process signals to generate gain.

“This is a fundamentally different way to think about long-range tactical communications that supports DARPA’s Mosaic Warfare concept of busting monolithic systems and distributing capability for greater resilience at less expense,” said Paul Zablocky, program manager at DARPA’s Strategic Technology Office.

DARPA plans to host a virtual proposer's day for the program on June 29. The program would define the technology's operational architecture, validate experimental performance and design the sought system.

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NSF Study Explores Learning Preferences of Instructors, Students
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NSF Study Explores Learning Preferences of Instructors, Students

The National Science Foundation (NSF) conducted a research that studied the preferences of university students and instructors in various class formats. The instructors preferred handling physical classes while the 18 students involved in the research were split between remote learning and attending classes in person, NSF said Wednesday.

Amid their preferences, the instructors noted that most classes prefer the usage of telepresence robots as distance learning tools. The students added the robots have the capacity to make them expressive and self-aware in classes.

"Research experience for undergraduates has become a big challenge during the ongoing pandemic, and telepresence robots can help not only in education but also in possibilities for undergraduates to hone their research skills through remote participation," said Prabhakaran Balakrishnan, program director at NSF's Division of Information and Intelligent Systems.

A separate study by Oregon State University suggested that telepresence robots allow students to be more engaged with their classes.

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Navy Rolls Out New Talent Management System
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Navy Rolls Out New Talent Management System

The U.S. Navy has launched a new tool designed to facilitate the flow and access of workforce information, such as those about sailors and work opportunities across the service branch, Federal News Network reported Wednesday.

The service branch activated the MyNavy Assignment system in December as a replacement to the Career Management System-Interactive Detailing. The new system displays sailor information that isn't usually present in the general military service records. Sailors may input additional information that officers may use to inform job matching.

The system also includes a catalog of work opportunities that would open within a year, allowing sailors to plan and seek new work in the service. The Navy rolled out the new system in a move to align workforce management processes with the modern era.

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U.S. Navy to Field Reserve Personnel for Public Shipyard Maintenance
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U.S. Navy to Field Reserve Personnel for Public Shipyard Maintenance

The U.S. Navy will tap 1,629 reserve personnel to help the service branch maintain submarines and aircraft carriers at four public shipyards in efforts to lower maintenance backlog. The reservists will be deployed to their respective shipyards in batches by July and will carry out mobilization orders for one year as part of the Surge Maintenance program, the Navy said Wednesday.

The selected personnel are required to wear protective gear, follow the Department of Defense's travel protocols and undergo temperature checks prior to their entrance to the shipyard. Norfolk Naval Shipyard will receive 486 reservists, while Portsmouth Naval Shipyard expects 267 personnel.

Pearl Harbor Naval Shipyard will take in 200 personnel and Puget Sound Naval Shipyard and Intermediate Maintenance Facility will receive 676 personnel. The SurgeMain program is established to support the Navy's civilian shipyard workforce when needed. The effort has listed 245 reserve officers and 2,200 reserve sailors from 75 various units.

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USDA’s Ted Kaouk to Lead Federal Chief Data Officers Council
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USDA’s Ted Kaouk to Lead Federal Chief Data Officers Council

Ted Kaouk, chief data officer at the Department of Agriculture, has been appointed to lead the recently established federal CDO council, Nextgov reported Wednesday.

The council should consist of CDOs representing each federal agency that employs such an officer, and will work to guide the government's use of data. The federal government established the CDO Council in alignment with the Foundations for Evidence-Based Policymaking Act that aims to help the government make better decisions with data.

Kaouk contributed four years of military service to the U.S. Navy as a surface warfare officer, a role through which he oversaw communications systems, computer networks and damage control activities aboard a ship. He joined USDA in 2011 to serve in the department's chief information office where he eventually landed the role of CDO.

“His cross-agency leadership with recent efforts to share resources across agencies demonstrated his commitment to the objectives of the CDO Council," said Suzette Kent, the federal chief information officer and a 2020 Wash100 Award recipient.

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Army, Carnegie Mellon Continue AI Teaming Efforts; Gen. John Murray Quoted
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Army, Carnegie Mellon Continue AI Teaming Efforts; Gen. John Murray Quoted

The U.S. Army is working with Carnegie Mellon University (CMU) for a research effort focused on implementing teaming operations between unmanned technologies in the battlefield, C4ISRnet reported Wednesday.

Gen. John Murray, commander of the Army Futures Command and former two-time Wash100 Award recipient, said at an Association of the U.S. Army webinar that the service branch secured new funding and is continuing projects under its task force for artificial intelligence programs.

The partnership, launched in 2018, seeks to develop unmanned-unmanned teaming capabilities for air and ground platforms. Another effort under the partnership revolves around developing algorithms for DevSecOps applications. Murray noted that the Army is working to train its AI systems to enact autonomous functionalities such as recognizing targets and identifying various types of combat vehicles.

“We’re going to have to work on how do we defend our algorithms and really, how do we defend our training data that we’re using for our algorithms," he added.

Murray’s comments come after the Army and CMU announced plans to launch a master’s program in data science later this year.

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Thomas Zurbuchen: NASA Postponing Launch of James Webb Space Telescope
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Thomas Zurbuchen: NASA Postponing Launch of James Webb Space Telescope

Thomas Zurbuchen, associate administrator for science at NASA, has said the agency is delaying the launch of its James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) initially slated for March 2021, Space News reported Wednesday.

Zurbuchen told attendees at an online meeting hosted by the National Academies’ Space Studies Board that the launch is “not in the cards right now” following operational delays due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

NASA and Northrop Grumman, the prime contractor for the James Webb effort, began closing their facilities in March in response to the pandemic. NASA previously announced a test for the telescope’s deployable tower assembly and is slated to conduct another assessment in July.

Zurbuchen noted that NASA needs to “calibrate that through a schedule" and that he is “very optimistic” of launch activities taking place as planned.

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ViON Corporation Named to the 2020 Tech Elite 250; Tom Frana Quoted
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ViON Corporation Named to the 2020 Tech Elite 250; Tom Frana Quoted

ViON Corporation has been named to CRN’s 2020 Tech Elite 250 list, acknowledging the top tier of North American IT solution providers that have earned the highest number of advanced technical certifications from leading technology suppliers, ViON reported on Thursday. 

“Solution providers that continue to pursue vendor certifications and extend their skill sets across various technologies and IT practices are proving their commitment to delivering the greatest business value to their customers through an incomparable level of service,” said Bob Skelley, CEO of The Channel Company. “Our CRN Tech Elite 250 list recognizes leading solution providers with expansive technical knowledge and esteemed certifications.”

ViON secured the recognition through earning multiple IT certifications, specializations and partner program designations within the industry. CRN has identified ViON for the company’s customer-centric technical certifications in the North American IT channel. The company earned the designations, which has enabled ViON to deliver exclusive products, services and customer support. 

ViON has developed a deep technical expertise with multi-cloud orchestration, cloud deployment, cloud managed services, SPARC technology modernization, artificial intelligence, solutions design, modernization and deployment.

The company has leveraged leading technology manufacturers, including Hitachi, Dell Technologies, Nutanix, Oracle, IBM, HPE, Cohesity, SuperMicro and Virtana. In addition, ViON has received a range of gold and titanium level certifications.

“The integrity of our work is founded on the ever-growing expertise of our team and the commitment they bring to meeting customer needs, no matter the circumstances,” explained Tom Frana, chairman and CEO of ViON Corporation as well as a two-time Wash100 Award winner. “We take great care in maintaining the latest industry certifications and trainings to ensure we are ready to provide support and guidance to our customers despite constant market changes.”

About ViON Corporation

ViON Corporation is a cloud service provider with over 40 years’ experience designing and delivering enterprise data center solutions for government agencies and commercial businesses. The company provides a large portfolio of IT as-a-Service, including infrastructure, multi-cloud and artificial intelligence (AI) solutions. Focused on supporting the customer’s IT modernization requirements, ViON’s Enterprise Cloud is changing cloud management for the market, providing a streamlined platform to audit and control technology in an evolving multi-cloud world. 

The ViON Marketplace™ allows customers to research, compare, procure and manage a full range of Everything as-a-Service solutions from leading manufacturers via a single portal. ViON delivers an outstanding customer experience at every step with professional and managed services, backed by highly-trained, cleared resources. A veteran-owned company based in Herndon, Virginia, the company has field offices throughout the U.S.

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TechnoMile Receives Microsoft Gold Status; Matt Pinkston Quoted
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TechnoMile Receives Microsoft Gold Status; Matt Pinkston Quoted

TechnoMile has received Gold Partner status with Microsoft, marking the company a leader and developer in the field, TechnoMile reported on Thursday. The status has proven the company’s ability to enable organizations to adopt Microsoft products as part of their business strategy.

"While everyone globally may be feeling the effects of the COVID-19 situation, product companies that take this opportunity to push innovation will come out the other side on top," said Matt Pinkston, SVP Product Development at Technomile. 

TechnoMile adds to that by making the technologies work in context of your business for government contractors, architecture engineering and construction, and aerospace and defense enterprises. TechnoMile's latest additions to their Microsoft based solutions include DCS, NuAxis, Amentum, Colsa, and VSE. 

Microsoft Azure has supported public sector cloud strategy, with a presence in 54 global regions. Azure also supports many technologies out of the box. "We are releasing new products and updates to our existing suite of products so that our clients can be more productive and successful as they navigate these challenging times," added Pinkston.  

TechnoMile’s status adds to the company’s recognition in the technology field. In June 2019, TechnoMile was awarded Technology Partner Status by Amazon Web Services (AWS), enabling the technology firm to utilize the AWS platform to offer its software and cloud products. 

By partnering with AWS, TechnoMile will be able to offer adaptable, customized platforms to its clients and scale full application stacks into AWS, TechnoMile said June 12. “This achievement is a reflection of TechnoMile's dedication to our clients and our belief in utilizing the best in-class platforms and services, that which AWS provides,” said Ashish Khot, CEO of TechnoMile.

About TechnoMile

TechnoMile provides best-in-class technology and business process consulting services, leveraging a wide range of innovative technologies to deliver industry-specific solutions that enhance the customer experience. Through our "team solution" approach, we conduct strategic assessments, drive organizational alignment and provide solutions to meet our clients' specific customer and business needs.

Tailored to meet each business' unique challenges, our solutions are configured to foster deeper participant engagement and provide a greater return on your technology investment. They also empower your business to focus on building relationships and reaching future objectives faster.

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