The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency plans to establish a consortium of government and industry space experts that will create technical and safety standards for on-orbit servicing operations of commercial satellites.

DARPA said Tuesday the Consortium for Execution of Rendezvous and Servicing Operations will research, develop and publish non-binding, consensus-derived technical and safety standards for on-orbit servicing activities.

“We’re inviting the space community to join us in creating a permanent, self-sustaining ‘one-stop shop’ where industry can collaborate and engage with the U.S. Government about on-orbit servicing, as well as drive the creation of the standards that future servicing providers will follow,” said Todd Master, a DARPA program manager.

Master added the standards will combine data, expertise and experience from government and industry as well as protect commercial partners’ financial and strategic interests.

DARPA is also scheduled to hold a Proposers Day on Dec. 16 at the agency’s Arlington, Virginia-based offices to explain the program to interested parties.

An administrative organization will execute CONFERS and oversee consortium organization, standards development and technical leadership and management, DARPA added.

The agency plans to turn over CONFERS leadership and funding to industry before fiscal year 2021.

The U.S. Army has started to use new software designed to evaluate mobile applications in an effort to ensure that such apps meet government security standards and other requirements, the Army reported Friday.

“With this new vetting software, we can expedite getting proponent-approved and cyber-secure mobile apps to the force,” said Lt. Col. Joe Harris, Army Training and Doctrine Command Capability Manager-Mobile.

Mike Casey writes the service branch’s TCM-Mobile unit has adopted the software to screen approximately 80 mobile apps intended for gunnery practice and infantry training, among other topics.

Harris said TCM-Mobile aims to assess, approve and deploy at least 200 mobile apps to soldiers by the end of 2017.

The Federal Aviation Administration has found that California had the most number of reported unauthorized unmanned aircraft systems incidents among U.S. states from October 2015 to September 2016.

California accounted for 21 percent out of approximately 1,744 disclosed UAS encounters nationwide, according to a California State Threat Assessment Center joint public safety bulletin posted Nov. 4.

The bulletin stated the incidents occurred in 64 California cities and most encounters were reported in Los Angeles, Santa Ana and San Diego.

Illegal UAS flights in restricted areas affected emergency, firefighting and commercial air operations through the past year, STAC said.

FAA recorded multiple incidents wherein passenger jets at Los Angeles International Airport flew within 200 feet of drones before landing.

Florida, New York, New Jersey, Washington, Arizona, Illinois, North Carolina, Virginia and Texas also topped FAA’s list of most unauthorized UAS encounters by state.

The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency will hold a Proposers Day on Dec. 7 via webcast to provide information on a program that seeks to explore mathematical methods for use in the development of human-machine teaming systems in support of the military’s national security missions.

DARPA said Monday the Agile Teams program aims to identify, test and demonstrate predictive algorithms, architectures and abstractions for the design of hybrid teams of humans and intelligent-machine platforms that will be evaluated through the use of experimental testbeds.

“A-Teams is focused not on developing new AI technologies per se, but on developing a framework for optimizing the use of smart machines in various roles together with humans to ensure optimal human-machine teamwork for solving dynamic problems,” said John Paschkewitz, a program manager at DARPA.

DARPA expects to apply results from the A-Teams program to software engineering, drug discovery, intelligence forecasting, logistics planning and other non-combat applications.

The agency also plans to apply outputs from the program in the development of human-machine collaboration platforms through other DARPA initiatives, such as the Collaborative Operations in Denied Environment and Resilient Synchronized Planning and Assessment for the Contested Environment programs.

The U.S. Marine Corps has developed a new media system to help the service branch broadcast a story that currently occurs anywhere around the world and replace the former Public Affairs News Link System.

The Marine Corps said Sept. 19 the Public Affairs Live Media Engagement System offers a capacity to stream live video, conduct media interviews and upload content online using a setup composed of a wireless microphone, video camcorder, video encoder and ground satellite terminal.

PALMES includes a satellite that weighs approximately 45 pounds to offer a capacity for assembly, usage and disassembly in less than 10 minutes as the new internet connection feature provides users with access to the web for content upload.

“PALMES fits in a backpack, and connects to the internet via satellite,” said Kenneth Kunze, Marine Corps Systems Command project officer.

“Running off longer lasting batteries, which will last up to six hours, PA Marines can interview and upload media coverage without being tied to one location.”