The Army is testing two FCS spin-out types of unattended ground sensors to conduct autonomous area surveillance, reports Army Times.
# END
Thursday, September 3, 2009
Army Tests Helmet Sensors, Hopes to Decrease Brain Injuries
For the past year, almost 7,000 sensors mounted on helmets in Iraq and Afghanistan have been collecting data on blast trauma from improvised explosive devices.
The sensors were fielded by the Program Executive Office Soldier so that the Army could gather critical information needed to characterize exposures to impact trauma and blast incidents. The information gathered has the potential to save troops from battlefield head injuries by improving prevention and mitigation strategies, PEO Soldier officials said.
The small, lightweight sensors collected data from March 2008 to March 2009. They recorded concussive forces, to include helmet acceleration and blast pressure. They were fielded in two variants, to address questions about the effect of the sensor's location on its accuracy and on its ease of access for data downloads.
Soldiers of the 1st Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division deployed to Iraq with the internal sensor, placed beneath the pad in the crown of the Advanced Combat Helmet.
Soldiers of the 4th BCT, 101st Airborne Division took the external sensor into Afghanistan. The external sensor was contained in a rugged plastic housing on the back of the ACH.
The internal sensor weighs 1.25 ounces, while the external sensor weighs 6.25 ounces. Each sensor can record and store hundreds of events - more than 600 for the internal variant and more than 500 in the external sensor.
The information stored in the sensor is downloaded onto a computer during monthly collection cycles or when a Soldier is involved in an incident or attack event. Ultimately the information is uploaded into an Army-managed database, while ensuring each Soldiers' privacy, PEO-Soldier officials said.
"I salute the Soldiers of the 1-4th and 4-101st. We could not have accomplished this major initiative without them," said Brig. Gen. Peter N. Fuller, Program Executive Officer Soldier. Fuller's organization, PEO Soldier, is responsible for developing, acquiring, and fielding virtually everything that Soldiers wear or carry.
Even as the Army is compiling the data gathered by the current sensors, it is preparing to send an even more sophisticated Generation II sensor into theater to continue gathering information on impact trauma and blast events.
"We want to give the helmet sensor an even more robust capability," said Maj. Christopher Metz, assistant product manager, Soldier Protective Equipment within PEO Soldier.
PEO Soldier is always looking for the next level of excellence in Soldier gear, he said, and the data captured by the sensors will help to better define the threat for developers of Soldier protective equipment. Using the sensor data, the Army is developing and validating a detailed model of how the helmets and helmet pads distribute and cushion external pressures on the helmet.
The Generation II sensors have enhancements to their data-collection, storage, and power- management capabilities. The improved sensor adds a wireless capability so that data can be downloaded without plugging the sensor into a USB port, as is the case now. Information on the sensor's power consumption, remaining memory, and overall functionality will also be retrieved wirelessly.
In addition, the Generation II sensors are smaller in size, weigh less, and have a longer rechargeable battery life (12 months versus six months now). The Generation II sensor will still have a USB capability for downloads and recharging.
Metz, who is responsible for combat helmet programs, said the Army plans to procure enough Generation II helmet sensors, beginning in fiscal year 2010, to equip the equivalent of six brigade combat teams - three to support Operation Iraqi Freedom and three to support Operation Enduring Freedom in Afghanistan.
"This parallel effort is unprecedented in its purpose and scope," said Brig. Gen. Fuller.
"Never before has the Army undertaken a large-scale initiative such as this to gather data on potential injuries from Soldiers actually in theater," Fuller said. "The sensors promise to provide the medical community and our equipment developers with critically important information on what constitutes a blast [exposure] causing potentially serious injury to our servicemembers."
The data collected in the sensors will help determine what constitutes an injury-causing impact to the Soldier and will give the Army insights into future helmet design, said Lt. Col. Jon Rickey, product manager, Soldier Protective Equipment at PEO Soldier. "The sensors provide the Army with the ability to capture blast pressure data in order to better understand the forces acting on the helmet and the forces translated to the Soldier's head," Rickey said.
Mike Leggieri, director of the Department of Defense Blast Injury Research Program Coordinating Office at Fort Detrick, Md., said he expects the sensor data, when properly interpreted, to provide statistics on the nature, intensity, and frequency of "head traumatic loading," or the impact a Soldier's head absorbs
"We expect the helmet sensor data to provide a much-needed understanding of the nature and frequency of head trauma loads facing our deployed warfighters," Leggieri said.
Traumatic brain injury occurs when a sudden physical impact causes damage. The damage can be local, confined to one area of the brain, or diffuse, affecting multiple areas.
The quantitative relationship between the physical impact on the head, for instance the head's acceleration, and any actual brain injury "is the subject of considerable active research," Leggieri said. "As that relationship becomes defined, these data will help guide potential TBI prevention or treatment strategies."
Because the ACH is subjected to a wide range of motion on the battlefield, the sensor data must be carefully sorted and calibrated now that the first generation of sensors has been collected from the Soldiers who wore them, officials said.
Within the next six months, the officials expect to have completed the first phase of their data analysis. Extensive laboratory tests have been conducted to measure a wide range of head acceleration conditions, from blasts to impacts to falls. These tests will help the Army differentiate between impacts that resulted from the helmet simply being dropped, bumped or thrown, and blast-related impacts.
The end result of this analysis will be that the Army will have defined a more exact line between a non-blast event and a blast event. To date, more than 150,000 sensor recordings have been downloaded and entered into the test database. "Certain, subtle differences have been identified that can distinguish the two conditions," Leggieri said.
The data obtained from the helmet sensors will have value long after it is collected in theater, Fuller said. Ultimately, the data gathered on impacts to the helmet may give TBI researchers a clearer picture of what levels and kinds of head trauma should be studied, to gain information with the greatest relevance to service members on the battlefield.
"We recognize that traumatic brain injury is a major concern on the modern battlefield, and we can ensure our servicemembers that the Army is doing everything in its power to prevent and alleviate TBI," Fuller said.
Debi Dawson (ANS)
# END
The sensors were fielded by the Program Executive Office Soldier so that the Army could gather critical information needed to characterize exposures to impact trauma and blast incidents. The information gathered has the potential to save troops from battlefield head injuries by improving prevention and mitigation strategies, PEO Soldier officials said.
The small, lightweight sensors collected data from March 2008 to March 2009. They recorded concussive forces, to include helmet acceleration and blast pressure. They were fielded in two variants, to address questions about the effect of the sensor's location on its accuracy and on its ease of access for data downloads.
Soldiers of the 1st Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division deployed to Iraq with the internal sensor, placed beneath the pad in the crown of the Advanced Combat Helmet.
Soldiers of the 4th BCT, 101st Airborne Division took the external sensor into Afghanistan. The external sensor was contained in a rugged plastic housing on the back of the ACH.
The internal sensor weighs 1.25 ounces, while the external sensor weighs 6.25 ounces. Each sensor can record and store hundreds of events - more than 600 for the internal variant and more than 500 in the external sensor.
The information stored in the sensor is downloaded onto a computer during monthly collection cycles or when a Soldier is involved in an incident or attack event. Ultimately the information is uploaded into an Army-managed database, while ensuring each Soldiers' privacy, PEO-Soldier officials said.
"I salute the Soldiers of the 1-4th and 4-101st. We could not have accomplished this major initiative without them," said Brig. Gen. Peter N. Fuller, Program Executive Officer Soldier. Fuller's organization, PEO Soldier, is responsible for developing, acquiring, and fielding virtually everything that Soldiers wear or carry.
Even as the Army is compiling the data gathered by the current sensors, it is preparing to send an even more sophisticated Generation II sensor into theater to continue gathering information on impact trauma and blast events.
"We want to give the helmet sensor an even more robust capability," said Maj. Christopher Metz, assistant product manager, Soldier Protective Equipment within PEO Soldier.
PEO Soldier is always looking for the next level of excellence in Soldier gear, he said, and the data captured by the sensors will help to better define the threat for developers of Soldier protective equipment. Using the sensor data, the Army is developing and validating a detailed model of how the helmets and helmet pads distribute and cushion external pressures on the helmet.
The Generation II sensors have enhancements to their data-collection, storage, and power- management capabilities. The improved sensor adds a wireless capability so that data can be downloaded without plugging the sensor into a USB port, as is the case now. Information on the sensor's power consumption, remaining memory, and overall functionality will also be retrieved wirelessly.
In addition, the Generation II sensors are smaller in size, weigh less, and have a longer rechargeable battery life (12 months versus six months now). The Generation II sensor will still have a USB capability for downloads and recharging.
Metz, who is responsible for combat helmet programs, said the Army plans to procure enough Generation II helmet sensors, beginning in fiscal year 2010, to equip the equivalent of six brigade combat teams - three to support Operation Iraqi Freedom and three to support Operation Enduring Freedom in Afghanistan.
"This parallel effort is unprecedented in its purpose and scope," said Brig. Gen. Fuller.
"Never before has the Army undertaken a large-scale initiative such as this to gather data on potential injuries from Soldiers actually in theater," Fuller said. "The sensors promise to provide the medical community and our equipment developers with critically important information on what constitutes a blast [exposure] causing potentially serious injury to our servicemembers."
The data collected in the sensors will help determine what constitutes an injury-causing impact to the Soldier and will give the Army insights into future helmet design, said Lt. Col. Jon Rickey, product manager, Soldier Protective Equipment at PEO Soldier. "The sensors provide the Army with the ability to capture blast pressure data in order to better understand the forces acting on the helmet and the forces translated to the Soldier's head," Rickey said.
Mike Leggieri, director of the Department of Defense Blast Injury Research Program Coordinating Office at Fort Detrick, Md., said he expects the sensor data, when properly interpreted, to provide statistics on the nature, intensity, and frequency of "head traumatic loading," or the impact a Soldier's head absorbs
"We expect the helmet sensor data to provide a much-needed understanding of the nature and frequency of head trauma loads facing our deployed warfighters," Leggieri said.
Traumatic brain injury occurs when a sudden physical impact causes damage. The damage can be local, confined to one area of the brain, or diffuse, affecting multiple areas.
The quantitative relationship between the physical impact on the head, for instance the head's acceleration, and any actual brain injury "is the subject of considerable active research," Leggieri said. "As that relationship becomes defined, these data will help guide potential TBI prevention or treatment strategies."
Because the ACH is subjected to a wide range of motion on the battlefield, the sensor data must be carefully sorted and calibrated now that the first generation of sensors has been collected from the Soldiers who wore them, officials said.
Within the next six months, the officials expect to have completed the first phase of their data analysis. Extensive laboratory tests have been conducted to measure a wide range of head acceleration conditions, from blasts to impacts to falls. These tests will help the Army differentiate between impacts that resulted from the helmet simply being dropped, bumped or thrown, and blast-related impacts.
The end result of this analysis will be that the Army will have defined a more exact line between a non-blast event and a blast event. To date, more than 150,000 sensor recordings have been downloaded and entered into the test database. "Certain, subtle differences have been identified that can distinguish the two conditions," Leggieri said.
The data obtained from the helmet sensors will have value long after it is collected in theater, Fuller said. Ultimately, the data gathered on impacts to the helmet may give TBI researchers a clearer picture of what levels and kinds of head trauma should be studied, to gain information with the greatest relevance to service members on the battlefield.
"We recognize that traumatic brain injury is a major concern on the modern battlefield, and we can ensure our servicemembers that the Army is doing everything in its power to prevent and alleviate TBI," Fuller said.
Debi Dawson (ANS)
# END
Tuesday, September 1, 2009
Gates: "Importance of F-35 Cannot Be Overstated"
Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates visited the Lockheed Martin's F-35 Lightning II Joint Strike Fighter factory at Forth Worth (Texas) Aug. 31, assessing progress on what he called "the heart of the future of our tactical combat aviation."
Secretary Gates walked through the mile-long production facility, getting briefed at stops along the way and chatting with workers on the production line.
The Lockheed-Martin facility has been used since 1942 to build military aircraft. Today, the front fuselage and wings of the latest-generation combat aircraft are built here. Then, they're incorporated, along with the center and aft fuselage pieces built by other contractors, into the final product.
"The importance of this aircraft cannot be overstated," Secretary Gates told reporters, holding up the F-35 as an example of new, innovative and more cost-effective ways to meet the country's current and future defense needs.
The F-35 is the first aircraft to be developed within the Defense Department to meet the needs of three services, with three variants being developed simultaneously. This brings cost savings and economies of scale not possible with separate aircraft, because the F-35s will share common components and maintenance requirements, Gates noted.
"We cannot afford as a nation not to have this airplane," he said, noting that every dollar saved in acquisition frees up a dollar to support other critical wartime requirements.
The Air Force will receive the F-35's "A" variant, which will provide conventional takeoff and landing capabilities. The Marine Corps is slated to receive the "B" variant that has a vertical-lift capability. The Navy will receive the "C" variant, designed for carrier launches.
The different F-35 variants will replace the legacy F-16 Fighting Falcon for the Air Force and the F/A-18 Hornet and AV-8 Harrier II for the Navy and Marine Corps.
Secretary Gates said he was impressed by the investments made in the production line, with robotics and automation bringing speed and precision to the operation. Lockheed-Martin poured $1 billion into the facility to prepare it for F-35 production, officials said, and is adding another 250,000 feet of floor space to the more than 1 million square feet currently used.
But even more impressive, Secretary Gates said, is the "dedication and clear commitment of the men and women ... working on this airplane. They're clearly excited about it. I'm excited about it."
Secretary Gates said he's particularly excited that the F-35 appears to be on schedule to equip the first training squadron at Eglin Air Force Base, Fla., by 2011, and enable the Marine Corps to reach initial operational capability by 2012.
"So I am heartened by what I've seen here this morning," he said, "but especially by the commitment of the people putting this airplane together."
Marine Maj. Joseph Bachmann, an F-35 test pilot, shares Secretary Gates' enthusiasm about the aircraft he said will deliver a "quantum leap" in new capability.
"It's important for him to see that this is a beautiful machine," Major Bachmann said of Secretary Gates' visit. "But I'd also like him to see that we are being good stewards with the taxpayers' money, and working together to deliver on time."
The Joint Strike Fighter will replace not only legacy U.S. aircraft, but also numerous aircraft for the international partners participating in the program.
During today's tour, Secretary Gates walked beneath flags draped over the immaculate factory floor that reflect the broad partnership behind the F-35 program. Along with the Air Force, Navy and Marine Corps flags hung flags of the United States, United Kingdom, Italy, the Netherlands, Turkey, Canada, Denmark, Norway and Australia.
A huge banner at the entranceway to the plant captured the team spirit: "F-35 JSF: Where Our Future Comes Together."
Secretary Gates credited that teamwork with overcoming challenges and moving forward with the program. The goal, he said is to complete the development program in the next few years, then move into full production.
At that point, the facility will ramp up from its current production of one aircraft per month to about one per day.
"We are in this position where we can deliver as promised," said Jon Beesley, the chief F-35 test pilot. "We're developing things people have never done before and learning a lot of things along the way."
Mike Bateman, an electrical installer who's worked with the F-35 program for the past five years, said he's proud of the way management listens to workers who are always trying to figure out ways to make the aircraft better and produce it faster.
Secretary Gates' visit "is pretty awesome," Mr. Bateman said. "He's getting a chance to see the quality here, and the fact that we are going to make these schedules and under budget."
Steve Nelson, a Lockheed-Martin manager who supervises the forward fuselage operation, said he hoped Secretary Gates got a sense during his visit about what makes the F-35 such a distinctive program.
"I want him to take away how much the engineering has progressed, and how people are working together to get the fifth-generation aircraft out the door and to our country," he said.
Donna Miles (AFNS)
# END
Secretary Gates walked through the mile-long production facility, getting briefed at stops along the way and chatting with workers on the production line.
The Lockheed-Martin facility has been used since 1942 to build military aircraft. Today, the front fuselage and wings of the latest-generation combat aircraft are built here. Then, they're incorporated, along with the center and aft fuselage pieces built by other contractors, into the final product.
"The importance of this aircraft cannot be overstated," Secretary Gates told reporters, holding up the F-35 as an example of new, innovative and more cost-effective ways to meet the country's current and future defense needs.
The F-35 is the first aircraft to be developed within the Defense Department to meet the needs of three services, with three variants being developed simultaneously. This brings cost savings and economies of scale not possible with separate aircraft, because the F-35s will share common components and maintenance requirements, Gates noted.
"We cannot afford as a nation not to have this airplane," he said, noting that every dollar saved in acquisition frees up a dollar to support other critical wartime requirements.
The Air Force will receive the F-35's "A" variant, which will provide conventional takeoff and landing capabilities. The Marine Corps is slated to receive the "B" variant that has a vertical-lift capability. The Navy will receive the "C" variant, designed for carrier launches.
The different F-35 variants will replace the legacy F-16 Fighting Falcon for the Air Force and the F/A-18 Hornet and AV-8 Harrier II for the Navy and Marine Corps.
Secretary Gates said he was impressed by the investments made in the production line, with robotics and automation bringing speed and precision to the operation. Lockheed-Martin poured $1 billion into the facility to prepare it for F-35 production, officials said, and is adding another 250,000 feet of floor space to the more than 1 million square feet currently used.
But even more impressive, Secretary Gates said, is the "dedication and clear commitment of the men and women ... working on this airplane. They're clearly excited about it. I'm excited about it."
Secretary Gates said he's particularly excited that the F-35 appears to be on schedule to equip the first training squadron at Eglin Air Force Base, Fla., by 2011, and enable the Marine Corps to reach initial operational capability by 2012.
"So I am heartened by what I've seen here this morning," he said, "but especially by the commitment of the people putting this airplane together."
Marine Maj. Joseph Bachmann, an F-35 test pilot, shares Secretary Gates' enthusiasm about the aircraft he said will deliver a "quantum leap" in new capability.
"It's important for him to see that this is a beautiful machine," Major Bachmann said of Secretary Gates' visit. "But I'd also like him to see that we are being good stewards with the taxpayers' money, and working together to deliver on time."
The Joint Strike Fighter will replace not only legacy U.S. aircraft, but also numerous aircraft for the international partners participating in the program.
During today's tour, Secretary Gates walked beneath flags draped over the immaculate factory floor that reflect the broad partnership behind the F-35 program. Along with the Air Force, Navy and Marine Corps flags hung flags of the United States, United Kingdom, Italy, the Netherlands, Turkey, Canada, Denmark, Norway and Australia.
A huge banner at the entranceway to the plant captured the team spirit: "F-35 JSF: Where Our Future Comes Together."
Secretary Gates credited that teamwork with overcoming challenges and moving forward with the program. The goal, he said is to complete the development program in the next few years, then move into full production.
At that point, the facility will ramp up from its current production of one aircraft per month to about one per day.
"We are in this position where we can deliver as promised," said Jon Beesley, the chief F-35 test pilot. "We're developing things people have never done before and learning a lot of things along the way."
Mike Bateman, an electrical installer who's worked with the F-35 program for the past five years, said he's proud of the way management listens to workers who are always trying to figure out ways to make the aircraft better and produce it faster.
Secretary Gates' visit "is pretty awesome," Mr. Bateman said. "He's getting a chance to see the quality here, and the fact that we are going to make these schedules and under budget."
Steve Nelson, a Lockheed-Martin manager who supervises the forward fuselage operation, said he hoped Secretary Gates got a sense during his visit about what makes the F-35 such a distinctive program.
"I want him to take away how much the engineering has progressed, and how people are working together to get the fifth-generation aircraft out the door and to our country," he said.
Donna Miles (AFNS)
# END
Navy Scientists Make Space Discovery
Scientists from Naval Research Laboratory's Space Science and Remote Sensing Divisions, have generated the first scientific results from the Long Wavelength Demonstrator Array (LWDA).
Researchers from the University of New Mexico (UNM) and the National Radio Astronomy Observatory (NRAO) located in Socorro, N.M., collaborated with the NRL in their work.
The measurements were obtained during field tests and calibration of two prototype antennas for the much larger Long Wavelength Array (LWA), which will eventually consist of nearly 13,000 similar antennas.
Researchers used radio emissions from the approximately 300 year-old Cassiopeia A (Cas A) supernova remnant, one of the brightest astronomical radio sources in the sky, to establish baseline measurements.
NRL scientist and National Research Council (NRC) postdoctoral fellow Dr. Jake Hartman used the LWDA to confirm and build on a previous study by fellow NRL-NRC postdoctoral fellow, Dr. Joseph Helmboldt.
Using NRAO's Very Large Array (VLA) radio telescope, Helmboldt's research showed that the gradually weakening Cassiopeia A supernova remnant displays signs of a "softer" smooth, secular decrease and an apparent shorter term variability at frequencies below 100 MHz.
"Cas A has long been known to be fading, but the slower, seemingly irregular decrease at frequencies lower than 100 MHz has remained controversial," said Dr. Namir Kassim, astronomer and LWA project scientist, NRL. "Dr. Hartman's discovery reaffirms this supposition and provides strong support that more frequent time sampling will be needed to determine whether the shorter term variations contain a non-random component."
Scientifically, these new measurements taken by Hartman are significant because they must be explained by diffusive shock acceleration theory—which helps describe how the blast wave from a relatively recent supernova explosion like Cas A is able to accelerate relativistic particles and generate radio emission. The theory must account both for the relatively smooth, longer-term rate at which the emission is gradually fading, as well as the shorter-term variability that is likely related to the properties of the region into which the SNR is expanding.
"The result is exciting because it represents 'first science', and is increasingly intriguing as it is based on measurements from only two dipole antennas, as compared to the more than 13,000 that will eventually comprise the full LWA," said Dr. Paul Ray, astronomer, NRL. "For a project whose broader goals encompass engaging and training a next generation of young radio scientists we are proud that this first astronomical result emerged from the work of two postdocs, neither of whom were experts in this area of research."
Once completed, the LWA will provide an entirely novel view of the sky in the radio frequency range of 20-80 MHz, currently one of the most poorly explored regions of the electromagnetic spectrum in astronomy. The LWA will be able to make sensitive high-resolution images, scanning the sky rapidly for new and transient sources of radio waves that may represent the explosion of distant massive stars or detect emissions from planets outside of our own solar system and previously unknown objects or phenomena.
"We're now laying the infrastructure for the first LWA antenna station," said Joe Craig, LWA system engineer, UNM. "It's really an exciting period for everyone involved."
LWA will also provide an unparalleled measure of turbulence and waves in the Earth's ionosphere, together with unique diagnostics of phenomena manifested through the Sun-Earth connection also known as "Space Weather."
Hartman's work describing his LWDA-based measurements has been published as an LWA technical memorandum, while Dr. Helmboldt's paper on the secular decrease of Cas A, based on the combined VLA and LWDA data, will appear in the September 2009 issue of the Astronomical Journal. For more on the LWA project see: http://lwa.unm.edu.
# END
Researchers from the University of New Mexico (UNM) and the National Radio Astronomy Observatory (NRAO) located in Socorro, N.M., collaborated with the NRL in their work.
The measurements were obtained during field tests and calibration of two prototype antennas for the much larger Long Wavelength Array (LWA), which will eventually consist of nearly 13,000 similar antennas.
Researchers used radio emissions from the approximately 300 year-old Cassiopeia A (Cas A) supernova remnant, one of the brightest astronomical radio sources in the sky, to establish baseline measurements.
NRL scientist and National Research Council (NRC) postdoctoral fellow Dr. Jake Hartman used the LWDA to confirm and build on a previous study by fellow NRL-NRC postdoctoral fellow, Dr. Joseph Helmboldt.
Using NRAO's Very Large Array (VLA) radio telescope, Helmboldt's research showed that the gradually weakening Cassiopeia A supernova remnant displays signs of a "softer" smooth, secular decrease and an apparent shorter term variability at frequencies below 100 MHz.
"Cas A has long been known to be fading, but the slower, seemingly irregular decrease at frequencies lower than 100 MHz has remained controversial," said Dr. Namir Kassim, astronomer and LWA project scientist, NRL. "Dr. Hartman's discovery reaffirms this supposition and provides strong support that more frequent time sampling will be needed to determine whether the shorter term variations contain a non-random component."
Scientifically, these new measurements taken by Hartman are significant because they must be explained by diffusive shock acceleration theory—which helps describe how the blast wave from a relatively recent supernova explosion like Cas A is able to accelerate relativistic particles and generate radio emission. The theory must account both for the relatively smooth, longer-term rate at which the emission is gradually fading, as well as the shorter-term variability that is likely related to the properties of the region into which the SNR is expanding.
"The result is exciting because it represents 'first science', and is increasingly intriguing as it is based on measurements from only two dipole antennas, as compared to the more than 13,000 that will eventually comprise the full LWA," said Dr. Paul Ray, astronomer, NRL. "For a project whose broader goals encompass engaging and training a next generation of young radio scientists we are proud that this first astronomical result emerged from the work of two postdocs, neither of whom were experts in this area of research."
Once completed, the LWA will provide an entirely novel view of the sky in the radio frequency range of 20-80 MHz, currently one of the most poorly explored regions of the electromagnetic spectrum in astronomy. The LWA will be able to make sensitive high-resolution images, scanning the sky rapidly for new and transient sources of radio waves that may represent the explosion of distant massive stars or detect emissions from planets outside of our own solar system and previously unknown objects or phenomena.
"We're now laying the infrastructure for the first LWA antenna station," said Joe Craig, LWA system engineer, UNM. "It's really an exciting period for everyone involved."
LWA will also provide an unparalleled measure of turbulence and waves in the Earth's ionosphere, together with unique diagnostics of phenomena manifested through the Sun-Earth connection also known as "Space Weather."
Hartman's work describing his LWDA-based measurements has been published as an LWA technical memorandum, while Dr. Helmboldt's paper on the secular decrease of Cas A, based on the combined VLA and LWDA data, will appear in the September 2009 issue of the Astronomical Journal. For more on the LWA project see: http://lwa.unm.edu.
# END
Air Force Research Lab Gets New DESCH Supercomputer
Desch, one of the world's most powerful supercomputers, was dedicated during a ceremony at Wright-Patterson AFB (Ohio) Aug. 31.
The Desch is a custom-designed SGI Altix ICE 8200 supercomputer that has been optimized and will be dedicated exclusively to support real-time translation of synthetic aperture radar data into high-resolution 3-dimensional video images from the Gotcha radar system being developed by Air Force Research Laboratory engineers here.
"The goal is to provide an extremely high-fidelity, all-weather intelligence, reconnaissance and surveillance, or ISR, capability that can observe activity over an entire city," said Dr. Dave Jerome, director of the AFRL's Sensors Directorate at Wright-Patterson.
Built by Silicon Graphics Incorporated, the supercomputer is named after Dayton engineer Joseph Desch, who led a team which built a computing machine during World War II to decipher messages encrypted using the Nazi Enigma code.
In development for several years, the Gotcha radar was first tested in 2006, looking at a 1-kilometer sized city section. The new computing capability will enable conversion of Gotcha's real-time radar data into a 400 megapixel image every second over a circle of about five kilometers, Dr. Jerome said. Gotcha is part of AFRL's portfolio of research efforts to provide enhanced ISR capabilities to future joint warfighters.
Desch is an SGI Altix platform with 2,048 Intel Nehalem processors, 3 terabytes of random access memory, 87 terabytes of fast storage and 16 gigabits-per-second data communication between processors, said Tom Majumder, a Sensor's Directorate engineer. Mr. Majumder and fellow researcher Dr. Mike Minardi work in the Automatic Target Recognition Division developing the Gotcha radar system.
Desch has been benchmarked at 23 trillion floating point operations per second, currently making it number 308 on the official list of the 500 fastest computers in the world, Dr. Minardi said.
The $2.2 million Desch system is paired with a dedicated smaller companion SGI Altix 450 system which uses a shared memory architecture, optimized to speed translation of Desch's high-resolution images into a virtual mosaic that users can manipulate. Doctor Minardi said the smaller system, nicknamed "Bombe" after the World War II decoding machines designed by Joseph Desch, significantly enhances processing efficiency and real-time imagery output.
The system was funded by the DOD High Performance Computing Modernization Program.
The AFRL's Desch supercomputer will be housed alongside the "Eagle," an SGI Altix 3700; the "Falcon," a Hewlett Packard XC Opteron; and the "Hawk," an SGI Altix 4700 in the DOD Supercomputing Resource Center at Wright-Patterson. The computing power of each of those systems is shared virtually among various DOD and other government users for a variety of tasks, ranging from aircraft design and simulation to protecting submarines from underwater explosions.
Derek Kaufman (AFNS)
# END
The Desch is a custom-designed SGI Altix ICE 8200 supercomputer that has been optimized and will be dedicated exclusively to support real-time translation of synthetic aperture radar data into high-resolution 3-dimensional video images from the Gotcha radar system being developed by Air Force Research Laboratory engineers here.
"The goal is to provide an extremely high-fidelity, all-weather intelligence, reconnaissance and surveillance, or ISR, capability that can observe activity over an entire city," said Dr. Dave Jerome, director of the AFRL's Sensors Directorate at Wright-Patterson.
Built by Silicon Graphics Incorporated, the supercomputer is named after Dayton engineer Joseph Desch, who led a team which built a computing machine during World War II to decipher messages encrypted using the Nazi Enigma code.
In development for several years, the Gotcha radar was first tested in 2006, looking at a 1-kilometer sized city section. The new computing capability will enable conversion of Gotcha's real-time radar data into a 400 megapixel image every second over a circle of about five kilometers, Dr. Jerome said. Gotcha is part of AFRL's portfolio of research efforts to provide enhanced ISR capabilities to future joint warfighters.
Desch is an SGI Altix platform with 2,048 Intel Nehalem processors, 3 terabytes of random access memory, 87 terabytes of fast storage and 16 gigabits-per-second data communication between processors, said Tom Majumder, a Sensor's Directorate engineer. Mr. Majumder and fellow researcher Dr. Mike Minardi work in the Automatic Target Recognition Division developing the Gotcha radar system.
Desch has been benchmarked at 23 trillion floating point operations per second, currently making it number 308 on the official list of the 500 fastest computers in the world, Dr. Minardi said.
The $2.2 million Desch system is paired with a dedicated smaller companion SGI Altix 450 system which uses a shared memory architecture, optimized to speed translation of Desch's high-resolution images into a virtual mosaic that users can manipulate. Doctor Minardi said the smaller system, nicknamed "Bombe" after the World War II decoding machines designed by Joseph Desch, significantly enhances processing efficiency and real-time imagery output.
The system was funded by the DOD High Performance Computing Modernization Program.
The AFRL's Desch supercomputer will be housed alongside the "Eagle," an SGI Altix 3700; the "Falcon," a Hewlett Packard XC Opteron; and the "Hawk," an SGI Altix 4700 in the DOD Supercomputing Resource Center at Wright-Patterson. The computing power of each of those systems is shared virtually among various DOD and other government users for a variety of tasks, ranging from aircraft design and simulation to protecting submarines from underwater explosions.
Derek Kaufman (AFNS)
# END
Gates Says May Need More Afghan Forces
Defense Secretary Robert Gates described the military situation in Afghanistan as a "mixed" picture and said Afghan forces may have to be increased beyond the planned level of 230,000 personnel to make headway, reports Bloomberg.
Gates made his comment as General Stanley McChrystal, the commander of U.S. and NATO forces in Afghanistan, yesterday sent his assessment of the mission to General David Petraeus, the commander of U.S. forces in the Middle East and Central Asia, and to the head of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization.
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Gates made his comment as General Stanley McChrystal, the commander of U.S. and NATO forces in Afghanistan, yesterday sent his assessment of the mission to General David Petraeus, the commander of U.S. forces in the Middle East and Central Asia, and to the head of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization.
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US General Calls for Balanced Force Structure & Procurement
Balance is the goal for the Department of Defense as its officials work to develop a strategy relevant to fighting two wars and to providing for future military needs, said the second highest ranking military officer in the U.S. armed forces.
"We need to be able to balance the realities of the war we are fighting and the idea that we have to put together some sort of crystal ball and figure out where we are going," said Marine Corps Gen. James Cartwright, the vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
"Where are we going to adjust our balance? We have two adversaries, two high-end fights. The challenge this time around is are we ready for two fights that have worn on and we are likely to be in for five to 10 more years? A lot of this is about ... is the strategy relevant? Are the tools we are procuring relevant? Is the strategy adaptable?"
Cartwright's comments were made during his presentation at the 12th annual Space and Missile Defense Conference on Aug. 19.
Strategic objectives and potential military threats are being discussed ongoing as part of the Department of Defense's Quadrennial Defense Review. That study now reflects lessons learned during nearly eight years of war.
"If there is anything we've learned while at war it should be that the enemy has a vote in the war and where it is going," Cartwright said. "The other thing we should have learned is that affordability is a big issue.
"At some point, this level of funding is going to have to change. The global financial environment and the pressures felt internally afford how much we have. Somehow we have to balance funding concerns with high-end conflicts and the conflicts we are more likely to be in in the future."
The general said the U.S. must have an enduring policy on high-end offensive and defensive capabilities and a balance between "exquisite and good enough" when deciding whether to invest in one or two high-end weapons or a multiple of more affordable weapons.
Policy must reflect the changing world environment, especially when it comes to nuclear weapons.
"We are in a world where conflict has proliferated all over," Cartwright said. "With our nuclear posture review, the reality is the deterrent strategy of the '50s and its relevance in today's world is very much in question."
Singling out North Korea, Iran, other rogue nations and the emergence of non-nation state actors such as terrorists, Cartwright asked "How relevant is a nuclear weapon as a deterrent to those kinds of challenges? It's time to move away from one-size-fits-all deterrents. We provide an umbrella of safety for our allies. But how relevant is that deterrence with an emerging Iran or North Korea? A nuclear deterrence certainly worked for the past 50 years. But it won't for the next 50 years."
In terms of ballistic missile defense, Cartwright said the emergence of intercontinental ballistic missiles hasn't happened as quickly as expected. He added that the nation's ground-based intercept capability against rogue threats has been successful "thanks to the people in this room," indicating the government-industry partnerships that are part of Team Redstone.
He said the nation must protect the homeland, deployed forces, and friends and allies in "credible ways that will, in fact, shape the minds of adversaries. We need to end the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction and integrate multiple states that bond together as neighbors to create a regional extended deterrent construct."
Cartwright is concerned that the nation's ballistic missiles at the short, medium and intercontinental level and that are deployable within minutes are all equipped with nuclear warheads.
"Is a nuclear weapon prudent for the nation? There is the regret factor. Is it significant enough? We need an offensive side. We need something that can hold at risk these ballistic missiles, something that is going to deter nations who we believe have ballistic missiles and that can export these capabilities to influence their neighbors," he said.
In terms of the use of space in missile defense, Cartwright said military space programs must be relevant, adaptable and affordable.
"We're losing our competitive edge in space now," he said. "The programs we do have in space are delivered late, over cost and under perform. If we don't change that dynamic, the competitive edge is gone."
Space is contested, busy and competitive. It no longer belongs to the U.S. and should no longer be considered a national secret.
"It's really questionable some of the assumptions we've operated under," Cartwright said. "It's time for a new idea. We don't have all the intellectual capital of space. We need to partner or completely divest to the commercial sector."
Whether ground-based or in space, missile defense programs must balance the need to protect against regional threats with the need to protect the homeland, Cartwright said.
"What's the right investment posture as we move forward? Regional stability for our allies and friends is as important as our national defense ... Our adversaries need to know that no matter what they do, the outcome of the fight is going to be the same," he said.
Kari Hawkins
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"We need to be able to balance the realities of the war we are fighting and the idea that we have to put together some sort of crystal ball and figure out where we are going," said Marine Corps Gen. James Cartwright, the vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
"Where are we going to adjust our balance? We have two adversaries, two high-end fights. The challenge this time around is are we ready for two fights that have worn on and we are likely to be in for five to 10 more years? A lot of this is about ... is the strategy relevant? Are the tools we are procuring relevant? Is the strategy adaptable?"
Cartwright's comments were made during his presentation at the 12th annual Space and Missile Defense Conference on Aug. 19.
Strategic objectives and potential military threats are being discussed ongoing as part of the Department of Defense's Quadrennial Defense Review. That study now reflects lessons learned during nearly eight years of war.
"If there is anything we've learned while at war it should be that the enemy has a vote in the war and where it is going," Cartwright said. "The other thing we should have learned is that affordability is a big issue.
"At some point, this level of funding is going to have to change. The global financial environment and the pressures felt internally afford how much we have. Somehow we have to balance funding concerns with high-end conflicts and the conflicts we are more likely to be in in the future."
The general said the U.S. must have an enduring policy on high-end offensive and defensive capabilities and a balance between "exquisite and good enough" when deciding whether to invest in one or two high-end weapons or a multiple of more affordable weapons.
Policy must reflect the changing world environment, especially when it comes to nuclear weapons.
"We are in a world where conflict has proliferated all over," Cartwright said. "With our nuclear posture review, the reality is the deterrent strategy of the '50s and its relevance in today's world is very much in question."
Singling out North Korea, Iran, other rogue nations and the emergence of non-nation state actors such as terrorists, Cartwright asked "How relevant is a nuclear weapon as a deterrent to those kinds of challenges? It's time to move away from one-size-fits-all deterrents. We provide an umbrella of safety for our allies. But how relevant is that deterrence with an emerging Iran or North Korea? A nuclear deterrence certainly worked for the past 50 years. But it won't for the next 50 years."
In terms of ballistic missile defense, Cartwright said the emergence of intercontinental ballistic missiles hasn't happened as quickly as expected. He added that the nation's ground-based intercept capability against rogue threats has been successful "thanks to the people in this room," indicating the government-industry partnerships that are part of Team Redstone.
He said the nation must protect the homeland, deployed forces, and friends and allies in "credible ways that will, in fact, shape the minds of adversaries. We need to end the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction and integrate multiple states that bond together as neighbors to create a regional extended deterrent construct."
Cartwright is concerned that the nation's ballistic missiles at the short, medium and intercontinental level and that are deployable within minutes are all equipped with nuclear warheads.
"Is a nuclear weapon prudent for the nation? There is the regret factor. Is it significant enough? We need an offensive side. We need something that can hold at risk these ballistic missiles, something that is going to deter nations who we believe have ballistic missiles and that can export these capabilities to influence their neighbors," he said.
In terms of the use of space in missile defense, Cartwright said military space programs must be relevant, adaptable and affordable.
"We're losing our competitive edge in space now," he said. "The programs we do have in space are delivered late, over cost and under perform. If we don't change that dynamic, the competitive edge is gone."
Space is contested, busy and competitive. It no longer belongs to the U.S. and should no longer be considered a national secret.
"It's really questionable some of the assumptions we've operated under," Cartwright said. "It's time for a new idea. We don't have all the intellectual capital of space. We need to partner or completely divest to the commercial sector."
Whether ground-based or in space, missile defense programs must balance the need to protect against regional threats with the need to protect the homeland, Cartwright said.
"What's the right investment posture as we move forward? Regional stability for our allies and friends is as important as our national defense ... Our adversaries need to know that no matter what they do, the outcome of the fight is going to be the same," he said.
Kari Hawkins
# END
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