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16 Apr 14. Army develops smartphone system to detect chemical, biological threats. Soldiers facing a situation with a potential biological or chemical threat could soon have a way to assess the threat on the spot, using specially equipped smartphones. A public/private team of researchers under the Army’s Research, Development and Engineering Command have developed Volatile Organic Compound (VOC) strips that work with a device called a Biotouch, which relays information from the VOC for analysis. The results then appear on a soldier’s Nett Warrior smartphone. “The idea is to have two smartphones: the Biotouch that could test the VOC and the Nett Warrior phone that would receive the information from a different location,” Peter Emanuel, biosciences division chief for the Army’s Edgewood Chemical Biological Center (ECBC), said in a release. “The two will be able to communicate with each other through a phone portal within the encrypted network.” The project is a collaborative effort by ECBC, iSense, the Army Communications-Electronics Research, Development and Engineering Center, and the Defense Threat Reduction Agency. At the heart of the project are the VOC strips, colorimetric sensor assays that each are about the size of a postage stamp and have 88 indicator dyes—specific to defense purposes—developed by iSense. When faced with a potential threat, a soldier could use a strip to take an environmental sample, such as soil, or biomedical sample, such as urine, ECBC said. The strip is then loaded into the Biotouch, a 3-by-3-by-5-inch device that doesn’t look much like a smartphone but has the ability to geo-tag the strip and connect to the Army’s network. The soldier can then retrieve the results on a Nett Warrior phone, a Samsung Galaxy Note II adapted for military use. (Source: Defense Systems)
24 Apr 14. Harris Corporation has successfully completed the next in a series of interoperability tests for the Falcon III® AN/PRC-117G multiband manpack radio hosting the Mobile User Objective System (MUOS) waveform. MUOS is the next-generation U.S. Department of Defense military communications system for delivering satellite-based voice and data communication services through secure tactical radios. Harris demonstrated MUOS capability in the AN/PRC-117G during tests at the MUOS Test Radio Access Facility in Sunnyvale, California. The test facility is operated on behalf of the U.S. government by Lockheed Martin, prime system integrator for the MUOS system. The Sunnyvale MUOS test facility includes a ground station, satellite payload and simulators to emulate various environmental scenarios, such as operations in rain, under forest canopy and within buildings. Harris-tested radios were unmodified from their standard hardware configurations. Harris is developing the MUOS waveform to operate on multiple radio hardware platforms, including the AN/PRC-117G, AN/VRC-118 two-channel mid-tier networking vehicular radio solution, and the new Harris multichannel manpack and next-generation handheld radio systems.
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Oxley Group Ltd
Oxley specialises in the design and manufacture of advanced electronic and electro-optic components and systems for air, land and sea applications within the military sector. Established in 1942, Oxley has manufacturing facilities in the UK and USA and enjoys representation worldwide. The company’s products include night vision and LED lighting, data capture systems and electronic components. Oxley has pioneered the development of night vision compatible lighting. It offers a total package incorporating optical filters, equipment modification, cockpit and external lighting along with fleet wide upgrade services including engineering, installation, support, maintenance and training. The company’s long experience