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03 Apr 19. Garmin® demonstrates datalink weather broadcast for pilots in Germany. Offers datalink weather for appropriately equipped aircraft flying in and around Friedrichshafen. Garmin International, Inc., a unit of Garmin Ltd. (NASDAQ: GRMN), today announced the availability of datalink weather broadcast through a technology demonstration in Friedrichshafen, Germany (EDNY). Using a ground-based Universal Access Transceiver (UAT) that is comprised of Garmin hardware at the EDNY airport, weather information is broadcast and received by aircraft equipped with select Garmin ADS-B In products and displayed on Garmin avionics and portables. For appropriately equipped aircraft, there is no additional cost to receive weather information during this evaluation period, which is expected to end in Q4 of 2019.
“Based on the success of datalink weather in the United States, we are excited to demonstrate affordable datalink weather in Germany and look forward to evaluating the feasibility of this technology in Europe,” said Carl Wolf, vice president of aviation sales and marketing. “We would like to extend our appreciation to the German licensing agencies, as well as airplus maintenance for hosting the station and embracing this technology as we collectively aim to provide pilots with better tools that can aid and improve in-flight decision-making.”
Today, pilots operating within the vicinity of the Friedrichshafen airport with compatible ADS-B In receivers have access to new datalink weather products in Europe. Weather products accessible through this ground station include radar imagery, METARs, TAFs, lightning, icing and winds aloft. Pilots can expect to receive weather up to 50 nautical miles away from the ground station located at EDNY and weather products will display within a 250 nautical mile coverage area. Reception is also dependent upon line of sight. Through this, Garmin aims to demonstrate the advantages of widely available datalink weather for aircraft operators in Europe.
“AOPA Germany welcomes Garmin’s efforts in Europe. It is obvious that safety in General Aviation should increase if pilots have access to weather information in their cockpits. We know that it has been a significant effort to work in cooperation with the authorities to make the frequencies available, and Garmin has done a great job of explaining the safety case behind it and has succeeded,” said Dr. Michael Erb, senior vice president, AOPA Europe. “We are convinced that the results of the datalink weather demonstration will be positive and that it can serve as a good justification for bringing in-flight weather, as well as traffic and AIS information, into all GA cockpits in Europe.”
Currently, the system architecture leverages the US-defined FIS-B datalink using UAT technology. Garmin has flight tested the reception of these weather products in a Cessna 182 equipped with a GTX™ 345 ADS-B transponder, GTN™ 650/750 navigators, G500 TXi flight display, aera® 660/795/796 GPS portables, the GDL® 50 portable ADS-B receiver and the Garmin Pilot™ app on Apple mobile devices. Garmin expects compatibility with additional UAT-based receivers and displays.
These datalink weather products are available immediately for pilots operating in the vicinity of the Friedrichshafen airport in Germany. Pilots who fly into AERO Friedrichshafen in Germany (April 10-13, 2019) and use the new datalink weather products are encouraged to provide feedback at the Garmin exhibit (Hall A6). Pilots can also submit feedback via this website: https://www.garmin.com/en-US/forms/UATfeedback/. Garmin is also hosting a press conference at AERO Friedrichshafen on Thursday, April 11th at 16:00 local in Conference Center West, Room Schweiz. For additional information regarding Garmin datalink products, visit www.garmin.com/aviation.
Garmin’s aviation business segment is a leading provider of solutions to OEM, aftermarket, military and government customers. Garmin’s portfolio includes navigation, communication, flight control, hazard avoidance, an expansive suite of ADS-B solutions and other products and services that are known for innovation, reliability, and value. For more information about Garmin’s full line of avionics, go to www.garmin.com/aviation.
For decades, Garmin has pioneered new GPS navigation and wireless devices and applications that are designed for people who live an active lifestyle. Garmin serves five primary markets, including automotive, aviation, fitness, marine, and outdoor recreation. (Source: BUSINESS WIRE)
03 Apr 19. Naval Group creates the Naval Innovation Hub. With the Naval Innovation Hub, Naval Group promotes disruptive innovation to adapt to the acceleration of innovation cycles and to the need for increased research responsiveness.
Accelerate innovation and foster disruption
Staying at the forefront of innovation is essential for competitiveness. The creation of the Naval Innovation Hub at the end of 2018 made it possible to develop new growth drivers by exploring new markets and new methods of work organisation. Its mission is to help imagine and develop the future of naval defense by rapidly transforming high-potential concepts and technologies into innovative and concrete solutions with high added value for customers, but also for the competitiveness of Naval Group.
Entirely autonomous in the management of its projects and imbued with an entrepreneurial culture, the Naval Innovation Hub brings together a multidisciplinary team from a variety of backgrounds. It’s an opportunity to attract atypical intelligences. They support ideas at all stages of their development: project formulation, customer desirability analysis, study of the viability of the business model… The idea is then transmitted to the innovation entities of the Naval Group ecosystem.
According to Simon Payet, Disruptive Innovation Manager at the Naval Innovation Hub, “In 4 months, 3 projects have been supported. For example, we have accelerated a “Proof of Concept” project on an innovative technology for guiding drones to land on surface vessels in operation. The challenge was to build a first demonstrator in 2 months.”
Located in the start-up accelerator Village by CA-Paris, the Naval Innovation Hub is also fully integrated in the group, providing employees with coaching tools and methods and gathering the best ideas.
Open innovation: unleash energies and promote agility
Partnerships enrich internal R&D. Naval Group has thus created an active community around its ecosystem. These academics, training centers, innovative SMEs, start-ups and incubators accelerate the group’s operations and gather around unifying events such as the Naval Innovation Days.
Internally, all employees, ideators, intrapreneurs and makers are called upon to participate, overcoming barriers in the name of creativity. The Naval Innovation Hub allows disruptive innovation to be an integral part of Naval Group’s culture and is rooted in reality by supporting projects that meet the needs of the group and its partners.
Based on an agile operating mode, the Naval Innovation Hub enables Naval Group to acquire and implement good reflexes and effective practices on disruptive innovation, without forgetting the right to failure or “Test & Fail”, an essential step in any ambitious approach to disruptive research. With a squad team approach and a mobilized external ecosystem, it is positioned as an innovation facilitator. Simon Payet explains: “The collaboration with a Parisian start-up helped a Naval Group team design digital models to significantly improve the user experience. The models were presented to the customer within a few weeks.”
A governance committee reflecting the Hub’s identity
To provide a fresh perspective on the Hub’s development and projects, the Executive Committee (COMEX) of Naval Group decided that the governance committee of the Naval Innovation Hub would be composed of a majority of members from outside of the company and from a wide range of dynamic economic sectors. In particular, it will be responsible for challenging the potential for disruption of innovation projects and for giving the Hub the necessary perspective to operate.
03 Apr 19. EIZO Releases New Series of Rugged Monitors for Use in Harsh Environments. EIZO Rugged Solutions Inc., a provider of ruggedized graphics and video products, has released the Talon Series – a new brand of rugged monitors developed specifically for operation in harsh environments. The line-up includes the 24.1″ RGD2401W, 21.5″ RGD2101W, and 20.1″ RGD2001. All three monitors boast ruggedized features and can be customized to meet user needs.
In settings where mission-critical tasks are carried out, the reliability of a product is paramount. EIZO designs, manufactures, and tests its rugged monitors in-house in order to ensure a high-quality product designed specifically for the task. This means total control over production for quality materials and extended lifecycle support. Furthermore, with comprehensive testing at EIZO’s own test center for MIL compliance, the monitors are made to last. Currently three standard COTS rugged monitors are available in 24.1″, 21.5″, and 20.1″ sizes (RGD2401W, RGD2101W, and RGD2001 respectively). These MIL-STD-810, MIL-STD-461 and IP65 compliant monitors also feature optical bonding, which protects the LCD panel while improving visibility in bright environments. With a long-lasting LED backlight and less than 1 cd/m2 minimum brightness, the monitors can be comfortably viewed in the dark. The monitors also come standard with a multitude of inputs, including 3G-SDI, DVI, RGB, USB, and Serial communication to ensure seamless connection with most peripheral devices and systems. Talon monitors are 19″ rack mountable for flexible installation. For over 50 years, EIZO has been designing and manufacturing reliable, high quality monitors for several vertical markets such as maritime, ATC, healthcare, and security & surveillance. With this experience EIZO is able to respond to the niche demands of the rugged market through extensive customization. Talon monitors can be built with diverse panel sizes, customizable monitor housing, protection against low temperatures, and NVIS. Optional image enhancement technology is also available, which adjusts dark or foggy images pixel by pixel for a clearer and easier to see picture in real time. Touch screen options include projected capacitive (PCAP) touch with 10-point multitouch (RGD2001 and RGD2401W), or analog resistive touch (RGD2101W).
Selwyn L. Henriques, president and CEO of EIZO Rugged Solutions, commented, “Our new Talon product line complements the highly successful Condor graphics/video/encoding/recording products. EIZO will offer both products individually or as highly integrated video solutions, complete with the high level of service and commitment that our customers have come to expect of us.”
EIZO will be showcasing its Talon Series monitors in booth #1616 at SAS (Sea Air Space) from May 6-8 in National Harbor, Maryland, USA and booth #1351 at SOFIC (Special Operations Force Industry Conference) from May 20-23 in Tampa, Florida, USA.
03 Apr 19. US Navy tests pressure chamber to study physiological events. The US Navy has developed and tested a rapid pressure fluctuation chamber to study physiological events (PE) in the E/A-18G and F/A-18 weapon systems. The Navy is working on the development of a solution to detect symptoms associated with rapid pressure fluctuations in military jets.
As part of the research project, Naval Surface Warfare Center Panama City Division’s (NSWC PCD) Fluctuating Altitude Simulation Technology (FAST) team assembled and delivered an aircraft cabin simulator system to the Navy Experimental Diving Unit (NEDU).
NEDU will use the system to conduct human subject research by replicating the cabin pressure fluctuations observed in the Navy’s jet aircraft.
Navy Research Psychologist lieutenant Jenna Jewell said: “The purpose of the FAST system is to characterise the symptoms associated with rapid pressure fluctuation, and determine what symptoms may be most closely associated with PE.
“This information allows us to conduct future research that can be more targeted, including focussing on specific symptoms and adding in factors present in the cockpit.”
PEs are attributed to a range of factors including known or suspected aircraft or aircrew systems malfunction. Other factors that affected aircrews’ performance include insufficient oxygen delivery, alterations in breathing dynamics, and unexpected pressure phenomenon. NEDU conducted research ‘flights’ from November to January to simulate the rapid cabin pressure fluctuations experienced by crew during flights. The tests were performed in a controlled environment.
The objective of the research was to ascertain whether pressure fluctuations are solely responsible for physiological or neurocognitive impacts.
NSWC PCD FAST project manager Brian Toole said: “NSWC PCD brought the concept to reality by starting with the commercial-off-the-shelf (COTS) double occupancy altitude chamber (DOAC) and installing our own control system, developing algorithms, and programming the NSWC PCD designed chamber software to meet mission requirements.”
The results from the FAST system will help find a solution to ensure safe Naval operations without physiological hindrance.
Prior to taking part in the simulated flight, participants undergo a medical examination to determine inner ear function, retinal tracking, and a neurocognitive exam.
Participants then enter the FAST chamber and fly one of three predetermined flight patterns.
The participants’ vital statistics are tracked constantly and tests are carried out to determine the presence of venous gas bubbles in each participant’s heart.
Once the flight is completed, the tests performed during the pre-flight stage are repeated to see if the rapid pressure fluctuations experienced during simulated flight caused any changes in physiological or neurocognitive performance. (Source: naval-technology.com)
03 Apr 19. This isn’t your dad’s denial and deception. Officials are becoming more specific about what the congested and contested battlefield of tomorrow might look like. Unlike the technologically inferior foes of the counter-terror fight in Iraq and Afghanistan, near-peer adversaries possess sophisticated technologies that can jam communications and even geolocate units merely based on sensing the units’ electronic signature. This electronic signature could just be internet connections or radio transmissions, all of which exist in the electromagnetic spectrum.
Under the Army’s new concept — multidomain operations — the service has moved beyond notional, conceptual and future terms and started to outline what it needs to present these sophisticated adversaries with multiple dilemmas. In the non-kinetic electromagnetic spectrum world, this includes saturating the environment with electronic decoys to hide units or sensitive assets.
Gen. Robert Brown, commander of Army Pacific, explained during a March 27 presentation at AUSA Global Force Symposium in Huntsville, Alabama, that the Army has to get back to denial and deception, which in this new environment will look different from denial and deception of years past.
He described the potential prospect of deploying 10,000 water bottle-sized devices that emit the electronic signature of a TYP-2 radar.
With 10,000 of these signatures in the environment, “good luck finding the actual TYP-2,” and just think of all the time wasted doing it, Brown said.
Lt. Gen. Stephen Fogarty, commander of Army Cyber Command, has envisioned being able to drop a decoy emitting strong signals off a truck at a fork in the road, thus drawing enemy attention to it.
“Now we’re presenting multiple dilemmas to the adversary,” he said.
These decoys can be used to throw adversaries off the trail of friendly forces or distract from other items forces might want to protect.
”If I have something like a counterfire radar, that’s really important to me. Maybe what I want to do, again, is push an alternate threat to the adversary,” Fogarty said. (Source: C4ISR & Networks)
01 Apr 19. £75m investment set to revolutionise Royal Navy operations. Robots and autonomous mine-hunters are set to revolutionise Royal Navy operations after the Defence Secretary announced a £75m injection into new technology. Robots and autonomous mine-hunters are set to revolutionise Royal Navy operations after the Defence Secretary announced a £75m injection into pioneering new technology. The funding boost will be spent on two new autonomous mine-hunter vessels with cutting-edge sonars to enable remote mine-hunting at higher range, speed and accuracy in the Gulf, as well as a new joint military and industry hi-tech accelerator, NavyX. The Royal Navy’s new autonomy and lethality accelerator will look to overhaul and turbocharge the way the Royal Navy buys the latest technology, streamlining the process and creating a brand-new facility where industry, military and academia can test, assess and purchase new equipment.
Defence Secretary Gavin Williamson said: “Today’s announcement will not only allow the Royal Navy to rapidly harness dynamic, cutting-edge equipment at speed, but also ensure they can outpace adversaries both on the water and the sea floor. Technology is moving faster than ever, and with the defence landscape rapidly evolving, we must ensure our Armed Forces are continually pushing the boundaries at the forefront of this change.”
By operating autonomous mine-hunters, the Royal Navy will not only improve current capability and put sailors at less risk, but also ensure the Royal Navy can evolve to meet developing underwater threats.
Admiral Sir Philip Jones KCB ADC DL, First Sea Lord and Chief of Naval Staff, said: “From the invention of the steam catapult and aircraft carrier, to the first use of sonars and torpedoes, the Royal Navy has a strong pedigree in the development, testing and introduction of new technologies that help us keep our country safe. Across the generations, our willingness to embrace innovation has kept us one step ahead of our adversaries, and to assure our continued success on operations into the future it is vital that the Royal Navy continues to be equipped with the latest cutting-edge capabilities we need to address the rapidly evolving challenges that pose a threat to our national interests around the globe.”
During a visit to QinetiQ’s Portsdown Technology Park, which is building the UK Centre of Excellence for Maritime Mission Systems, the Defence Secretary saw first-hand the world-leading work being done in the field by British industry.
More than fifty of the world’s state-of-the-art autonomous vehicles, vessels and drones were on display at the technology park, including hoverbikes, wave gliders and Gravity’s ‘Ironman’ flying suit.
The development of NavyX, which will combine the brightest military minds, civil servants, entrepreneurs and industry specialists, comes after the Royal Navy’s involvement in Unmanned Warrior, Commando Warrior and Information Warrior, which was held at Portsdown Technology Park.
It also comes after Mr Williamson announced the first of the three Royal Navy Defence Transformation Fund programmes, an accelerated Concept and Development Phase for two new Littoral Strike Ships, in February.
After securing an extra £1.8bn for defence and overseeing the Modernising Defence Programme, the Defence Secretary has dedicated millions of pounds to transforming defence, arming the British military with innovative technology through fast-tracking new projects. The MOD is embracing transformation at an ever-faster rate and the Transformation Fund is focused on investments in truly high-tech innovation that will create the armed forces of the future. (Source: U.K. MoD)
02 Apr 19. Military cash for sea drones, hoverbikes and jet suits. Underwater drones and autonomous mine hunters will be developed for the Royal Navy as the military invests in high-tech kit for future conflicts.
Gavin Williamson announced a £75m fund to develop the technology yesterday as he watched a demonstration of a flying suit, hoverbikes and wave gliders. The defence secretary also announced the purchase of two autonomous mine-hunting vessels with cutting-edge sonar. They will operate in the Gulf and are expected to identify mines more safely, cheaply and efficiently than at present, freeing personnel and warships to conduct other operations.
An autonomous surface vessel called the C-Enduro is also in trials with the navy as a survey ship. At present warships with a crew of 50 are used to chart the sea bed but the robotic vessel requires an operating team of only four people.
Beneath the waves a drone fitted with sonar is being tested for use in detecting mines and other explosives on the sea bed.
The device, which can plunge to depths of 500m and be at sea for up to a month, can locate sunken vessels and sharks as well as collecting hydrographic data. A clip-on attachment that bears an explosive charge can be operated remotely to safely blow up mines.
The navy is also testing a battery-powered, lightweight electric motorbike that can travel up to 50 miles over tough terrain at a top speed of about 20mph.
Its light frame, which weighs 45kg, means that it can easily be delivered ashore by hoverbike or amphibious landing craft. The fact that it is battery-powered means that it is silent and therefore appropriate for covert reconnaissance missions.
The army has also been running trials of new kit, with a focus on autonomous technology. Last December soldiers tested Titan Strike, an unmanned, tracked vehicle mounted with a gun. The robot can move autonomously, but the gun must be operated remotely by a human.
Other innovations displayed yesterday at Portsdown Technology Park in Hampshire included the Jet Suit. Also known as the Iron Man, after the comic book character, it can be bought by civilians at Selfridges in London for £340,000 and is being studied for military applications. It was invented by Richard Browning, 39, a former member of the Royal Marines.
Mr Williamson said that new funding would “allow the navy to rapidly harness dynamic, cutting-edge equipment at speed, but also ensure they can outpace adversaries both on the water and the sea floor.” He said: “Technology is moving faster than ever and with the defence landscape rapidly evolving we must ensure our armed forces are continually pushing the boundaries.”
Admiral Sir Philip Jones, first sea lord, said: “From the invention of the steam catapult and aircraft carrier to the first use of sonars and torpedoes, the Royal Navy has a strong pedigree in the development, testing and introduction of new technologies.” (Source: The Times)
26 Mar 19. Blue Bear opens 5G BVLOS test centre and trials 5G rural drone operations. UK systems integrator Blue Bear has announced the launch of its 5G enabled beyond visual line of sight (BVLOS) flight test facilities in Bedfordshire.
According to the company: “The UK government Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sports has allocated over £200m to develop 5G test beds. This has allowed Blue Bear to establish the first 5G enabled air corridor for drone testing in the UK at the National BVLOS Experimental Centre (NBEC). Blue Bear are part of the 5G Rural Integration Test-bed (“5GRIT”) consortia which is trialling innovative use of 5G technology in a range of applications to connect rural communities and unlock their potential.”
David Walters, Blue Bear’s Operations Manager said “We are flying drones in agricultural regions of Cumbria to monitor the health of livestock and to survey crops and investigating how 5G can help transport large volumes of ‘Big Data’ to anywhere in the world. In the future farmers will be able to remotely task the drones to carry out routine tasks and analyse results from the breakfast table”.
The NBEC 16Km air corridor connects Blue Bear’s Twinwoods Flight Test Centre and Cranfield University’s Airport and allows drones and manned aircraft to share the same airspace. Blue Bear executed the first BVLOS flights from the NBEC in December 2018. The company will continue to instrument and gain flight hours along the air corridor throughout early 2019 with support from the NBEC Consortia and the UK CAA. Different types of 5G technology are being used to track and identify drones along the corridor, as part of a multi-technology solution for the provision of a Recognised Air Picture from Blue Bear facilities. Thales’s holographic radar will form a part of this solution, as will the provision of mobile 5G solutions from Vodafone.
Ian William-Wynn, Managing Director of Blue Bear, said “Blue Bear first flew their drones BVLOS in 2009. We opened NBEC to allow other drone operators and equipment suppliers to fly and test their next generation technology in managed environments and scenarios representative of real operations. This facility will accelerate the uptake of UK’s latent drone technology and infrastructure in global markets.”
The NBEC consortia comprises Blue Bear, Cranfield University, Thales and Vodafone. The 5GRIT consortia comprises Quickline Communications, Blue Bear, Cybermoor, North Pennines AONB, Kings College London, Kingston University, Lancaster University, Precision Decision, Broadway Partners and World Around Me. (Source: www.unmannedairspace.info)
01 Apr 19. Apex Unmanned and RelmaTech Team on UAS Remote ID and Tracking. Denver based UAS consulting company Apex Unmanned and UK technology company RelmaTechhave agreed to collaborate on promoting the many benefits UAS Remote Identification and tracking technologies can offer. Apex Unmanned and RelmaTech are partners in the State of Nevada team recently selected by NASA to execute the NASA Unmanned Aircraft Systems Traffic Management (UTM) Technical Capability Level (TCL) 4 program. The FAA-designated Nevada UAS Test Site, under the leadership of the Nevada Institute for Autonomous Systems (NIAS), was selected to execute TCL4 through an intensely competitive process with six other states. The TCL4 program involves UAS flying in higher-density urban areas for tasks such as news-gathering, package delivery, and large-scale contingency mitigation. Nevada will conduct this NASA demonstration over several months in downtown Reno during May and June this year. It will be the first time in U.S. Aviation history that such flights will be conducted in a metropolitan area under beyond-visual-line-of-sight conditions.
“The definition of Remote Identification is often misunderstood to only help identify the drone location and its operator. Remote Identification technology could also mitigate concerns of collision, privacy, law enforcement, and aid counter-UAS response”, says Greg White, CEO of Apex Unmanned. “We strongly support the testing of Remote Identification technology solutions prior to an FAA rule-making on Remote ID, and the NASA TCL4 test program in Reno serves an ideal environment to do this.”
Apex Unmanned is assisting NIAS in supporting the development of Remote ID capabilities for TCL-4, and RelmaTech is one of only a few international companies invited to partner with NIAS on the NASA TCL4 program.
“As technology leaders in the UTM field, our innovative, practical, low cost and robust solutions have been designed and developed to provide UAS operators with a suite of features that go far beyond just anticipating future regulatory requirements for Remote Identification and tracking,” says Philip Hall, Co-Founder and CEO of RelmaTech. “Our dual-capable Secure Integrated Airspace Management (SIAM) system, which has both network and broadcast Remote ID and tracking capabilities, enables UAS operators employing our technology to achieve significant safety and productivity improvements in their fleet operations.”
Apart from the advantage of being well placed when civil aviation authorities eventually mandate that drone operators will be required to have Remote ID and tracking capabilities installed on their drones, Apex Unmanned and RelmaTech will also promote the many other significant benefits to UAS operators in having onboard Remote ID and tracking capabilities.
“This technology also contributes to improving operational safety by enhancing situational awareness in the airspace, while enabling UAS operators to optimize their operations in real-time. These and other attributes translate into maximizing a UAS operator’s return on investment, and in a rapidly developing and highly competitive industry, that’s a huge consideration,” emphasize White and Hall. (Source: UAS VISION)
29 Mar 19. INVOLI joins the Swiss U-Space network. Swiss UTM company INVOLI has joined the Swiss U-Space network, a nationwide collaborative programme for safely and securely integrating drones into the national airspace system launched in 2017 by skyguide, Switzerland’s air navigation services provider. INVOLI will contribute its low altitude drone air traffic data management systems, gathering data through a network of in-house developed detection devices deployed throughout the country. The non-cooperating surveillance system does not require fitting sensors to the drone or aircraft and relies on a decentralized network of ground-based detection devices housed in existing infrastructure, such as Swisscom cell towers or the rooftops of Swiss Prime Site properties. The technology detects aircraft in real-time, especially low-flying platforms – including helicopters, aircraft, gliders etc – which risk colliding with drones.
In partnership with Swisscom, the Swiss telecommunications company, pilot deployments of the INVOLI system are currently being tested in Switzerland for flight awareness purposes, especially in the low altitudes. The network – currently covering an area of around 10,000 square km – will be deployed throughout Switzerland by 2020. (Source: www.unmannedairspace.info)
28 Mar 19. If GPS goes out, the Army now has a requirement for that. The leader of the Army’s team dedicated to ensuring forces have reliable location data on future battlefields said the service now has a requirement for a mounted device that would provide positioning, navigation and timing.
“That’s a big deal,” said Willie Nelson, the director of the Army’s Assured-Position, Navigation and Timing (A-PNT) cross functional team, because for the first time the service will ensure vehicles have an alternate source for their location, navigation and timing.
Nelson also noted that the Army, awaiting the impending signature of its top acquisition officer, has a new system architecture for PNT that would determine how the service would work without GPS. Alternate PNT systems are used when traditional GPS satellite signals are not available or have been jammed.
On the heels of the mounted A-PNT requirement, the Army is also nearing a dismounted PNT requirement, Nelson said. He added that the service is on track to have that on the books by the end of April.
In addition, the Army is establishing a modeling and simulation effort at Aberdeen Proving Ground because to better predict how weapons systems will act without position, navigation and timing capabilities.
“In many cases we model GPSs on or GPSs off. How do you model that in a more realistic way?,” Nelson asked. “Maybe not every system out there needs every exquisite platform but who needs them? Who’s in the fight, who’s in the contact with the threats that can affect them the most? It helps makes us informed, data driven decision instead of emotional decisions.”
Nelson also highlighted an event in August, scheduled to take place in White Sands, New Mexico, that will establish a testing effort at a range and allow users to disrupt PNT for military systems and commercial systems.
Nelson assured industry that this isn’t an assessment in the traditional sense, but the Army wants to create the conditions for industry to bring their equipment to test it.
“Hopefully the intent is to make it better, help you energize your testing in a more realistic environment, helps you get there faster, which ultimately helps us get there faster,” he said.
In addition,, Nelson said the Army will hold an A-PNT symposium industry day in Huntsville May 7 and host an A-PNT symposium focused primarily on academia May 9 in Austin, Texas. (Source: C4ISR & Networks)
12 Mar 19. Dstl’s first virtual reality collaboration is a success. Defence Science and Technology Laboratory specialists successfully trial virtual reality collaboration. The Defence Science and Technology Laboratory (Dstl) has held its first-ever virtual reality (VR) collaboration – with staff based at different Dstl sites meeting in cyber-space to collaborate on building a virtual aircraft engine. This first trial was a success, leaving the way open for more virtual meetings, including supporting training for a wide range of law enforcement and defence agencies. If there’s a major incident or humanitarian crisis anywhere in the world, the police agencies and the military could come together in a safe VR environment to prepare for the challenges they will face before they arrive on-site. The technology can also support training together from remote locations.
This virtual collaboration can take place between multiple sites, without anyone ever leaving their office, and can be done over secure lines, allowing sensitive scenarios to be used.
Participating in this first trial, a Dstl tester said: “I was standing in a warehouse and could see a table with items. I could move over to it by clicking on the hand controller. Suddenly, I’m near some engine parts, part of an aeroplane on a bench. It’s hyper-real and totally immersive.”
The VR headset and hand controllers allow people to interact, talk to each other, point at and pick up items, and even fist-bump at the end of a successful meeting.
Mike Ferguson, from Security and Policing Group at Dstl, said: “This is the first time this has been done at Dstl. We’ve identified a technology to do it, which presents huge opportunities for shared training, meeting and even new design work.”
Collaborating in a virtual volumetric space, using the latest VR technology, is very new. We’ve tried other systems, but this is the first VR system that we’ve found which is really effective. It’s still evolving; in the future we’ll be in a virtual space as ourselves and be able to see lifelike avatars. It’s connecting with people. It’s making the world smaller.
For us, we’re really interested in how we can develop the technology to support our customers to train more smartly, efficiently and effectively in the future. We learn by doing – enhancing muscle memory. By actually doing it, it helps you to perform better. With ever-increasing demands on our Policing and Defence colleagues, finding the time for quality training is becoming a challenge. We think we can alleviate some of the burden through use of this technology.
Using Augmented Reality (AR) and VR – Doctors could one day to operate remotely, connected to surgical equipment at other locations.
In response to a terrorism incident anywhere in the world, the UK could help using remote 360 degree cameras, virtually placing an expert on the scene who can assess forensic opportunities or advise on an unusual explosive device. (Source: U.K. MoD)
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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 of manufacturing night vision lighting and LED indicators, coupled with advances in LED technology, has enabled it to develop LED solutions to replace incandescent and fluorescent lighting in existing applications as well as becoming the lighting option of choice in new applications such as portable military hospitals, UAV control stations and communication shelters.
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