One System and FalconView - OSRVT and LAVA?

U.S. Finishes Extensive Tests of Integration of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles with Manned Aircraft

Redstone Arsenal, Ala. - The Army’s Program Executive Office for Aviation’s offices Project Manager’s Unmanned Aircraft Systems, PM Armed Scout Helicopter and PM Apache have worked together with the goal to make the most capable, automated, lethal and interoperable systems available to our forward deployed Soldiers and our allies.

On Sept. 16, Program Executive Office for Aviation, or PEO, AVN sponsored the first ever Manned-Unmanned Systems Integration Capability, or MUSIC, Exercise. The exercise was the largest demonstration of manned-unmanned interoperability ever attempted.
The exercise has been in the works for over one and one half years. The integrations and evaluations culminated with a live demonstration before an audience of leaders from across the Department of Defense as well as civilian onlookers.


Tim Owings, deputy program manager for Unmanned Aircraft Systems, or UAS, was a great proponent in bringing this exercise to realization, and had this to say.

“I am most proud of the teamwork and selfless attitudes demonstrated by our industry and government partners,” he said. “You can’t make MUSIC without an orchestra and everyone playing their instruments. This really is an amazing story of teamwork and perseverance.”

There were many objectives to this exercise including: demonstrating advancements made in manned-to-unmanned teaming, or MUM-T; demonstrating interoperability among unmanned systems through the Universal Ground Control Station, known as UGCS, Mini-UGCS, or M-UGCS, and the One System Remote Video Terminal, or OSRVT; and highlighting PEO Aviation’s open architectural approach that allows multiple control nodes and information access points via the Tactical Common Data Link, or TCDL.

The combination of M-UGCS, UGCS and OSRVT serves as the catalyst for interoperability amongst the Army’s manned and unmanned aviation fleet. Interoperability translates into cost savings and increased efficiency through common hardware and software. Interoperability is also helping to mitigate the ever-increasing threat to our Soldiers, due to advancements in enemy technologies, and increasing our Army’s overall combat edge.

“In my short tenure here as the PM, the work I witnessed, day in and day out was brought together and displayed in the first ever MUSIC Exercise,” explained Col. Tim Baxter, with PM-UAS. “Although I had been briefed about this thing called MUSIC, I couldn’t fathom the amount of effort given by each member of PM’s UAS, Apache and Attack Scout Helicopter. The heavy lifting done by a workforce comprised mostly of civilians, and for the good of our Soldiers, is heartfelt and makes a positive impact every day to the lives of those operational folks we send into harm’s way.”

The event established seamless integration of Apache Block II and Kiowa Warrior helicopters, along with the Army’s complete fleet of Unmanned Aircraft Systems, which is comprised of the Raven, Puma, Hunter, Shadow and Gray Eagle.

Video was exchanged flawlessly among all the systems. Additionally, the ability to control the UAS payloads of the larger aircraft from both the M-UGCS and the -OSRVT were demonstrated.

The demonstration clearly illustrated the remarkable capability and synergy that the combination of tightly integrated manned-unmanned systems provides. Furthermore, the demonstration showed clearly how this information could be rapidly provided to individual Soldiers on the ground.

Here is a breakdown of operating systems and technologies explaining desired effects and actual recorded accomplishments.

UNIVERSAL GROUND CONTROL STATION

For the first time the UGCS demonstrated its ability to control the larger unmanned aircraft consecutively from a single ground station through common hardware and software. The results were seen immediately as handoffs occurred between the Shadow Portable GCS, or PGCS, to the UGCS, the Gray Eagle ground station to the UGCS, and finally the Hunter legacy ground station to the UGCS.

This new capability has also paved the way for the universal operator concept. This is a single operator with the ability to fly multiple unmanned aircraft. During the demonstration the same aircraft operator and payload operator flew all three aircraft consecutively marking a huge milestone for UAS.

ONE SYSTEM REMOTE VIDEO TERMINAL

The role of OSRVT was showcased throughout the MUSIC Exercise by demonstrating interoperability with all the participating platforms. OSRVT received the video from the small unmanned aircraft via the Digital Data Link, or DDL. Video from the large platforms was received via TCDL.

The new bi-directional capability in which the OSRVT operator controlled the payloads of the Shadow, Hunter and Gray Eagle platforms demonstrating the ability to receive the video and simultaneously transmit commands back to the aircraft to guide the camera to the point of interest. The combination of the OSRVT and manned aircraft were shown to be able to share targeting data and insure a common operating environment.

All of these capabilities are based on a standard approach so when the OSRVT understands the language of one platform it understands it for all the platforms; enabling efficient use of the available development time. The success demonstrated in the exercise is a direct result of the years of effort spent developing the standards and the hardware and software that implement those standards.

In the coming months these capabilities will be refined to give the Soldier unprecedented situational awareness through an impressive array of tools on the battlefield.

MINI-UNIVERSAL GROUND CONTROL STATION AND GRAY EAGLE UNMANNED AIRCRAFT WITH TRICLOPS PAYLOAD CONFIGURATION

For the Army’s fleet of Small UAS the Army continues to move toward a M-UGCS. For the MUSIC exercise, the M-UGCS Block 0 demonstrated the first step toward that goal. The M-UGCS Block 0 is a software upgrade to the existing Raven GCS, which is currently being fielded by the Army in the thousands.

While this GCS already has the ability to control the Raven and Puma UAS currently being fielded, a software upgrade to the system now allows the GCS to control the wing-mounted sensors on the TRICLOPS configuration of the Gray Eagle. The TRICLOPS configuration adds two additional payloads to the wings of the Gray Eagle in addition to its main payload on the fuselage.

These payloads can be accessed independently of the main payload thus providing the ability to track three geologically separate targets with one air vehicle asset.

The M-UGCS will provide front-line soldiers with Level of Interoperability-, or LOI-, 3 control of highly capable sensors using hardware that is already in place. And in keeping with the nature of true interoperability, the interface follows the same Standardization Agreement 4586 standard as the UGCS for the messaging protocol.

Additionally the audience was able to see the M-UGCS Block 1 on display, which provides the functionality of a Raven GCS in a single, consolidated package. The handheld M-UGCS Block 1 combines the Windows-based functionality of FalconView and video/data logging with the highly-reliable Real-Time Operating System functionality required for real-time UAV control.

Touch screens for ease of use, hot-swap batteries, and a mini-DDL radio also combine to provide a stand-alone package. While still in prototype form, this system is fully functional, and has been evaluated by Raven and Puma operators with a good deal of positive feedback.

MANNED-TO-UNMANNED

AH-64D LONGBOW APACHE

The Apache Block II demonstrated video transmission to the OSRVT via the Efficient TCDL. The TCDL link allows the Apache to send and receive video and metadata. The Apache is currently using the Visual User Interface Tool-, or VUIT-, 2 system in theater with outstanding results. The VUIT-2 system can transmit both Apache and UAS video to the Soldiers on the ground equipped with OSRVT. VUIT-2 provides positive target identification for the Soldier on the ground. Once the target is confirmed, Apache aircrew can engage the target with its weapon systems.

Manned-Unmanned Teaming-2, or MUMT-2, is the next step for Apache. MUMT-2 is a fully compliant TCDL system. MUMT-2 is currently being fielded and provides the Apache an integrated system within the Apache systems architecture. MUMT-2 reduces the weight of the Apache by over 40 LBS while providing all the functionality of the VUIT-2 system.

With MUMT-2 the Apache has the enhanced capability of transmitting both Apache and UAS video to the Soldiers on the ground as well as ship-to-ship. The future for the Apache is Block III. MUMT is a bridging strategy to provide this capability until Block III is fielded. Block III will roll out its first production aircraft in Nov 2011. Block III goes beyond MUMT-2 and VUIT-2 by fully integrating LOI – 4 into the next generation of Apache.

OH-58D – KIOWA

The Kiowa Level 2 Manned-Unmanned, or L2MUM, system succeeded in demonstrating three of its major capabilities that are inherent to this system; a system that is currently in the process of being fielded. The Kiowa Warrior equipped with L2MUM carried out its portion of the MUSIC exercise at a range of 22KM from the OSRVT ground station. The Kiowa L2MUM system successfully received Hunter unmanned aircraft TCDL video and displayed it in the cockpit on the co-pilots multi-function display.

Second, the Kiowa L2MUM system retransmitted the received Hunter video to an OSRVT ground station 22KM away using TCDL. Thus proving out its capabilities to share what the Kiowa pilot is viewing with what the ground OSRVT user is viewing in real-time.

Lastly, the L2MUM system demonstrated its capability to transmit its on-board mast mounted sight video and own-ship metadata to an OSRVT user or other teammates capable of pulling this data into their prevue. Kiowa closed out the demonstration with a live fire of hydra rockets, demonstrating the lethality of these systems when they work together.

Baxter now turns his attention to incorporating the positives discovered during this exercise and refining those areas needing attention.

“As we turn the page on the first ever MUSIC Exercise, I along with the Training and Doctrine Command Capabilities Manager for UAS, must continue to keep pace with combatant commanders increased demands in developing and fielding advanced UAS and personnel to operate these apparatus that change how we fight and win on today’s and tomorrow’s battlefields,” he said.

Nikon CAN Innovation

Sky Hook for GeoPhotographers or PhotoGeographers?

Deal Alert - Archo 80 G9 - dual-core Android 3.2

Adorama Offering 8GB 1GHz And 16GB 1.5GHz Archos 80 G9 Dual-Core Tablets For $250 Each (That's $50 And $80 Off, Respectively)
from Android News, Reviews, Applications, Games, Phones, Devices, Tips, Hacks, Videos, Podcasts - Android Police by Liam Spradlin


Adorama, one of the more popular online purveyors of photo equipment (and other electronics), are offering a couple of awesome deals on Archos' 80 G9 tablets, selling the dual-core 1GHz 8GB model, as well as its 1.5GHz, 16GB counterpart for $250 each. Of course, since the 1.5GHz model was delayed, your purchase will essentially count as a pre-order, but $250 for this power-packed tablet is practically a steal, taking a cool $80 off the original price tag.

Jobs on Droid

Kodak - a dinosaur thrashing in a tar-pit?

Kodak said looking for $900m to rescue itself

Kodak rumored in deep trouble, seeks bailout
updated 06:15 am EDT, Tue October 25, 2011

Kodak is said to be looking for $900m in emergency funding to rescue itself from insolvency. According to the Wall Street Journal, Kodak has been in talks with several hedge funds seeking financial backing to keep the company afloat while it seeks to sell off its most valuable patents. At the same time, the company hopes to continue its restructuring plans, which it hopes will return it to profitability.

Hedge funds approached by Kodak include, Cerberus Capital Management, Silver Point Capital, Centerbridge Partners and Highbridge Capital Management. While Kodak declined to comment on its capital raising plans in any detail, a company spokesman said, "As a matter of course, we are always assessing the financing strategies available to us."

Kodak has been struggling to turn its fortunes around in the face of the onslaught of digital cameras and mobile phones with cameras as users moved rapidly away from traditional print photograph. Its current strategy is to build on its photographics skills by developing new lines of personal printers that can also print high quality photos at home.

The company would use the $900 million in new funds to pay down its senior debt and use the remainder to strengthen its cash position. While the company still had $957 million in cash at the end of June, its remaining patents are valued at over $1 billion dollars and can offset and debts that it might incur in the short to medium term.

However, the patent sales can take time, particularly if the company hopes to yield the maximum value from them. It recently sold up to 10,000 of its 11,000 patents to IMAX, and has already raised over $2 billion in patent sales to date.

Read more: http://www.electronista.com/articles/11/10/25/kodak.rumored.in.deep.trouble.seeks.bailout/#ixzz1bnG95lAV

Kodak looks into restructuring amid possible patent sale [U]

updated 04:25 pm EDT, Fri September 30, 2011

Kodak hires Jones Day law firm for money advice

 (Update: Kodak responds) Electronics maker Kodak has hired law firm Jones Day to help it with restructuring, sources familiar with the matter told the WSJ. Investors are concerned with Kodak's turnaround prospects, and it has recently borrowed $160 million from a credit line. Meanwhile, shares fell about 60 percent.

Exactly what Jones Day will advise isn't known, as the firm has advised large companies on bankruptcies and other methods of improving finances. It could tell Kodak to raise new debt or equity or ask creditors to forgive debt in exchange for ownership stakes.

"As we sit here today, the company has no intention of filing for bankruptcy," said Kodak spokesman Gerard Meuchner. Company chief executive Antonio Perez made a similar announcement to the company's 19,000 worldwide employees using a broadcast.

Kodak also recently hired investment bank Lazard Ltd. to advise it on selling 1,100 camera patents in order to raise cash. Possible buyers may be Apple or Google, though they weren't named. Purchasing these "defensive patents" would help the companies from any upcoming lawsuits. Owning patents can also prove profitable to companies who would use them in lawsuits against others who may infringe them.

Update: Kodak has put out a statement acknowledging that it was talking to Jones Day but which repeated its position that it had no plans to declare bankruptcy.

"Kodak is committed to meeting all of its obligations and has no intention of filing for bankruptcy," it said. "The company also continues to actively pursue its previously announced strategy to monetize its digital imaging patent portfolio. Kodak remains focused on meeting its commitments to customers and suppliers, and on delivering on its strategy to become a profitable, sustainable digital company."
Read more: http://www.electronista.com/articles/11/09/30/kodak.hires.jones.day.law.firm.for.money.advice/#ixzz1a7GVea1E
Kodak rolls out Playfull Waterproof that is readable in the sun 

Kodak picked Friday to show a different take on its pocket camcorders. The Playfull Waterproof is a cousin to the original Playfull that trades some performance for hardening against conditions. Although it drops from 1080p down to 720p, it can survive underwater depths of up to 10 feet for two hours, or enough to fill much of the sometimes bundled 4GB SDHC card.

The same body also lets it resist dust and shock-proofs it for drops from up to five feet. Video itself adjusts to the elements, with a special white balance that adapts to the color biases underwater.

Regardless of conditions, it has a two-inch preview LCD with a switchable glare shield. The SDHC slot lets it capture as much as 10 hours of video on a 32GB card, and software work in the camera both offers basic image stabilization as well as four live effects filters that include a 1970s 8mm-like filter.

Kodak is shipping the Playfull Waterproof in the fall in either a bring-your-own-storage $100 version or a 4GB bundle for $120
Read more: http://www.electronista.com/articles/11/09/30/kodak.playfull.waterproof.toughens.up/#ixzz1a7Ei0Lga

Kodak's Waterproof Playfull records your pool parties in 720p, lets you relive that belly flop

By Joseph Volpe  posted Oct 1st 2011 7:17AM

Do you like to play rough? Good, then this Kodak's for you. Up for pre-order on the imaging company's website, is an update to the Playfull we got eyes-on with at CES earlier this year -- except this handheld camera's waterproof, as well as dustproof and drop-proof (although, only "onto plywood"). The slim 720p shooter weighs in at about 85 grams and sports a 2-inch LCD display, HDMI out, pop-out USB 2.0 and an SD card slot expandable up to 32GB. Kodak's offering this pocket and pool-friendly portable in mid to late October with a premium $120 price tag set for the black version, and the white at a lesser $100. If your high-end smartphone's just not cutting the HD-recording mustard, go ahead and hit up that source link below.

Electronista Kodak

Gary Did It... Five via One

Sunday 23rd October 2011, 15:30 to 18:00 = 2.5 hours. Intervalometry field testing Version 1.05 with 5 cameras, Nikon + four Androids for 1 hour car shoot, around 250 photos per device, all worked well except Nexus S which locked up twice. GPS at 100 meters, slow car speed 25 ~ 30 mph, HTC EVO 3D as CAN server, Galaxy S2 running intervalometry + triggering Blue2CAN. Probably recommend using dual core Android devices (Nexus S not able to keep up). This is the most devices I have had working with CAN for field test. (Nikon D200, HTC EVO 3D, Galaxy S2, LG 2X, Nexus S, with GPS from Galaxy S2).

Regards Gary

Emergeo - Ad-hoc Information Sharing by the Pound

Smartphone and sUAVs

Technology

THE BUSINESS AND CULTURE OF OUR DIGITAL LIVES,
FROM THE L.A. TIMES

IPhone app pilots drone aircraft
from 3,000 miles away [Video]

September 27, 2011 |  9:49 am

Military mobile apps may one day help soldiers wage war on the battlefield.

Engineers and researchers at Boeing Co. and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology have developed an iPhone application to fly a miniature drone aircraft from some 3,000 miles away.

Take a look at the video below. It just takes a few taps and swipes of the operator’s finger sitting in Seattle to make a drone at a baseball field on the MIT campus in Cambridge, Mass., start to hover, rotate and zip around.

“These applications could allow [drones] to be used more effectively for tasks that are dirty or dangerous, as well as for missions that may be too long and tedious to have a human be continuously at the controls,” the company said on its website.

As we reported in Monday’s Times, the Pentagon is testing all manner of smart devices, including iPhones and iPads, for action in the war zone. It has kicked off a race among software companies and defense firms to develop innovative apps for future soldiers to operate.

  

Classified Android

Secure Android kernel could make for 'classified' smart phones

• By Henry Kenyon
• Oct 13, 2011

 

A research team from Google, George Mason University and the National Security Agency have developed a hardened kernel for the Android 3.0 operating system that could solve the problem of using smart phones in military operations and emergency response.

The kernel, which is in the final stages of certification testing, opens the way for the Army to begin issuing smart phones or tablet-type wireless devices to troops in combat operations.

The White House also is interested because the hardened kernel could help fulfill a government plan to create a secure national wireless network for first responders, Michael McCarthy, operations director of the Army’s Brigade Modernization Command’s Mission Command Complex, said at the AUSA Annual Meeting and Exposition in Washington on Oct. 10. McCarthy also heads the service’s Connecting Soldiers to Digital Applications (CSDA) program, the lead organization involved in selecting handheld wireless technologies for military use.

EUD_Droid - Almost a Smartphone?

Army debuts slimmer Nett Warrior 'phone'

Soldier system trimmed down to phone size

By Henry Kenyon
Oct 06, 2011The Army’s Nett Warrior program might soon be equipping soldiers with smart phones -- as much as that's possible for military use. At an Oct. 6 Pentagon press briefing, the service unveiled the latest version of its long-gestating program, which radically cuts the size and weight of the battlefield communications and situational awareness system for dismounted soldiers.

Nett Warrior is the desendent of the Army’s Land Warrior program, which sought to provide soldiers with digital maps connected to a tactical data network and managed by a small computer. Over the years, the system under went a variety of changes, with the latest version weighing between eight to 10 pounds. The version unveiled at the press briefing weighs three pounds and consists of a monocle to project battlefield maps and unit location data to the user, and what the service calls an End User Device connected to a Joint Tactical Radio System Rifleman Radio.

This radical redesign was the result of an Army decision in August to trim many of the old features from the system. What remained was the heads-up display, the processing device, the input system and the navigation capability. The program is looking at commercial devices to add into the system. The heart of the system is now named the End User Device.

“We took about 70 percent of the weight off,” said Bill Brower, deputy project manager for the Army's Soldier Warrior directorate at Program Executive Office Soldier (PEO Soldier).

Although Army officials cite soldier feedback as one of their key sources for the decision, the other factor was the service’s continuing drive to equip soldiers with smart phones. The goal was to develop a device that falls somewhere between a large smart phone or a small tablet computer; the End User Device can be worn attached to a soldier’s body armor or strapped on the wrist.

PEO Soldier is considering using the Andriod operating system for the End User Device, but the exact shape of the final device is still being determined. Soldier feedback will determine the final form of the End User Device for a specific echelon and type of unit leader, and whether it resembles a smart phone or a tablet computer, Brower said.

However, program officials maintained that the End User Device is not a part of the Army’s smart phone efforts. Even if the final device resembles a smart phone in functionality, it will connect to the Rifleman Radio to reach Army networks. “We are not implementing 3G wireless telephone at this point in time on this device,” Brower said.

About the Author
Henry Kenyon is a staff writer covering enterprise applications.

$30k for secure Phone Call and Web Access?

No Cell Towers, Big Problem: Army Aims for Battlefield Network

from Danger Room by Mark Riffee

It’s been four and a half years since Steve Jobs unveiled the first iPhone. Since then, the Jesus Phone and its competitors have penetrated every social stratum — with one exception: the Department of Defense. “Historically, we have not been good at fielding things quickly,” Maj. John McGee told Danger Room at the Association of the United States Army’s annual conference in Washington, D.C. The hardware isn’t the problem — I’ve seen dozens of ruggedized tablets and smart devices at the conference today. The issue is the network. One defense contractor, the Harris Corporation, says it may have an answer.

When you and I walk around in New York, Los Angeles, or even Kabul, we are surrounded by a matrix of cellular towers, which makes it very easy to use our iPhones and Androids. But the U.S. military can’t count on having that sort of infrastructure on its next battlefield.

Harris currently has two portable devices in the field that are capable of establishing a network that could help troops communicate, anyway. The Falcon III AN/PRC-152A handheld radio and the AN/PRC-117G manpack and vehicular radio can latch onto all different kinds of waveforms and networks. (AN/PRC, if you’re wondering, stands for Army/Navy Portable Radio used for two-way Communication.)

If these were commercial devices, they’d connect to 3G, 4G, or WiFi networks within range, allowing smart devices to then connect with each other using the hotspot as a fulcrum. Instead, Harris’ devices primarily connect to established military radio waveforms such as Soldier Radio Waveform, Wideband Networking Waveform, and Adaptive Networking Waveform. So far, the AN/PRC-117G and AN/PRC-152A have primarily been connected to Panasonic Toughbooks with a USB cord, and used to transmit operations commands, tactical strategies, maps, and live video.

So far, Harris has sold over 160,000 AN/PRC-152As and 16,000 AN/PRC-117Gs to the Department of Defense and U.S. allies. More than 3,500 backpackable versions and tens of thousands of handhelds are already being used in the field.

But enough stats and specs — Maj. McGee explained how these radios work might work in a battlefield situation while showing me around the tactical radio communications booth. Let’s say there’s an Army unit tucked away in a remote valley. They have portable satellite towers and radios, but the surrounding mountains block the signals. If they have an interoperational radio like the AN/PRC-117G, the unit can use it to communicate, or “hop,” to another radio within their line of sight. Theoretically, the U.S. Military could communicate all around the globe so long as there are enough radios to circumscribe it and each radio is within the line of sight of the next (like a giant game of telephone with Styrofoam cups tethered together by yarn). But it is impractical and sometimes impossible to try to establish a line of communication out of every remote valley. So what now?

Harris and the Joint Tactical Radio System (JTRS, pronounced “jitters”), a Department of Defense program that oversees and evaluates the development of radio networks, are taking to the air. JTRS has already put AN/PRC-117Gs in Persistent Ground Surveillance System blimps, Shadow drones, and a variety of other rotary and fixed-wing aircraft, to create a network in the sky, says retired Maj. Gen. Dennis Moran, a Harris executive. This should allow the isolated unit’s multiband radio to hop over the mountain and connect with a radio on more favorable terrain.

Emphasis on should. Right now, a fully integrated, wireless network appears to be a long way off. One major factor, as always, is price. According to Bloomberg Businessweek, AN/PRC-117Gs sell for $30,000 apiece. With rumors of budget cuts in the defense sector rising daily, it seems unlikely that the Department of Defense will splurge on a radio for every vehicle and soldier (though the AN/PRC-152 is considerably cheaper) anytime soon.

Progress is being made slowly but surely — just the way the Pentagon likes it. JTRS’s second bi-annual Network Integration Evaluation will begin on Oct. 21 and run until Nov. 19. Nearly 50 networking systems will be tested in hopes of bolstering the existing wireless infrastructure. All I can say is, at least they’re being thorough.

Photo: Courtesy of Harris RF Communications

Android Army - GhostRider

Begun, These Army Phone Wars Have

from Danger Room by Spencer Ackerman

After 20 years, the Army has finally figured out how it wants to network soldiers together in a warzone: through something like a smartphone. It’s called Nett Warrior, and it’s got the Army very excited. There’s only one problem: Defense companies already want to render it obsolete.

Defense giant ITT picked just the right time to roll out its new secure smartphone. It debuted what it’s calling the GhostRider, pictured above, at the Army’s annual Washington, D.C. gala, known as the Association of the U.S. Army (AUSA) convention. The GhostRider isn’t really a phone — it’s just hosted on a commercial Android smartphone, in this case a Motorola Atrix — it’s a small encryption device, called a crypto, installed on a phone near the battery. Put it together with the smartphone of your choice and it’s a secure phone — exactly what the Army wants to one day issue its soldiers, and is still figuring out how to do.

“It’s called the GhostRider because the crypto is a ghost riding on the phone,” explains ITT vice president Richard Takahashi. “Oh, we’re fans of the comic books, too.”

The idea is that the GhostRider’s crypto can allow secure phone calls and text messages, transmitted over the Army’s data networks, anywhere out in a warzone. A tap-and-hold of the smartphone’s touchscreen turns the phone display red, to signal that the security features are engaged. Send another GhostRider user a secure text, and she’ll be asked to enter a passcode before her phone can receive and decipher it. Its security standards have been certified by the crypto experts at the National Security Agency, ITT tells any visitor to its AUSA pavilion who’ll listen.

That’s for good reason. Figuring out how to secure data is a problem the Army is still grappling with as it figures out whether and how to equip its soldiers with smartphones.

But look at the display on the GhostRider in the photo above. Notice it’s a map, complete with icons that indicate a user’s position, along with those of others on the network. That’s very, very similar to the functionality offered by the Army’s revamped Nett Warrior platform. ITT is offering the GhostRider crypto and software for a maximum of $1,500 per phone. And it’s not shy about where it goes next.

“We think Nett Warrior should be something like this,” Takahashi says. “This can be the smart device.”

Just a few yards away from ITT on the top floor of the Washington Convention Center, the Army is showing off the latest version of Nett Warrior, which it announced to reporters only on Thursday. Nett Warrior depends on a smartphone without a phone called an End User Device, which right now relies on an Android operating system to power a host of apps — especially the mapping functions that the GhostRider also runs. Here’s what Nett Warrior’s display looks like, projected onto a flatscreen TV, when the mapping app is engaged.



The icons tell positioning of the user — that’ll be the blue chevron — allied and subordinate units, and significant places for an operation, like buildings to clear or placements of enemy fighters. (Pinch in to focus, and swipe to move elsewhere on the map.) But Nett Warrior also tells a lot more. Tap the icon of the six blue boxes, and standard-issue apps pop up. One is a feature to call for medevac. Another is a planning feature, so a company commander can send changes to a plan to his platoon and squad leaders. Yet another is a secure messaging system. The one thing Nett Warrior can’t do is make a phone call.

That took a long, long time to develop. As recently as last year, Nett Warrior relied on a cumbersome eight-pound series of wearable computers, peripherals and mapping tools — all of which provided less data to soldiers than the smartphones they already carried around in civilian life. Quietly, over the last few months, the Army gave Nett Warrior a brain transplant in order to salvage the 20-year-old program. They’re happy with it now.

Nett Warrior’s architects have yet to decide what kind of commercial phone will be used to host the End User Device. Last week, the one-star general in charge of the program, Brig. Gen. Camille Nichols, said that she bought 60 Android phones from Best Buy to take to a networking test that begins next week. ITT wants in on that test. And while no one puts it in these terms, it’s possible that the GhostRider — or the next special-brewed phone by the next defense company — could be a Nett Warrior killer.

That’s because the Army is out of money.

Defense budgets are in for a steep, steep decline, all because of the government’s overarching fixation on reducing the budget deficit. That puts the Army’s acquisition programs under heavy scrutiny. Especially future acquisitions — like, oh, say, End User Devices and smartphones. An Army spokesman — a specialist who only gives his name as Johnson — says he’s “supremely, honestly” confident that the Army can afford to issue its soldiers’ smartphones. And that raises the prospect of expensive redundancy between a smartphone and Nett Warrior’s End User Device.

It doesn’t have to be that way. For one thing, not everyone will get Nett Warrior: It’s designed for use only in warzones. Smartphones could be used back at the safety of a base, to host training manuals as well as other, more mundane Army apps. For another, the Army definitely wants a commercially available smartphone, in order to control costs — and it might balk at ITT’s $1,500 price point. Paul Mehney, another Army spokesman, says the Army is testing and testing and testing some more to ensure it thinks through “who needs this capacity” for smartphones and End User Devices precisely so some soldiers don’t end up carrying two devices that largely perform similar functions.

But the Army, frankly, isn’t a very good steward of its own money. A recent internal review found that it had wasted $3 billion-with-a-B annually between 2004 and 2009.

Mehney says that a final decision about issuing smartphones to soldiers will come “in the next couple of years.” ITT is clearly hoping to be in the running. No matter what, Nett Warrior has a leg up: It’s way further along in the development process. But that’s not a guarantee that the program will survive, or avoid yet another major revamping. Nett Warrior may have finally incorporated smartphones into its design. But the Army might still decide it likes smartphones better — and can’t afford both.

Photos: Spencer Ackerman

Free FalconView - Civl Air Patrol

FalconView and FAA Provided Charts

Hi Everyone,
I just thought I would pass on something I found yesterday and played with a little while. If anyone has more experience with this I would welcome the input.

For a while I have been looking for an alternative to a dedicated aviation GPS. The requirements are:
1) Must be able to use the free FAA charts available online (Sectional Raster Aeronautical Charts)
2) Must import those charts and automatically reference those charts to the appropriate coordinates on the earth
3) must provide moving map-support on top of the sectionals/tac's (will require a GPS signal)
4) Must not cost $1000...or even $500

Well...FalconView appears to pretty much fit this bill. OpenSourceFeatures

I plan to run this on a tiny, $300 netbook PC mounted in the cockpit with an external GPS. After playing with this for a very brief time, it appears to do everything above and more! It even has what amounts to synthetic vision, wx overlays, and overlay tools so you can "draw" on the maps and what-not.

You can read all about it on the website, but apperantly it was originally developed for use as an SDK to various avionics platforms and training tools for the military. The free version has the military specific stuff stripped out, but what is left is almost mind-bogglingly cool for being something that is free and appears to be very stable software (no crashing or anything yet).

Anyway, something for us geek-types to play around with if you are intersted.


<< Yes indeed the opensource FalconView project is very cool... as for stable versions .. the boys at Georgia Tech are taking care of the its business

Android Army Still on Maneuvers

Army Shows Off Soldier Smartphone Beta

from Danger Room by Spencer Ackerman


It wasn’t one of those epic Steve Jobs product roll-outs. Not even close. But in an obscure warren of the Pentagon, the Army took a major step toward embracing the smartphone revolution that Jobs did so much to promote. Only the mobile device it unveiled is best described smartphone-esque — and it might cause bureaucratic and financial problems if the Army actually does decide soldiers need to carry real smartphones.

The phone-like thing you see above is what the Army is calling its End User Device. It’s the next design for the Army’s Nett Warrior system — an expensive program that’s tried, and failed, for 20 years to connect soldiers to one another through a suite of wearable computers, radios and keyboards. Now, it’s a device that weighs under a pound and connects to a radio. And it will very, very likely run on Google’s Android operating system.

That’s right. No more eight- to 15-pound pieces of kit to slap onto a soldier already humping a ton of body armor. No more banana-shaped keyboards hanging down from a load clip. No more cables connecting the whole thing that tangle a soldier up. And no more funky monocle attached to a helmet for a heads-up display. Nett Warrior, the descendant of another failed program called Land Warrior, has finally joined the 21st century.

With one very important distinction. “This is not a phone,” clarifies Brig. Gen. Camille Nichols, the leader of the Army office, called Program Executive Officer Soldier, in charge of the Nett Warrior program. And that could be a problem.

A Nett Warrior mock-up looked like this in 2010.

For the last few months at Danger Room, we’ve been reading the Army’s smoke signals about junking Nett Warrior’s cumbersome design — which did less for soldier data networking than the phone in your pocket did in2008 — and starting from scratch. In July, the Pentagon’s acquisitions folks put Nett Warrior on pause for a re-think. Last month, the Army quietly solicited the mobile-phone industry about giving Nett Warrior a brain transplant — with its new smartphone-like brain powered by Android.

On Thursday morning, to a small group of reporters, the Army made it official. The End User Device is the new brain, heart and soul of Nett Warrior. It’s an Android device. Nett Warrior’s ears and mouth will remain a radio — specifically, the Army’s Joint Tactical Radio System. Taken together, the system will weigh less than three pounds, with more than two of those pounds coming from the Rifleman Radio.

The End User Device won’t be Wi-Fi enabled. In fact, if the Army has its way, it won’t ever connect to a civilian network. It’ll hook into the Army’s brand-new data nets, as well as other classified military networks. The devices themselves will encrypt data that they store; and there will be another level of encryption when transmitting or receiving data. No one wanted to say the word “WikiLeaks,” but it’s obvious that data security is a big, big concern for the Army.

Soldiers who are used to the smartphones they carry in civilian life will find the End User Device pretty familiar — up to a point. Apps? It’s got them, though the kinks are being worked out. Nichols said that she anticipates the devices will connect to the Army’s forthcoming App Store, Marketplace — which Danger Room exclusively reported on in April.

There — or, perhaps, loaded onto the Device from jump — soldiers will find a variety of useful apps. A civilian directly overseeing Nett Warrior, Bill Brower, said the Device will run a mapping-and-tracking function similar toBlue Force Tracker, a program that lets soldiers keep track of where their colleagues are on the battlefield to avoid friendly-fire incidents and know how far away help is. There will be a “mission planning tool” that lets commanders design and then send out their plans for a given task.

Nichols’ shop doesn’t know whose hardware will actually become the End User Device. Later this month, the Army will take about 60 phones that Nichols literally purchased from Best Buy off the shelf and test them in rugged conditions during a scheduled “Network Integrated Evaluation” exercise. There are a lot of questions — like which devices can stand up to the harsh, dirty, un-delicate conditions of a warzone; and which touchscreen is rugged and responsive enough to a soldier jabbing at it with a finger wrapped in a flame-retardant glove.

Oh, and it won’t just be phones tested out at the exercise. Tablets will be tested, too. In order to ensure that Nett Warrior doesn’t fall back behind contemporary tech, every year devices will be put to the test to figure out what the next-gen End User Device should be. Someday, Brower says, it could be a tablet.

But however the devices perform, the winner is Google. iPhones will not be part of the October test, Brower confirms to Danger Room. Neither will any Windows phones. This is an Android party.

“No disrespect,” Brower says.

But even with Nett Warrior’s massive upgrade, there’s still one big problem looming over it. It’s not a phone.

And the Army brass loves smartphones. For the past year-plus, Gen. Peter Chiarelli, its deputy chief of staff, has been flirting with the idea of requiring soldiers to carry smartphones for all their communications and data needs. Supporting smartphones is one of the main rationales for the Army’s new data network. The Army’s Training and Doctrine command (TRADOC) created a Mobile Applications Branch and a program called Connecting Soldiers to Digital Applications to think through the specifics of an Army smartphone program, from data security to configurations to the kinds of apps worth having. This program is active and ongoing.

You can see the redundancy coming down the pike. It doesn’t make any sense for Nett Warrior to equip soldiers with an End User Device while the Army also requires soldiers to carry a smartphone — which will probably do everything Nett Warrior does; run on the same secure network; host the same Marketplace app store; host email; and also — oh yeah — be a phone. And this is an era where defense budgets are declining drastically, with the Army likely to face major funding cuts.

Nichols concedes the possible redundancy between the End User Device and potential Army smartphones is a problem. “We’ll have to work through TRADOC,” she says, to figure out what device or system wins out “if they merge, or don’t merge.”

But for now, the new Nett Warrior is moving full speed ahead. By mid-2012, Brower says, the Army will figure out what manufacturer will make the Nett Warrior End User Device, a crucial step for getting them into the hands of soldiers.

“We’re coming truly into the 21st century,” a proud Nichols beamed. It took long enough.

Photos: Spencer Ackerman

Lost in a Flash? Is SilverLight Lost?

How Adobe Flash Lost Its Way

Despite early successes on the Web, the latter years of Flash have been a tale of missed opportunities.

By Neil Mcallister, Infoworld Sep 29, 2011 3:58 pm

Adobe has long dreamed of establishing Flash as a premier cross-device rich application development platform, but as the competition mounts, those hopes appear to be dwindling. This could be Adobe's last chance.

As its annual Max developer conference approaches, Adobe has announced details of the forthcoming Flash Player 11, along with AIR 3, the latest iteration of the Adobe Integrated Runtime desktop app based on Flash technology. Among the top features of the new versions is hardware-based 2D and 3D graphics acceleration, which Adobe promises will make Flash content run "1,000 times faster."

In addition, Adobe has hinted that the Max keynotes will unveil "a new company initiative that reimagines content authoring" and transform "the creative process across mobile devices, personal computers, and the cloud."

Even if Adobe delivers on its grand pronouncements, all this may prove too little, too late. Once, Flash was near-ubiquitous. Today, as consumers move away from desktop PCs toward smartphones, tablets, and other devices, Flash's influence is waning. Apple stopped shipping the Flash Player with new Macs in 2010 and forbade it outright on iOS devices, amid scathing criticism from then-CEO Steve Jobs. Now comes word that the Internet Explorer 10 browser for Metro, Microsoft's new Start screen shipping with Windows 8, will not support any plug-ins, including Flash.