2011 Technology Transfer Activities

The 2011 tech transfer activities included the delivery of hardware, software, algorithms, and advanced architecture concepts to government contractors under the auspices of government sponsors:

Space Surveillance TelescopeSpace Control

  • The Space Surveillance Telescope (SST) at left achieved first light in 2011. Lincoln Laboratory developed enabling technologies for the telescope—an innovative curved charge-coupled device imager and a specialized shutter. The Laboratory provided algorithms for the SST's control and data processing, and was responsible for integration of the entire SST system.

Air and Missile Defense Technology

  • The Laboratory developed the prototype autonomous processing and sensor control computer for the Missile Defense Agency’s airborne infrared optical sensing capability for tracking ballistic missile threats. The hardware design and prototype software implementation was then transferred to Raytheon for further development and production.

  • Iterative Clutter Calibration, an antenna calibration technique for airborne radars, is being transferred to Northrop Grumman, Boeing, and the commonwealth of Australia (through the U.S. Air Force). The technique uses ground clutter to improve the calibration of an airborne radar antenna to compensate for effects such as airframe interaction and failed antenna elements. Two patents have been filed.

  • The U.S. Navy is acquiring the Air and Missile Defense Radar (AMDR) to provide next-generation, integrated air and missile defense capability for future surface combatants. To establish a baseline for the ballistic missile defense mission, the Laboratory developed a prototype architecture for tracking and discriminating targets in all phases of ballistic flight. The AMDR discrimination architecture was delivered to the government, and its component algorithms will be transferred to industry.

Communication Systems

  • The VOCALINC forensic-style speaker comparison tool, which employs state-of-the-art session and channel compensation and speech enhancement, was transferred to the Federal Bureau of Investigation, U.S. Secret Service, and the intelligence community.
  • The Large Aperture Ka-band Test Terminal was upgraded to characterize the on-orbit performance of the wideband bypass mode on the Wideband Global Satellite (WGS) Flights 4 and above. The terminal was transferred to the WGS program office and deployed to Camp Parks, California, in preparation for postlaunch testing.

Cyber Security

  • The Laboratory's patented cyber attack graph modeling and analysis system (called NetSPA for Network Security Planning Architecture) was transferred to FireMon, LLC.
  • Several cyber range network emulation and instrumentation tools were transitioned to government ranges to support testing and experimentation. The Lincoln Adaptable Real-time Information Assurance Testbed (LARIAT) network emulation suite was integrated into the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency’s National Cyber Range program, and the low-observable physical host instrumentation (LO-PHI) tools were transferred to several government organizations.

ISR Systems and Technology

  • Demonstration flights of the BAE Systems ARGUS-IS sensor were completed in 2011, with integration of this sensor into the U.S. Air Force's Gorgon Stare Increment 2 system expected to be completed in 2012. The ARGUS-IS visible-band sensor system represents technology initially developed and demonstrated in Lincoln Laboratory’s Multi-Aperture Sparse Imager Video System (MASIVS) sensor, the first prototype gigapixel-class persistent surveillance system.
  • The Airborne Ladar Imaging Research Testbed (ALIRT) 3D laser radar sensor and onboard processing capability were transferred to the U.S. Air Force.
  • Under U.S. Navy sponsorship, sonar signal processing software for enhanced detection, classification, and localization was transferred to Lockheed Martin Corporation for subsequent integration into submarine sonar systems.
  • Over the past two years, the Laboratory has sustained a steady transfer of technology to the National Security Agency's Real-Time Regional Gateway (RTRG) program office and its industry partners. This transfer included data-intensive cloud analytics for RTRG data as well as an ingest and analytics pipeline for textual documents.
  • The Pyxis software for automated exploitation of ground moving target indication radar data was transitioned to operational users at the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency and other government agencies.
  • Algorithms and a real-time software implementation for processing data from wide-area motion imaging sensors were transferred to Mercury Computer Systems, as part of the U.S. Air Force's Gorgon Stare program.

Tactical Systems

  • As part of a quick-reaction capability ISR program, the Laboratory developed two sensor systems, a UHF radar, and a passive direction-finding sensor that were designed and optimized for counterinsurgency missions. These systems were initially transitioned to operational users in August 2010, and a significant upgrade was transitioned in April 2011.
  • The Laboratory rapidly developed and prototyped a tactical, high-capacity data survey system for counterterrorism missions. Two full systems were transitioned to a government partner for operational use in 2011.
  • A robot-mounted payload designed for tactical counterinsurgency missions was initially transitioned to industry for limited production in 2010, and subsequent algorithm developments were transitioned to industry and to operationally fielded systems in 2011.

Advanced Technology

  • Lincoln Laboratory is being sponsored by the Joint Project Manager–Biological Defense to help transition the Rapid Agent Aerosol Detector (RAAD) to low-rate initial production. The RAAD will replace the current, also Laboratory-developed, detector in the Joint Biological Point Detection System (see below), an integrated suite of biological point detection components designed to provide early warning of bioagents for the Army, Navy, and Air Force.
  • The startup company TeraDiode, whose founders include two former Laboratory staff members, is commercializing technology pioneered at Lincoln Laboratory that uses breakthroughs in wavelength beam combining to achieve the brightness and power required for demanding applications such as high-speed cutting and remote welding.

Homeland Protection

  • A prototype of the Next-Generation Incident Command System for disaster response has transitioned to operational use by the Southern California first responder community.
  • As part of the field-deployable Accelerated Nuclear DNA Equipment program, the Laboratory developed and characterized improved collection and processing procedures for forensic DNA evidence and transferred them to DoD sponsors and users. The program also produced secure DNA profile data analysis and communication software suites that will be transferred to users within the Departments of Defense, Justice, and Homeland Security, as well as industry.

Air Traffic Control

  • The Laboratory initiated the transfer of the Route Availability Planning Tool (RAPT) to industry. This transition will lead to the adaptation and deployment of RAPT to the Potomac and Philadelphia areas. RAPT is already in use in New York and Chicago to assist air traffic managers in the selection of departure routes that are free from convective weather.

 

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