TECHNICAL DIVISIONS
Homeland Protection and Air Traffic Control — Division 4
The Homeland Protection and Air Traffic Control Division leads MIT Lincoln Laboratory's efforts in these mission areas. Under Homeland Protection, the division focuses on systems and technology for chemical and biological defense; maritime, border, and airspace security; and disaster response. The division's Air Traffic Control programs support the Federal Aviation Administration's (FAA) Next Generation Air Traffic Control System initiative in developing a national GPS-based surveillance system, airborne and ground-based collision avoidance technologies, advanced weather forecasting and associated decision support tools, and future air traffic control tower automation.
Recent and planned accomplishments include
- Operation and refinement of the Enhanced Regional Situation Awareness system for air defense of the National Capital Region
- Development and prototyping of architectures and technologies to improve multiagency collaborative command during disasters such as wildfires, earthquakes, or floods
- Testing of a system to protect subway passengers in a major metropolitan region from biological attacks
- Deployment and testing of automation and safety lights for preventing runway incursions at Boston's Logan International Airport
- Development of an eight-hour automated thunderstorm forecast for use in air traffic management facilities
The division's most important asset is its innovative workforce with expertise across technologies including radar, optical, acoustic, and biological sensing; large software system development; weather forecasting; decision support; and systems analysis and modeling.
| Groups |
Group 42—Surveillance Systems
The Surveillance Systems Group develops integrated sensing and decision support systems for both Air Traffic Control and Homeland Protection. Current programs focus on new sensor, data fusion, and net-centric systems addressing both the air traffic mission of improving capacity, safety, and security within the U.S. airspace, spanning air, land, and maritime domains, and the Homeland Protection areas of disaster response and biodefense. Key accomplishments include the Traffic Alert and Collision Avoidance System; the Enhanced Regional Situation Awareness system, which improves the identification and response to airborne threats in the National Capital Region; Runway Status Lights, which improve the safety of taxiing aircraft at major airports; and the Lincoln Distributed Disaster Response System, which enables multiagency collaborative command and control for large-scale disasters. The group works all phases of the solution to a problem from original concept development through development of operational prototypes. To accomplish these goals, the group employs a broad base of technical talent including systems analysis, software architecture and development, radio frequency and digital hardware design, and system integration.
Group 43—Weather Sensing
The Weather Sensing Group develops sensors, automated forecasting systems, and decision support systems to reduce the impact of adverse weather and traffic constraints on commercial aviation. The group combines Lincoln Laboratory expertise in sensor processing, meteorology, analysis, and advanced algorithms, tied together by a solid core of software architecture development. Extensive field evaluations and simulation studies are employed to ensure user acceptance and the successful transition of new technologies into operational use. Key accomplishments include the development of the Terminal Doppler Weather Radar and ASR-9 Weather Systems Processor, and deployment of decision support systems—including the Integrated Terminal Weather System, Corridor Integrated Weather System, Route Availability Planning Tool, and prototype Tower Flight Data Manager—at numerous facilities in the United States.
Group 46—Advanced System Concepts
The Advanced System Concepts Group develops system architectures, conducts technology assessments, and performs risk-reduction demonstrations addressing future capabilities for homeland protection. Current programs focus on disaster response, maritime and land border surveillance and interdiction, chemical/biological defense, and infrastructure protection (for example, airport and special event security). These activities require modeling, simulation, field measurements, and demonstrations to assess the ability of emerging technologies and architectures to meet mission requirements. This work often involves direct interaction with operational partners in the Department of Homeland Security, state and local authorities, and Department of Defense. Staff in the group maintain expertise across a broad range of technologies, including radar, optical, acoustic, biological, and chemical sensing. In addition, researchers synthesize these technology areas into innovative architectural concepts to assist in defining next-generation capabilities.
Group 47—Chemical and Biological Defense Systems
The Chemical and Biological Defense Systems Group develops systems and technology for disaster preparedness, detection, mitigation, and attribution, with emphasis on chemical and biological defense. Principal sponsors are the Department of Homeland Security and the Department of Defense. The work of the group is highly interdisciplinary; as a result, the backgrounds of the researchers are diverse, including engineering (electrical, mechanical, chemical, biomedical), physics, mathematics, computer science, chemistry, and biology. Rigorous systems analyses produce system architectures and recommend research areas to guide government investment. These analyses are grounded by modeling and simulation of threats and defenses, and by data analysis. Sensor development is conducted at several levels, including initial measurements of detection signatures, proof-of-concept experiments for biological or chemical assay or electro-optic sensors, integration into autonomous sensors along with development of the associated electronics and algorithms, and rigorous field testing in relevant environments. The group develops and tests multitechnology integrated systems in operational settings. The integrated systems include significant algorithm development to fuse multisource information. Emerging thrusts in the group include support for additional Homeland Security missions, natural disaster management, forensics, and electronics and algorithm support for other Lincoln Laboratory missions.
Group 48—Bioengineering Systems and Technologies
The Bioengineering Systems and Technologies Group seeks to improve the performance of human-centered missions through preventing injury and disease, improving sensing and identification of people and their environment, and speeding rehabilitation and recovery. This goal is accomplished through four broad technical areas: biomedical research, synthetic biology, bioinformatics and biometrics, and forensics. Biomedical research includes advanced sensing, algorithms, modeling, prototyping, and field testing of technologies to diagnose disease, predict outcomes, avoid injuries, and monitor and enhance human performance. The synthetic biology research is developing tools and techniques that will greatly speed the design, evaluation, and assessment of genome-wide engineering approaches through highly integrated microfluidic devices. Bioinformatics is applied across the group to uncover signatures in high-throughput genomic, transcriptomic, and proteomic data sets. Biometrics and forensics research is developing technologies and systems for human identification, including rapid DNA analysis, standoff biometric sensing, scientific validation of forensic techniques, and integrated architecture analyses. This highly interdisciplinary group draws on skills from biology, biochemistry, biosignal processing, engineering, computer science, physics, and medical research areas. Primary government sponsors are in the Departments of Defense, Homeland Security, and Justice, as well as the National Institutes of Health.
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