(Press-News.org) ARLINGTON, Va.-Successfully taking a small radio receiver intended for space applications and creating a full-featured radio frequency system, initially designed for a Marine Corps unmanned aircraft, would not have been possible without the integrated effort of three naval entities.
The Software Reprogrammable Payload (SRP), a collaborative effort between the Office of Naval Research, the Naval Research Laboratory and Marine Corps aviation, is currently targeted for the Shadow unmanned aircraft system (UAS).
Based on the successful development of SRP, Marine Corps aviation has included the capability in Program Objective Memorandum (POM) 12 and 13. The program of record officially starts in fiscal 2012 with transition funds expected in fiscal 2011.
SRP is a government-owned design for a flexible, reconfigurable-while-in-operation software radio developed to meet current and future needs for the Marine Corps' UAS. It will be a complement to the military's next-generation radio, the Joint Tactical Radio System, said John Moniz, ONR program officer for command, control, computers and communication, expeditionary warfare/combating terrorism.
Two key elements of SRP are its nonproprietary design and a software developer's tool kit that enables the widest community to develop applications.
"The software developer's tool kit makes the cost of entry affordable," Moniz said.
SRP will fill a technology gap enabling Marines on the ground to connect, via Shadow, with other warfighters regardless of the radio, network or waveform being used, said Lt. Col. Dean Ebert, Marine Corps Aviation Requirements Branch.
"The ability to reconfigure SRP's function--while it is in flight or on a mission--ensures that Marines will be able to share knowledge, access capabilities, and effectively command while they maneuver and engage our adversaries," Ebert said.
The collaborative work between ONR, NRL and the Marines played a significant role in making SRP a success, Marine Corps Lt. Gen. George Trautman, deputy commandant for aviation, said in a January 20, 2011, memo to ONR and NRL leadership.
The trio overcame several impediments that might have doomed most fledgling programs and instead moved SRP to the "cusp of transition with a funding line in place," Trautman said before retiring from the Corps in February.
The partnership among ONR, NRL and Marine aviation has been remarkable, and ONR's contribution to the success of SRP cannot be overstated, Ebert added.
"Each organization has--without ego--contributed significantly: ONR accepted early risk and funded this project and provided program oversight and leadership; Marine aviation defined a transition path and established the appropriate requirements; and NRL has adroitly managed the program," Ebert said.
For its part, ONR restructured resources, formed an SRP team and delivered a noteworthy product, said Ashley Johnson, ONR's director of applications, expeditionary maneuver warfare and combating terrorism.
"ONR was responsive to the requirement. It is a good utilization of our resources," Johnson said. "That's an important message."
As it stands now, SRP has not been deployed into theater as a Marine asset, Ebert said. "We are still in development, with a (low rate) initial production run slated to start at the end of this year as we wrap up our testing."
The original goal was to provide the Marines with a robust, flexible payload for the Shadow UAS starting with four applications: A Single Channel Ground and Airborne Radio System communications relay; Bent Pipe UHF Communications; UHF Internet Protocol router for legacy tactical UHF radios; and automated identification system (AIS) as the notional signals intelligence application.
SRP is planned to transition into Integrator, the Marine Corps' small tactical UAS, Moniz said.
INFORMATION:
About the Office of Naval Research
The Department of the Navy's Office of Naval Research (ONR) provides the science and technology necessary to maintain the Navy and Marine Corps' technological advantage. Through its affiliates, ONR is a leader in science and technology with engagement in 50 states, 70 countries, 1,035 institutions of higher learning and 914 industry partners. ONR employs approximately 1,400 people, comprising uniformed, civilian and contract personnel, with additional employees at the Naval Research Lab in Washington, D.C.
END
HOUSTON - Like a bounty hunter returning escapees to custody, a cancer-fighting gene converts organ cells that change into highly mobile stem cells back to their original, stationary state, researchers report online at Nature Cell Biology.
This newly discovered activity of the p53 gene offers a potential avenue of attack on breast cancer stem cells thought to play a central role in progression and spread of the disease, according to scientists at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center.
Long known for monitoring DNA damage and forcing defective cells to kill ...
Rice University scientists and their colleagues have found that when growing corn crops for ethanol, more means less.
A new paper in today's online edition of the American Chemical Society's journal Environmental Science and Technology shows how farmers can save money on fertilizer while they improve their production of feedstock for ethanol and alleviate damage to the environment.
The research has implications for an industry that has grown dramatically in recent years to satisfy America's need for energy while trying to cut the nation's reliance on fossil fuels.
The ...
Hawaii growers can now export more fruits and vegetables to the U.S. mainland, thanks to technology advanced by U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) scientists and cooperators.
Delicious tropical fruits and vegetables such as papaya, rambutan, longan, dragon fruit and purple-fleshed sweet potato are gaining popularity in the continental United States. But just five years ago, it would have been difficult to find these tropical delicacies in grocery stores. That's because strict quarantine restrictions and phytosanitary measures are in place to ensure agricultural pests ...
In a finding that once again displays the power of the female, UCSF neuroscientists have discovered that teenage male songbirds, still working to perfect their song, improve their performance in the presence of a female bird.
The finding sheds light on how social cues can impact the process of learning, the researchers said, and, specifically, could offer insights into the way humans learn speech and other motor skills. It also could inform strategies for rehabilitating people with motor disorders or brain injuries.
The study was reported in a recent early online edition ...
Using tiny spheres of radioactive liquid to guide surgeons as they remove potentially cancerous material in the lungs is safe and more effective than other techniques, Italian researchers report at the European Multidisciplinary Conference in Thoracic Oncology (EMCTO), 24-26 February 2011, Lugano, Switzerland.
Dr Luca Bertolaccini, Dr Alberto Terzi and colleagues from Santa Croce e Carle Hospital in Cuneo, Italy, studied a technique known as radio-guided surgery in 19 patients. Each of the patients had been found to have 'single pulmonary nodules' in their lungs.
Single ...
The targeted cancer drug erlotinib has comparable efficacy to chemotherapy, and is better tolerated, in hard-to-treat cases where a patient's cancer has progressed quickly after treatment with first-line therapy, the results of a new phase III trial show.
Dr Tudor Ciuleanu from the Institute of Oncology Ion Chiricuta, Cluj-Napoca, Romania, reported this finding from the international TITAN study at the European Multidisciplinary Conference in Thoracic Oncology (EMCTO), 24-26 February 2011, Lugano, Switzerland.
"The TITAN study is the first trial to evaluate whether ...
Famed especially for the excellence of its peacekeepers and ice hockey players, Canada's water experts are now increasingly needed to help countries elsewhere brace for drought, flood and unsafe water problems looming on a 15 to 20 year horizon.
Within a single generation, recent studies show, water demand in many countries will exceed supply by an estimated 40%, with one-third of humanity having half the water required for life's basics. In flood-prone places, meanwhile, catastrophic flood events normally expected once a century - similar to those recently witnessed ...
PROVIDENCE, R.I. [Brown University] — Freshmen on the eve of finals and graduate students staring down a thesis committee may not feel this way, but the privilege of obtaining an advanced education correlates with decades of lower blood pressure, according to a study led by a public health researcher at Brown University. The benefit appears to be greater for women than for men.
Eric Loucks, assistant professor of community health, says the analysis of nearly 4,000 patient records from the 30-year Framingham Offspring Study may help explain a widely documented association ...
The number of connections between nerve cells in the brain can be regulated by an immune system molecule, according to a new study from UC Davis. The research, published Feb. 27 in the journal Nature Neuroscience, reveals a potential link between immunity, infectious disease and conditions such as schizophrenia or autism.
Schizophrenia, autism and other disorders are associated with changes in connectivity in the brain, said Kimberley McAllister, associate professor in the Center for Neuroscience and Departments of Neurology and Neurobiology, Physiology and Behavior ...
One of the reasons often given by people for not attempting first aid in emergency situations is a lack of confidence and a fear of doing more harm than good. Yet a Norwegian study on four and five year olds published in BioMed Central's open access journal Scandinavian Journal of Trauma, Resuscitation and Emergency Medicine shows that even young children are able to learn and perform basic first aid.
Pre-school children at a kindergarten in Bergen, Norway, were taught first aid using the 'five-finger-rule' system: look at the person, talk to them, touch them to try ...
