AUSTIN, Texas – JANUARY 6, 2015 – Textron Systems Advanced Information Solutions , a Textron Inc. (NYSE: TXT) business, announced today that it has entered into a two-year Cooperative Research and Development Agreement (CRADA) with the U.S. Army Communications-Electronics Research, Development and Engineering Center (CERDEC).
Textron Systems will work with CERDEC’s Intelligence Enterprise Branch of Information & Intelligence Warfare Directorate (I2WD) to enhance multi-intelligence collaboration for Warfighter Relevant Cloud Technologies, to be aligned with usability enhancements within the current Distributed Common Ground System – Army (DCGS-A) baseline.
As part of the initial CRADA efforts with I2WD, Textron Systems is integrating its Multi-INT Sensor Cloud solution into I2WD’s developmental cloud architecture. The Multi-INT Sensor Cloud is a highly scalable sensor data processing solution that supports ingestion, processing, visualization and tasking of multi-INT sensors and sensor data feeds. It supports direct ingestion and processing of sensor feeds or derived intelligence in the form of standardized Department of Defense formatted messages.
The solution leverages Army investments made to align with the Intelligence Community Information Technology Enterprise (IC-ITE) architecture and leverages open source technologies to provide a highly elastic architecture capable of ingesting millions of messages per hour. It is extensible through development of sensor or platform-specific gateways that provide mediation services for specific protocols. Sensor Cloud’s open, extensible, IC-ITE compliant architecture simplifies integration of disparate multi-INT data feeds. This results in significantly lower costs as compared to non-standard, proprietary data integration technologies.
Leveraging evolving technologies and combining them with a unique level of experience in programs such as PM-DCGS-A, and the Special Operations Forces community, Textron Systems can accelerate the integration of tactical sensors and messaging systems, as well as national level data sources and feeds, into the Army cloud for collection and exploitation.
“Our team has been the primary provider of visualization, analysis and interoperability capabilities to the DCGS-A program for nearly a decade, and we are using this experience to ensure Multi-INT Sensor Cloud can be seamlessly integrated into both tactical and strategic Army cloud architectures,” explains Steve Overly, Textron Systems Advanced Information Solutions senior vice president and general manager. “At the same time, we are leveraging advanced visualization technologies and a user-centered design paradigm to ensure efficient analyst and operator workflows using thin client widgets accessible from anywhere on the network.”
This initial CRADA effort, as well as a planned follow-on Cyber solution, is part of Textron Systems’ continuing efforts to support evolving Army intelligence needs and get innovative technologies into the hands of the nation’s soldiers
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