Functional Area 3.1: Research and Development Support

Digicomp Research Corporation was awarded a Metropolitan Development Association's Grant for Growth. In our grant submittal we proposed to provide UAV operators with the technology needed to permit UAVs to operate safely in US airspaces. This will allow them to more effectively train in restricted airspaces and permit wide usage of UAVs for commercial applications.  While the role of UAVs in military operations has grown dramatically in recent years, in US airspace they operate primarily in restricted military airspace, at high altitude under positive control, or in at lower altitude with a manned chase aircraft.  Non-military government applications are even more restricted and civilian applications are essentially not available yet because of the flight restrictions due to the challenges of mixing manned and unmanned aircraft in the same airspace. Digicomp's solution would eliminate these UAV operating restrictions, opening the market for commercial and government applications.

Functional Area 3.2: Engineering Support

Digicomp developed and supports the Air Surveillance and Control System (ASAC), a system with a rich set of functions for use in airspace control, ground control intercept, and area monitoring operations. Digicomp's ASAC program has resulted in operational systems now fielded at locations in the US, Puerto Rico and Canada.

As part of our maintenance on these systems, we've supported the development of new and enhancing existing capabilities.  Over the course of supporting this product we have expanded the external data sources to include a fully operational Link-16 CU J2 command set. The ASAC is capable of participating on a Link-16 network with other military players. In addition, we have supported several of our sites (81^st RCS, 173^rd OSS , 2^nd ROPS) who have conducted airspace validations with their local FAA representatives. We've successfully passed the verification at each of these locations. We have added a performance based simulation capability and a raster map display feature.

The ASOC program is a Foreign Military Sales program managed by ESC for eastern European countries. The program helps eastern European democracies manage their commercial and military. The ASOC system produces real-time recognized air pictures integrating military and civilian airspace information compatible with western European and North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) standards.

Our involvement in this program began at the proposal stage. We've been a subcontractor to Lockheed Martin Eagan for the duration of the ASOC program and its follow on efforts. We reuse ASAC components to support the ASOC development. We also provide technical support in the form of systems engineering, software engineering, and on site support at Lockheed Martin's facility in Eagan, MN. The program has delivered air sovereignty systems to Poland, Czech Republic, Hungary, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, and Bulgaria. Future efforts include porting the existing ASOC to a new compiler and incorporating some of the Digicomp Research Corporation developed ASAC features into the ASOC baseline.

Functional Area 3.3: Modeling

The MIG Emulator function, which provides an interface to the AN/TYQ-23 TAOM allows additional radars to be integrated into the OM air picture and makes other ASAC functions (e.g. simulations) available. The function presents non-TPS-75 radars as data sources in the OM van. The data enters the OM on its Digital Database as a remote radar source. Entering the van at this level provides the operators with all the radar and track management controls they normally have with the local TPS-75 data. Inherent with this function is the flexibility and user intuitive controls available in an ASAC system. Well designed GUIs allow the operators to control the data flow into the van and make decisions on track initiation criteria, track level fusion configuration, and plot display settings easily & quickly.

Our role began as a task to create a method for extracting data from the OM van for analysis in the Wolfpack program. This tool, the Advanced Tracking Analysis System, grew to include the ability to inject simulated data with recorded data and perform tracking analysis. We continue to support this system with requested upgrades and enhancements.  The system now collects additional data (e.g., plot and track data) from the digital database (DDB) associated with the TPS-75 radar located at the 123rd ACS.  The AFRL/SNZW uses the system to manipulate tracking parameters and test the effects on initiation and tracking performance under various conditions. Since some of the data on the DDB is classified, the data collection system is certified for use in a classified environment. 

Functional Area 3.4: Prototyping

The MIG Emulator project was began as a separate support task within our ASAC maintenance contract with the Air National Guard. The task began as an analysis of the interface capabilities of the TAOM OM van. After determining the most appropriate method of interfacing with the van, we created a prototype system for streaming non-TPS75 radar into the system. This prototype included the ability to send simulated radar data into the system.

Functional Area 3.6: Software

Our M4IS product was originally developed as an engineering support task on the ASAC maintenance contract. We determined the correct method for providing a Mode 4 interrogation capability from our ASAC system to the TPS75 radar for existing ASAC customers. We took this function from a feature on the ASAC to a standalone product for the Naval Air Warfare Center integration into the BC3 program. We selected hardware components to meet the environmental and operational requirements. We then transitioned the existing software into a standalone product with the ability to integrate with other vendor's hosts systems. We developed an internal test and inspection process, and supported field testing at the 133^rd TSS in Fort Dodge, Iowa.

The M4IS-101D accepts mode 4 interrogation requests from a host computer system and closes the TPS-75 mode 4 override circuit to trigger interrogation. The M4IS uses the start and stop azimuths in request messages and the history of northmark arrivals from the TPS-75 to determine the start and stop time for requested interrogations. The M4IS respects the Test and Whole Sweep flags in interrogation request messages.

The ASAC/DTOC accepts data via a Distributed Interactive Simulations (DIS) interface to the larger Distributed Mission Training (DMT) network and Next Generation Target Simulator (NGTS) systems. From this network we accept aircraft position information from simulations systems at facilities across the United States. The data is displayed on the ASAC as radar received aircraft. The ASAC provides the users with the look & feel and the functional controls a Weapons Controller expects and needs to perform his duties.

The ASAC/B configuration, derived from the larger ASAC system, can be found at both the 174th FW/DET-1 Adirondack Range and the 177th FW/DET-1 Warren Grove Range. These systems support the Range Safety Officers, improving range safety and range utilization. These single seat/two radar systems are configured with functionality required by the range locations.