Op-Eds

Unmanned

Can you trust that drone? - Blog

January 31, 2017

The recent activities in the South China Sea of the seizure and subsequent return by China of a U.S. unmanned underwater vehicle (UUV) ? also known as an ?ocean glider drone? - has once again brought drone security into the spotlight. Securing data collected as part of Internet of Things (IoT) environments is top of mind, and never more so than in military applications.

Comms

Domains of warfare and strategic offsets - Blog

January 31, 2017

Ray Alderman

WARFARE EVOLUTION BLOG:It?s 2017, and I?m back. After enduring uncomfortably-deep probing and evaluation of my literary skills and technical analysis capabilities, along with a comprehensive DNA test, my masters here at OpenSystems Media have decided to keep me on as a writer, to ply you with another year of fascinating and intriguing next-generation warfare articles. For 2017 I will write with an emphasis on present capabilities of the U.S. and our enemies, as well as new platforms and strategies under development.

Comms

War in space - Blog

December 20, 2016

Ray Alderman

WARFARE EVOLUTION BLOG: Speculating a war in space is a perplexing subject, so let?s wade into it with a heathy level of trepidation, looking at treaties, space courts, and potential battle scenarios.

Cyber

How much and what kind of coverage analysis is enough? - Blog

November 21, 2016

Jay Thomas

CODE QUALITY BLOG: The discussion of coverage analysis can bring up a number of different assumptions that do not always agree. Does it mean checking that all the code has been executed? Does it mean that all requirements have been exercised and tested? Does it bring up some number other than 100 percent that can be relied upon for functioning code? What we want to do is to assure ourselves that a program has been thoroughly tested to the point it can be relied upon, even in life-threatening situations. How do we achieve this and what aspect of ?coverage? will allow us to rest easy?

A.I.

Facilitating deep learning techniques with HPEC - Blog

October 31, 2016

Dr. Mohamed Bergach Kontron

The long-sought era of machine learning in finally at hand. The potential benefit to the warfighter of deep learning techniques both enormous and profound. With defense systems trending towards greater application autonomy, deep learning techniques too complex to implement with more traditional processing technologies can now help to significantly drive advancements in on-platform processing of streaming signal or image data. These techniques are proving useful for pattern recognition tasks such as natural language processing and image feature detection, producing highly reliable autonomous decisions based on huge data sets.

Cyber

In a cyberwar - Blog

October 30, 2016

Ray Alderman

WARFARE EVOLUTION BLOG: This is another broad, sticky, and complex topic, much like the previous article on cryptology. So, let?s get started by offering some definitions.

Cyber

Nail down software security with dynamic analysis - Blog

October 30, 2016

Jay Thomas

CODE QUALITY BLOG: You?ve secured your Internet of Things (IoT)-connected system with components for authentication such as password, retina scan, physical key, plus encryption/decryption and more. But building these things in is not enough. You?ve got to be certain that they all work together properly and that the code doesn?t contain any flaws that could grant access to hackers. Security needs to be built in at the very start of the project by using secure protocols and continuing on up to functional elements in the application. One powerful tool for gaining this assurance is dynamic analysis.

Comms

Next generation wireless R&D: the rise of the multi-functional engineer - Blog

September 29, 2016

Ken Karnofsky MathWorks

The next generation of wireless communications systems is driving a new level of technology integration. Higher data rates, massive connectivity for systems like the Internet of Things (IoT), lower power consumption, and other ambitious goals can only be achieved by combining advanced digital, RF, and antenna technologies. Traditionally, each of these components has been designed separately, only to be integrated, tested, and debugged after the first hardware prototype is built. The days of this approach, with domain experts working separately, using separate tools, are numbered.

Comms

Overcoming four key IoT secure messaging challenges - Blog

September 29, 2016

David Ingham

THE OPEN SOURCE WAY BLOG. Secure, real-time communication technology is an essential requirement for military Internet of Things (IoT) solutions. There are numerous protocols for communication between IoT devices, and between the devices and back-end systems. Messaging solutions should be able to to support these various protocols across heterogeneous, physically distributed systems while enabling the security and integrity of information flows. They should also be highly scalable, able to accommodate potentially hundreds of millions of devices. And since delay or loss of data is not an option, they should feature strict availability and reliability requirements.

Comms

COTS makes its case for wider military adoption - Blog

September 29, 2016

Charlie Kawasaki PacStar

Comms

Cloud, fog, mist, fluid, blockchain, and other things that irritate me - Blog

September 28, 2016

Ray Alderman

We are being inundated with new computing and networking models for all the wrong reasons -- from cloud computing to blockchain. This is a topic that distorts my normally congenial and pleasant demeanor, so let?s take a look at what is really going on and clear the air.

Comms

CBP increases import audits and enforcement actions - Blog

August 24, 2016

David R. Hamill Teresa M. Polino Orisia K. Gammell Birgit Matthiesen Arent Fox LLP

The summer heat has not been confined to the weather. U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officials are warming up the import world with more audits and enforcement actions. To accomplish this objective, CBP Regulatory Audit has started to deviate from its traditional audit program, the Focused Assessment, and intends to conduct more audit surveys and comprehensive audits in lieu of Focused Assessments.

Comms

ARPA, DARPA, and Jason - Blog

August 24, 2016

Ray Alderman U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA)

WARFARE EVOLUTION BLOG: After the success of the Manhattan Project, that ended World War II in the Pacific, the Pentagon significantly reduced expenditures on research and development of weapons as the world enjoyed peace. That was a mistake considering the actions taken by the Russians in the following decade.

Comms

In a nuclear war... - Blog

July 28, 2016

Ray Alderman

WARFARE EVOLUTION BLOG: In this space we have discussed different generations of warfare, potential warfare against countries such as Iran, Russia, China, and North Korea, as well as the war on terror, but there is one are we haven't touched on until now -- nuclear warfare.

Unmanned

Enabling live video feeds in UAVs - Blog

June 30, 2016

John Payne

As the president of a technology company, I have seen my share of equipment innovations and trends, some which can be used across a wide spectrum of users. Drones ? to be more specific, unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) ? fit that description perfectly. Used broadly, the term can apply to toys that can be used to annoy the family cat in a YouTube video, or it can apply to military and industrial reconnaissance and situational awareness applications that are often matters of life and death. There are some obvious reliability and durability factors that must be in place for the latter.