U.S. Naval Analysis Laboratory (NRL) acknowledged Centennial Innovation awardees throughout a ceremony on Apr. 8 held on the Gaylord Conference Heart in Nationwide Harbor, Md., for main impacts on nationwide safety.
The Centennial Innovation Awards honor 28 of essentially the most artistic and impactful accomplishments starting from 1998 to 2023. The scientists and engineers had been introduced the awards for his or her efforts and on behalf of all who contributed over a few years to advance these naval applied sciences collectively.
“Right this moment within the Purple Sea our Sailors are serving fantastically and using the know-how that you simply and our colleagues developed and fielded,” stated Workplace of Naval Analysis Chief of Naval Analysis Rear. Adm. Kurt J. Rothenhaus. “From the paint on the underside of the hull to the antenna on the prime of the mast, our ships, submarines, plane amphibious capabilities relaxation on a basis of superior science. I like to think about the Program Officers and researchers because the beating coronary heart of naval analysis – ultimately, we’re all actually right here to help you in your analysis.”
The laboratory has made an unlimited cumulative affect over a time span that features a World Battle, an extended Chilly Battle, and a large number of regional conflicts and crises. In its early years, the laboratory helped create a Navy second to none, and thereafter it has performed an vital function in preserving America’s naval supremacy on, underneath and above the seas.
“NRL has a well-established report of success,” stated NRL Director of Analysis Dr. Bruce G. Danly, SES. “Various of its improvements have had a decisive affect on world occasions. The obvious are three applied sciences that every tilted the navy stability of energy: the primary U.S. radar; the world’s first intelligence satellite tv for pc; and the idea and satellite tv for pc prototypes that led to the International Positioning System. Whereas not fairly as outstanding, many hundreds of NRL achievements over the previous century, some nonetheless categorised, have contributed enormously to America’s naval superiority.”
NRL has helped construct — in league with its authorities, college, and {industry} companions — essentially the most resilient naval preventing drive on this planet, which in flip helped to boost America’s safety, prosperity, and function in international affairs.
“For a century, the NRL has stood on the forefront of primary science, translating elementary data into superior capabilities for our Sailors and Marines,” stated NRL Commanding Officer Capt. Jesse H. Black. “Our recognitions in the present day solely scratch the floor of our contributions, emphasizing our dedication to understanding the unknown to attain resolution superiority throughout all domains and make sure the continued superiority of our naval forces. The laboratory’s function as a nexus for innovation ensures our collective readiness to fulfill the evolving threats to our nationwide safety.”
Reflecting on a century of scientific excellence, these researchers draw inspiration from the NRL’s inception within the aftermath of World Battle I, recognizing the pivotal function of scientific innovation in nationwide protection. “Right this moment, as we face new international safety challenges, our dedication to advancing science and know-how is unwavering,” Black stated. “The NRL’s first 100 years have laid a formidable basis. But, within the spirit of steady exploration and enchancment, we affirm: We’re simply getting began.”
These awardees play an integral function in delivering the Division of Protection (DOD) the particular data, capabilities, and agility to achieve in the present day’s dynamic warfighting surroundings. This set of awards enhances the set of seventy fifth Anniversary Innovation Awards given in 1998.
NRL Centennial Innovation Awards:
Within the space of Electromagnetic Warfare:
Dr. Scott M. Rudolph obtained the award for AN/ALE-50 Towed Countermeasures. The AN/ALE-50 Towed Countermeasure was the primary towed decoy for use as an in-flight countermeasure. The towed-decoy idea differs from the normal targets of digital warfare, the place antiaircraft missiles are denied the knowledge wanted to launch and intercept. At a comparatively modest value of $22,000 per decoy, this method made billions of {dollars}’ price of superior antiaircraft threats within the arms of the U.S.’s opponents much less efficient.
Mr. Gregory C. Tavik obtained the award for Anti-Ship Missile Protection Radar. NRL developed its Anti-Ship Missile Protection Radar to detect and observe sea-skimming missiles close to the horizon in tough littoral environments with extraordinarily low false-alarm charges. The radar operates concurrently in each floor and air modes, with the air mode offering an unprecedented clutter-rejection degree orders of magnitude higher than earlier know-how.
Dr. Francis J. Klemm obtained the award for NULKA Offboard Countermeasure System. The NULKA Offboard Countermeasure System, developed in partnership with the Australian Defence Science and Know-how Organisation, is a quick-reaction offboard digital countermeasure decoy to defeat anti-ship missiles. NULKA is now deployed on quite a few Australian and U.S. warships underneath a $1 billion program.
Within the space of Undersea Warfare:
Dr. Harry Simpson and Dr. Zachary J. Waters obtained the award for Structural Acoustics. NRL developed structural acoustics-based sonar know-how for search and identification of underwater targets. This new know-how makes use of machine studying and a various set of “fingerprints” resulting in excessive chance of detection and classification, low false-alarm charges, longer-range operation, and low-frequency sediment penetration resulting in potential buried goal prosecution.
Within the space of Communications, Data Know-how and Cyber Warfare:
Mr. David A. Derieux obtained the award for Tactical Communications. Within the Nineteen Nineties, NRL developed three main gadgets of tactical obtain equipment for communications: the Multi-Mission Superior Tactical Terminal (MATT), the Improved Knowledge Modem (IDM), and the Joint Fight Data Terminal (JCIT). These applied sciences enable first responders to speak when native infrastructure is destroyed.
Dr. William S. Rabinovich and Dr. Linda M. Thomas obtained the award for Free House Optics Communications. Free area optics communication is using modulated mild to transmit information by means of the air, a substitute for radio communication and transmission of knowledge. The navy utility of free area optics communications has resulted within the design and supply of fourth-generation methods for the Marine Corps. This game-changing functionality is a basis for future growth to different platforms and operational environments.
Dr. Gautam B. Trivedi obtained the award for Flying Squirrel. Flying Squirrel is an NRL-developed software program utility suite that gives real-time discovery, evaluation, and mapping of IEEE 802.11a/b/g/n wi-fi networks and can also be able to scanning for Bluetooth gadgets. Flying Squirrel offers organizations the means to securely combine wi-fi capabilities into their networks.
Dr. Paul F. Syverson obtained the award for Onion Routing, Tor, and Onion Providers. NRL invented onion routing as a method to “peel off” and separate identification from routing for Web connections. Onion routing offers confidentiality and authentication of the route {that a} connection takes between shopper and server.
Within the space of Battlespace Environments:
Dr. Stephen Eckermann obtained the award for Mountain Wave Forecast. NRL developed the Mountain Wave Forecast Mannequin (MWFM), the one meteorological mannequin capable of worldwide forecasting mountain wave exercise and wave-induced turbulence within the Earth’s ambiance from close to the floor to past 100,000 ft. It has been used to direct flights with NASA/European Union plane and balloons for finding out the physics of polar stratospheric clouds.
Mr. Dale C. Linne von Berg and Dr. Jeffrey H. Bowles obtained the award for Hyperspectral Imager for Tactical and Environmental Makes use of. NRL advances in digital reconnaissance and hyperspectral imaging applied sciences have been fielded in methods such because the F/A-18 SHAred Reconnaissance Pod (or SHARP pod), which changed the growing older film-based F-14 Tactical Airborne Reconnaissance Pod System (TARPS), and the Hyperspectral Imager for the Coastal Ocean (HICO) area borne sensor flown on the Worldwide House Station. The know-how is adaptable to manned or unmanned platforms.
Mr. E. Joseph Metzger obtained the award for International Ocean Forecast System. The International Ocean Forecast System (GOFS) is the U.S. Navy’s international ocean prediction system. It was declared operational in February 2006 and was based mostly on two NRL-developed ocean fashions, the Navy Layered Ocean Mannequin (NLOM) and the Navy Coastal Ocean Mannequin (NCOM). Additional enhancements grew to become operational in 2013 and 2018 with ONR sponsorship and educational companions. It runs each day at Naval Meteorology and Oceanography Command manufacturing facilities.
Dr. James Doyle obtained the award for Regional Tropical Cyclone Prediction Methods. NRL’s Coupled Ocean/Environment Mesoscale Prediction System for Tropical Cyclones, or COAMPS-TC, is a regional prediction system designed to generate five-day forecasts of tropical cyclone observe, depth, and construction. The COAMPS-TC deterministic system and COAMPS-TC Ensemble Prediction System have now supported operations for the Navy and Division of Protection worldwide for a decade.
Dr. Elizabeth M. Twarog obtained the award for WindSat House Borne Polarmetric Microwave Radiometer. NRL’s WindSat was the primary satellite-based polarimetric microwave radiometer. Launched in 2003, WindSat’s examined and absolutely evaluated the viability of utilizing passive polarimetric radiometry to retrieve the ocean floor wind pace and path from area. In additional than 17 years on orbit, WindSat additionally measured sea floor temperature, whole precipitable water, built-in cloud liquid water, rain charge over the ocean, soil moisture, and sea ice.
Within the space of Enabling Science and Know-how:
Dr. Joseph W. Schumer obtained the award for Pulsed X-ray Radiography. NRL enabled breakthrough advances in pulsed X-ray radiography with its invention of the rod-pinch diode within the late Seventies. A second-generation model of the diode, the plasma-filled rod pinch, produces an especially intense X-ray supply with parameters beforehand considered unattainable with standard strategies. It offers photos of unprecedented decision in dynamic experiments finding out the efficiency and security of strategic system elements.
Dr. David Meyer obtained the award for Gallium Nitride Transistor Growth. NRL’s analysis has been vital to the profitable improvement and utility of gallium nitride as a next-generation materials for semiconductors. Gallium nitride gives many benefits over silicon, the earlier {industry} customary, together with greater voltage and energy dealing with, larger effectivity, and improved thermal efficiency. It allows superior high-power functionality of radio-frequency transmitters for naval radar and digital assault.
Within the space of Affordability and Sustainability:
Dr. James R. Martin obtained the award for Low-Photo voltaic-Absorbance Ship Paint. NRL developed low-solar-absorbance paint with a view to scale back photo voltaic heating on Navy ships. Testing in 1995 demonstrated that this paint know-how not solely diminished ship floor temperatures and the load on air-conditioning methods, but additionally decreased the ship’s infrared signature.
Dr. Arthur A. Webb obtained the award for Fast-Remedy Corrosion Management Coatings. NRL pioneered, developed, and commercialized sturdy, rapid-cure coatings designed for harsh environments. These coating methods diminished a three-coat portray course of to a single-coat course of and provide an almost instantaneous “stroll on time” and a fast return to service, sometimes in minutes, not hours or days, as with different coating methods.
Dr. Erick B. Iezzi obtained the award for Topside Camouflage and Nonskid Deck Coatings. NRL developed and transitioned each two-component and single-component polysiloane-based coatings. For nonskid deck coatings, they possess larger exterior sturdiness, colour retention, and resistance to moisture, hydrocarbons, and detergents. A single formulation might be rolled or sprayed for flight decks and walkways of each floor ships and submarines.
Mr. James P. Tagert obtained the award for Excessive-Temperature Nonskid Decking. NRL developed Thermal Spray Nonskid, which is an inorganic, nonskid decking that could be a robotically utilized coating. It makes use of arc-wire thermal spray processes of commercially obtainable hybrid aluminum/ceramic feedstock. NRL developed the floor preparation and course of utility parameters wanted to supply the mandatory efficiency for Navy ships.
Within the space of House Analysis and Applied sciences:
Mr. Keith A. Akins obtained the award for Tactical Satellite tv for pc (TACSAT). NRL served as this system supervisor for TacSat-1, the primary experiment of the initiative, which served because the pathfinder for a collection of experiments. TacSat-2 and TacSat-3, Air Drive-led with a number of NRL experiments aboard, had been launched in 2006 and 2009. NRL was once more this system supervisor for Navy’s TacSat-4 spacecraft, which was launched in 2011. TACSAT demonstrated that small satellites can present satellite tv for pc communication companies to naval and joint navy forces, and to civil protection businesses utilizing their customary gear, in excessive latitudes and geographically denied locales.
Within the space of Autonomous Methods:
Ms. Peggy T. Davidson obtained the award for Dragon Eye. NRL, in collaboration with the Marine Corps Warfighting Laboratory, developed an inexpensive and expendable airborne sensor platform, Dragon Eye. This unmanned air automobile offered reconnaissance capabilities to small items of Marines to evaluate battle harm, to detect threats over the subsequent hill or across the subsequent constructing, and to forestall casualties from pleasant fireplace. By 2010, a complete of greater than 1,300 Dragon Eye plane, designated RQ-14A, had been deployed to Iraq.
Mr. Kevin R. Cronin obtained the award for Hydrogen Gasoline Cells for Unmanned Methods. NRL has made important contributions to the sphere of hydrogen gas cells and to their utility as high-energy-density sources for unmanned methods. Gasoline cells electrochemically convert hydrogen gas and oxygen in air into electrical energy and water. They’ve prolonged the flight time and vary of unmanned air methods and offered alternatives for brand spanking new deployment methods and missions.
Within the space of Directed Power:
Dr. Richard P. Fischer obtained the award for First Operational Shipboard Laser Weapon. Challenges posed by uneven warfare and hypersonic missiles are putting new calls for on the U.S. Navy. These threats create the necessity for defensive weapons which have a low-cost per shot, provide a deep magazine, and are high-precision, high-speed, and compact in dimension. NRL pioneered using single-mode fiber lasers with excellent optical beam high quality to increase the efficient vary of incoherently mixed lasers. This was deployed on USS Ponce in 2014.
Within the space of Personnel Safety:
Dr. R. Andrew McGill obtained the award for Floor Acoustic Wave Chemical Sensors. NRL pioneered using floor acoustic wave (SAW) know-how to detect chemical vapors together with chemical warfare brokers (CWA). The Laboratory’s efforts, courting again to 1981, had been supported within the developpsychological levels by the U.S Army and the U.S. Air Drive. It grew to become a subjected know-how when the DOD’s Joint Chemical Agent Detector entered into low-rate manufacturing in 2007.
Dr. Jay P. Boris obtained the award for CT-Analyst®. NRL’s CT-Analyst®, or Contaminant Transport Analyst system, is the primary operational instantaneous emergency evaluation system for airborne contaminants and weapons-of-mass-destruction threats in cities. It’s a product utility based mostly on NRL’s elementary work in fluid dynamics and atmospheric analysis. It has been demonstrated and employed in a number of areas internet hosting safe excessive profile occasions.
Dr. David A. Stenger obtained the award for Silent Guardian: DNA Microarray Know-how. NRL primary analysis was the muse for the Resequencing Pathogen Microarray (RPM) bio-surveillance know-how. It recognized as much as 100 completely different pathogen species in a single take a look at utilizing genetic sequencing and new bioinformatics algorithms. In 2005, the Silent Guardian demonstration – comprised of NRL scientists, Navy reservists, and U.S. Air Drive employees – recognized a full spectrum of circulating respiratory pathogens in samples from an active-duty navy inhabitants, usually on the degree of strains or particular person variants.
Dr. Amit Bagchi obtained the award for Private Protecting Tools and Damage Biomechanics. QuadGard physique armor was produced by an NRL-led industry-university-government staff to guard Marines from extreme arm and leg accidents brought on by improvised explosive gadgets. It was mass produced for Marine Corps automobile turret gunners deployed in Iraq. Issues about traumatic mind accidents sustained throughout the identical battle resulted within the GelMan anthropomorphic head surrogate to measure blast results on smooth tissue simulants and mind cell cultures, offered new insights for protecting gear design.
Dr. Christopher C. Rudolf obtained the award for Clear Armor. NRL demonstrated the economical restore of delaminated clear automobile armor at a fraction of the price of a brand new half. NRL offered in-house technical experience for the Marine Corps’ Program Govt Workplace Land Methods to develop, refine and transition the restore course of to {industry} companions and obtained formal approval of the restore course of.
“The very nature of science, innovation, and our mission compel us to maneuver ahead,” Danly stated. “Tomorrow’s challenges is not going to anticipate us to behave – naval superiority is important to deterrence and freedom of the seas. And when known as upon to enter hurt’s means, the U.S. Navy and Marine Corps should be outfitted with the weapons and capabilities to struggle and win.”
Concerning the U.S. Naval Analysis Laboratory
NRL is a scientific and engineering command devoted to analysis that drives progressive advances for the U.S. Navy and Marine Corps from the seafloor to area and within the info area. NRL is situated in Washington, D.C. with main subject websites in Stennis House Heart, Mississippi; Key West, Florida; Monterey, California, and employs roughly 3,000 civilian scientists, engineers and help personnel.
For extra info, contact NRL Company Communications at (202) 480-3746 or nrlpao@us.navy.mil.
