The Office of Naval Research awarded Lockheed Martin Advanced Technology Laboratories (ATL) a $1.7-million, 20-month program to create an interface that will increase situational awareness in the dynamic, operational environment of the Global War on Terrorism.

Called the Interface to the Warfighter, the component is the human-to- sensor interface for the Large Tactical Sensor Networks (LTSN) program. Expeditionary fighting forces need direct support from tactical sensors to automatically warn of impending danger and provide real-time intelligence on rapidly changing situations. The LTSN will enable networks of unmanned vehicles and unattended ground sensors to support the forces by performing automated collection, translation, fusion and dissemination of sensor data into actionable intelligence. ATL's Interface to the Warfighter will provide that intelligence to small tactical units to increase situational awareness.

The interface component is the critical bridge between the warfighter and the capabilities developed by others on the LTSN program. ATL will design, develop, and demonstrate an interface component that integrates its previous developments in natural language understanding, human alerting, mobile intelligent agents, automated information management, and ruggedized mobile computing.

"We will use our mission-focused approach to developing advanced, user- interface technologies to ensure that the Interface to the Warfighter is intuitive and safe to use, provides appropriate and seamless modes of interaction and automation for different operational and user constraints, and enhances warfighter effectiveness and mission success," said Dr. Susan Harkness Regli, ATL principal investigator.

ATL will demonstrate a prototype later this year. The prototype will enable personnel in a tactical unit to easily request intelligence from the field, quickly and naturally report relevant observations while deployed, and receive late-breaking intelligence in formats that are easy to understand and appropriate for the environment.

Following a successful demonstration, ONR may fund an option that will bring total contact value to $2.8 million over 32 months.

Headquartered in Bethesda, Md., Lockheed Martin employs about 140,000 people worldwide and is principally engaged in the research, design, development, manufacture, integration and sustainment of advanced technology systems, products and services.

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SOURCE: Lockheed Martin