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March 9, 2018 By cs

GTRI revamps information tools used to support Army families

With their loved ones sometimes deployed far away from home, potentially in harm’s way, the families of soldiers face challenging circumstances that can place a strain on everyday life.

That’s what led the Army, more than five decades ago, to establish the Army Community Service (ACS), a program designed to provide a vast array of social services to soldiers’ families such as support for new parents, financial counseling, and help with finding a job.

Now, the ACS is looking ahead at novel ways to improve how services are delivered and is working with the Georgia Tech Research Institute (GTRI) on a sweeping project to revamp its collection of information systems – key tools used by staff members providing services to Army families.

The goal is to make the software smarter, faster, easier to use, and in the long run enable Army leaders to leverage data from the systems to gain new insights that could help shape future services.

“The primary driver for this project was to transform a proprietary and antiquated Army system into a more efficient cloud-friendly environment to enable better service delivery by providing robust access to applications that are vital to accomplishing our customer support missions,” said David B. Severson, a program specialist at the Army’s Installation Management Command.

A big part of the effort, which began in 2015, is building systems that can track and process data being gathered by ACS staff members across the Army.

“These systems support the Army’s mission to help make soldiers and their families more ready to respond to life’s challenges,” said Sheila Isbell, a senior research scientist who is leading GTRI’s support for the project. “The Army’s needs outgrew its current information systems, and as a result we’re helping to build platforms using cloud-based open architectures that will make the software much more capable and easier to maintain and upgrade over time.”

The project involves the transformation of eight separate information systems and unifying them through a new web interface – called the Army Family Web Portal (AFWP). ACS staff members will be able to gain access to all of the systems through a single sign-on.

A key design approach throughout the rebuilding process is presenting data-entry forms that make it easier to capture the right information and reduce the likelihood of missing or incomplete data.

“They needed a system that supported the uploading of that data in a more comprehensive way,” said Margarita Gonzalez, a senior research associate at GTRI, who is helping lead the project. “Sometimes something as simple as using a drop-down menu rather than an open field makes all the difference in whether a form is completed properly. That then allows for the information in the system to be more complete, more precise, and searchable.”

For example, one of the early systems the project team got up and running helped Army leaders keep track of data that required regular review and assessment. That process, which previously had involved collecting information from several different divisions within ACS across the country, typically lasted for weeks. The new system enabled Army leads to cull that data in a matter of days.

“We’re designing software that allows them to respond quickly to trends they’re noticing among their families,” Isbell said. “Rather than looking at data retrospectively, this new portal will allow them to look at live data so that in some cases they can take action immediately.”

GTRI Senior Research Scientist Sheila Isbell and Senior Research Associate Margarita Gonzalez are helping the Army Community Service program revamp information systems used to provide an array of social services to the families of soldiers.  (Photo credit: Branden Camp, Georgia Tech Research Institute)

Another key aspect of the project includes building a secure system that allows all of the different information databases that support each service program to share information or send reports to other databases.

That feature will come into play for the modernized Volunteer Management Information System (VMIS), which is one of the information systems that is used directly by Army families. VMIS helps track volunteer hours, among other information, for the Army Volunteer Corps, a program that places civilian volunteers into needed roles at an Army installation – providing a valuable service for the Army while potentially helping volunteers gain work experience that could be useful for career advancement. The transformed cloud-based VMIS will make keeping track of those hours and sharing that information much easier.

“Through the enhanced reporting feature, data will become more readily available to program managers who analyze the program trends,” Severson said. “This will ultimately assist in making data-driven decisions in ACS program improvements.”

For Army social workers, a big part of their job is generating reports that can be used by Army leaders to gain insight into the trends happening at individual installations or throughout the Army. GTRI’s task is to create a software suite that makes reporting easier as well.

“If you have a system that better handles the data and generates reports and feedback, as well as one that on the front end that makes it easier for staff members to input, it frees up a lot of time both at the leadership level and at the service-delivery level,” Isbell said. “It allows leaders to analyze the data faster and really dig into what that information is telling them, and staff members to be better able to provide services to Army families.”

In building the new cloud-based software suite, the GTRI team is also laying the foundation for software that will stand the test of time with an open-source platform as opposed to a closed, proprietary system.

“The idea was to build something that is sustainable for years and years, and make it so that the Army does not have a hard time finding contractors who can make changes and updates,” Isbell said. “An open source platform is essential to that longevity.”

The open platform can also help the Army keep down costs over time.

“Through the years, the legacy system was limited to only a few support vendors because of its proprietary state,” Severson said. “The new system focuses on an open source foundation to allow greater flexibility in vendor contract support.”

Source: https://gtri.gatech.edu/newsroom/modernizing-information-systems-support-new-generation-army-families 

Filed Under: Georgia Tech News Tagged With: Army, command and control, cybersecurity, Georgia Tech, GTRI, information systems, software

February 28, 2018 By cs

Learn how to navigate and use the FAR in just four days

The Contracting Education Academy at Georgia Tech (The Academy) kicks-off a four-day course on Tuesday, April 10, 2018, covering the fundamentals of using the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR).

The course is being conducted at Georgia Tech’s world-class professional education facilities in the Global Learning Center located on campus in midtown Atlanta.

FARThis Contracting Overview of the FAR is Module 1 of CON 090: Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) Fundamentals, and includes the identification of the basic principles of contracting by the federal government, identification of and access to on-line resources, and instruction on the location, citation, and interpretation of the FAR, the Defense Federal Acquisition Regulation Supplement (DFARS) as well as other federal agency FAR supplements.

Originally designed exclusively for federal contracting officers, The Academy has expanded its scope so that it is relevant to multiple audiences, including contractors seeking to learn more about the federal contracting process, federal officials who need to satisfy job-related continuous education requirements, and anyone seeking more information about the federal acquisition profession.

More information about this course is available at: http://www.pe.gatech.edu/courses/con-090-1-contracting-overview-far.

In all, there are four modules that make-up the CON 090 course series.  Information about the entire series — and related courses — can be found by clicking here.  Students can decide to take any or all of the modules, in any order.

DAU logoThe Contracting Education Academy at Georgia Tech is an official equivalency training provider of the Defense Acquisition University (DAU).  The Academy also offers new coursework from the Federal Acquisition Institute (FAI).

Students attending CON 090 courses at Georgia Tech receive expert instruction, a printed Student Guide, helpful handouts, a deck of FAR Cards, and access to exclusive on-line resources.  Students earn 2.8 CEUs.  In addition, a complimentary breakfast in provided each class day.

Filed Under: Academy News Tagged With: acquisition training, CON 090, DAU, FAI, FAR, FAR Fundamentals, FAR training, Georgia Tech

February 28, 2018 By cs

Successful SpaceX launch clears way for historic Georgia Tech spacecraft

They clapped when it cleared the launch pad. They oohed in awe as the booster rockets separated, then roared when the pair landed in synchronicity. 
A livestream of the Falcon Heavy launch is projected on a wall-to-wall, floor-to-ceiling screen in Georgia Tech’s Engineering, Science and Mechanics Building on February 6, 2018. (Click photo to see video.)

And they howled with laughter when they saw a car in space.

“It was awesome! It was unbelievable to see something so historic,” said Swapnil Pujari.

He was one of 30 or so Georgia Tech aerospace engineering students who crowded into a lab in the Engineering Science and Mechanics Building Tuesday afternoon to watch a livestream of SpaceX’s first test flight of the world’s most powerful rocket — the Falcon Heavy.

From the sound in the room, the launch was an unquestionable success.

“I got goosebumps when I saw the two boosters land at the same time,” said William Jun, a fourth-year undergraduate in the Daniel Guggenheim School of Aerospace Engineering. “I feel like I’ve witnessed the beginning of a new era.”

It’s hard to imagine what he’ll feel the next time the Falcon Heavy launches.

Tuesday’s launch only carried one piece of cargo, a red Tesla Roadster that is expected to orbit the sun for the next billion years. The next Heavy rocket will be stuffed with satellites. One of them is scheduled to be Prox-1, a 154-pound, rectangular-shaped metal box that was built and tested by Jun, Pujari and other Georgia Tech students. It’s the first spacecraft built on campus that will fly in space.

“This is the part of the space industry that we live for,” said Professor Glenn Lightsey, who watched the launch with the students. “Ultimately, there is a day when you find out if the thing you’ve thought about and planned for actually works or not. Today (Tuesday) it happened for SpaceX. Six months from now, it will happen for us at Georgia Tech.”

Prox-1 is a 24” by 22” by 12” satellite that will deploy a smaller spacecraft, LightSail 2, which will attempt the first controlled solar sail flight in Earth orbit.

As that sail unfurls, Prox-1 will move and observe LightSail from a short distance and acquire images of the glimmering structure in action. Georgia Tech will serve as mission control.

“Our students are going to have their hardware in space, making measurements and sending their data back to Earth,” said Lightsey. “This is a really unique experience that wasn’t even possible before this century. It’s a new way of doing things in STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) education.”

Prox-1 is currently at the Air Force Research Lab in New Mexico, undergoing a series of tests to make sure the satellite can withstand the rugged, violent ride inside the Falcon Heavy. It’s one of the final pre-flight steps for a six-year project that has included more than 400 Georgia Tech students. From there it will be shipped to Florida and await an official launch date from SpaceX.

Although they enjoyed the experience together for Tuesday’s launch, don’t expect many of the same students to gather on campus to watch Prox-1 blast into space.

“Oh, I will be in Florida for sure!” said Pujari.

Source: http://www.news.gatech.edu/2018/02/07/successful-spacex-launch-clears-way-historic-georgia-tech-spacecraft

Filed Under: Georgia Tech News Tagged With: Air Force Research Lab, Georgia Tech, SpaceX, STEM

January 30, 2018 By cs

Army renews $2.35 billion Georgia Tech research contract

The Army has renewed a contract with Georgia Tech for 10 more years with a ceiling of $2.35 billion.

Under the agreement, Georgia Tech will continue working with the U.S. Army Aviation and Missile Research, Development, and Engineering Center on Department of Defense research. The work will be done by Georgia Tech Research Institute, a DoD University Affiliated Research Center.

The Indefinite Delivery, Indefinite Quantity contract is for five years, with a renewal option for an additional five years. The contract renewal has a total ceiling of $2.35 billion over the ten-year period. An IDIQ contract means provision for an indefinite quantity of supplies or services during a fixed period of time.

“This new, up to 10 year UARC-based contract will continue a long partnership between the two organizations,” Systems Simulation, Software and Integration Director Jeff Langhout said. “This will be another important instrument to enable the Army and academia to collaborate and solve the Army’s most challenging priorities including readiness and modernization.”

Keep reading this article at: https://www.bizjournals.com/atlanta/news/2018/01/29/georgia-tech-wins-910m-army-contract-extension-for.html

Filed Under: Georgia Tech News Tagged With: applied research, Army, Georgia Tech, GTRI, IDIQ, R&D, technology research

January 22, 2018 By cs

Piezoelectric tiles light the way for Kennedy Space Center visitors

New technology that could be used in self-powered smart cities of the future will soon be demonstrated at the NASA Kennedy Space Center’s Visitor Complex at Cape Canaveral, Florida.

Ilan Stern, a senior research scientist with the Georgia Tech Research Institute (GTRI), and colleagues, are collaborating on a $2 million project supported by NASA contractor Delaware North Corporation to build a 40,000-square-foot lighted outdoor footpath demonstrating applications of piezoelectricity for renewable energy.

A small electrical charge is generated when a piezoelectric material is compressed, flexed, or vibrated. Harnessing this technology at the visitor complex, the researchers are using a thin, ceramic disk of lead zirconate titanate, which has the strongest piezoelectric response of any known material.

“Just as a sponge squeezes out water,” said Stern, “the piezo element under pressure squeezes out electricity that can be harvested and stored.”

For this unique project, the researchers designed floor cavities of very thin, ultra-high- performance concrete. To fit into each cavity, the Georgia Tech engineers designed a novel system of custom electronics: circuit boards, six mini solar panels, a battery, LEDs, a Bluetooth transmitter, a Wi-Fi transmitter, micro controllers, and the piezoelectric element — all of which are covered by a loadbearing glass tile top.

Piezoelectric Tile

The tiles operate on three power sources: piezoelectricity, solar panels, and a small rechargeable lithium battery for energy storage and use at night. The self-powered system, when triggered by a human footstep, produces a wireless signal that informs visitors about NASA space missions, piezoelectric technology as well as the STEM cooperation between NASA and Georgia Tech.

“No one has made anything like this — an outdoor tile system using a piezoelectric element to trigger customized and off-the-shelf electronics and coupling them for human interactions,” said Stern. “When you step on the load-bearing glass tile, it compresses the piezoelectric element, creating an electrical charge that lights up the cavity’s 125 LEDs.” In the entire footpath, about one thousand glass tiles light up in various colors. Each glass tile is a pixel in the pathway’s mosaic imagery of Earth, Mars, the moon, and the International Space Station.

“The piezoelectric element also powers a Wi-Fi or Bluetooth signal to visitors’ smartphones, which can play audio, providing information about their geolocation and for potential wayfinding,” said Stern. “The audio provides information such as how much energy is being generated throughout the park during the day.”

Although a small amount of energy is produced per piezo element, per step, the aggregation of such systems in heavily trafficked areas can produce a significant amount of electricity to be stored for local onsite powering of street signs, lights, and other facilities. “The piezo element has a very long lifetime, but these are modular systems that could be easily updated over time,” he said. The glass lid can be removed so the piezo element and electronics system can be updated with newer technologies.”

Many of the site’s engineering applications are based on fundamental research by the lab of Alper Erturk, an associate professor in Georgia Tech’s George W. Woodruff School of Mechanical Engineering. Erturk, Stern, and their graduate students, for instance, have utilized a method of vibrating a piezo element’s edge, called plucking, allowing for the coupling of the piezoelectric material’s inherently high resonant frequency, to the low frequency of human scale motion. This has various applications intended for biomechanical energy harvesting.

In future smart cities applications, lattices of pressure-sensitive sensors underneath roadways could produce wireless, real-time signals distributing information about roadway conditions, temperature, or traffic. Roadway sensors and autonomous vehicles could share information, and vehicles could communicate with each other through the roadway’s wireless system. Indoor flooring systems powered by piezoelectricity could provide safety monitoring and sensing capabilities without being plugged into to the grid.

“We need a more flexible use of the electric grid,” Stern said. “Our goal is to develop more self-powered, self-generating systems with added storage that will give us more choices in energy usage and minimize waste. As much as possible, we should convert wasted mechanical energy — human and vehicle movement — into usable energy generation and storage.”

Source: https://gtri.gatech.edu/newsroom/piezoelectric-tiles-light-way-kennedy-space-center-visitors

Filed Under: Georgia Tech News Tagged With: Georgia Tech, GTRI, innovation, LED, NASA, piezoelectric tile

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