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fall 2006 Stepping up to the IED challenge C O V E R S T O R Y PA G E 2 SAICMagazine 3 In this issue 2-3 SAIC’s IED challenge 4-5 Predator operations support 6-7 Key support for Stryker brigades SAIC steps up to help defeat IEDs AWARD-WINNING RESEARCH 8-9 Information in a heartbeat 10-11 African elephant gene analysis 12 Estimating software-intensive systems 13 Helping enable better nuclear detection 14 Nuclear fuel leasing 16 Novel troop protection system Editors: nola Smith/Bruce Hasley Writer/Assistant Managing Editor: greg pankauski Design/Layout: dave poehlman SAIC Magazine, published by Science Applications International Corporation for its employees, is available on the internal SAIC Web (issaic.saic.com), and on SAIC’s Home Page at saic.com. Your ideas, stories and suggestions are welcome. Address: SAIC Magazine, 10260 Campus Point Drive, San Diego, CA 92121, tel: 858.826.7758, fax: 858.826.6634. Statements contained herein may constitute forward-looking statements that involve risks and uncertainties. A number of factors could cause SAIC’s actual results, performance, achievements or industry results to be very different from the results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. Some of these factors include, but are not limited to, the risk factors set forth in the SAIC Inc.’s final prospectus relating to its initial public offering, and such other filings that SAIC makes with the SEC from time to time. Due to such uncertainties and risks, readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on such forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date hereof. Called the top killer of American troops, improvised explosive devices (IEDs) have caused more than one-third of the U.S. troop fatalities in Iraq. Helping the U.S. find solutions to identify and destroy IEDs stands as a top priority for SAIC, according to CEO Ken Dahlberg. “Our company needs to step up and do this,” said Dahlberg. “This travesty that is killing or maiming our military has to be stopped.” In response, Trey Smith, an SAIC group president, led a task team to bring together all the appropriate resources of the company to address the challenges of defeating IEDs. This resulted in the company establishing the SAIC IED Defeat Systems Management Office as a “magnet” for SAIC solutions to help defeat the IED threat. “Trey Smith came forward with a proposal to me to stand up, in effect, a program office where we, the company, would fund … an all-out effort for us to take a systems approach to defeating IEDs,” said Dahlberg. In fact, the SAIC IED Defeat Systems Management Office stands as a single point of contact for the Joint IED Defeat Organization (JIEDDO) – which leads DoD efforts to defeat IEDs as weapons of strategic inf luence – for coordination, management, and data f low relative to potential SAIC IED solutions. Formerly a joint task force, the JIEDDO became a permanent organization this year with a $3 billion budget to help defeat IEDs. The JIEDDO has a three-pronged approach to tackling the problem in Iraq and Afghanistan: C o n t i n u e d o n p a g e 1 5 SAICMagazine 4 SAICMagazine 5 SAIC’s Predator operations support On July 27, 2006, Taliban extremists gathered inside a building in Kandahar, Afghanistan, possibly to plot a terror strategy against U.S. forces. In Iraq, enemy forces traveled in a vehicle near Ramadi, the southwest tip of the Sunni Triangle. Both targets were spotted by Predator unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) f lying above. More than 7,000 miles away at the Predator Operations Center in Nevada, Air Force pilots launched the Predators’ Hellfire missiles – destroying the building in Kandahar and the vehicle near Ramadi, according to a U.S. Central Command Air Forces airpower summary. Both the pilots f lying the Predators and the military analysts who identify threats rely on SAIC for 24hour/7-day-a-week technical support at the Nellis Air Force Base Predator Operations Center. SAIC helps ensure that analysts have current intelligence to identify, select, track and evaluate enemy targets. In fact, Predator has been credited with dramatically shortening the sensor-to-shooter cycle – the time between target identification and attack – from hours to minutes. SAIC also helps ensure that analysts have current threat tracks to protect the Predator from possible enemy retaliation. Clearly, near real-time delivery of Predator’s live video, multiple other intelligence products, and command and control data is essential. SAIC works to help ensure that the network circuits delivering all of these operate with little interference. For example, our technical professionals architected a solution (redundant automated failover and alert mechanism) that allows administrators to immediately notify remote sites of equipment failures while the system continues to operate on secondary circuits. Predator is also known for its highly accurate targeting. SAIC experts helped by writing software that extracts the Predator’s telemetry data and places it on maps for the air defense and route planning functions. In addition, SAIC created chat-room robots to monitor mission-relevant conversations and record them in time-stamped sequence to establish the decision timeline for post-mission analysis. According to an SAIC white paper, U.S. senior decision makers have used these logs to ascertain “ground truth” for vital missions. SAIC has provided important technical support for Predator operations since 2003. Our Predator support recently expanded with the award of a major follow-on contract and the opening of a second Predator Operations Center, which SAIC designed, developed, installed and operates. For more information, contact Sam Sorice Jr. at samuel.j.sorice.jr@saic.com SAICMagazine 6 SAICMagazine 7 SAIC’s key support of the U.S. Stryker brigades M aneuvering in urban terrain, they arrive in near total silence and can strike the enemy without warning. Because of this, the U.S. Army’s Stryker brigades have earned the nickname “Ghost Riders” for their combat exploits in Iraq. The 19-ton, eight-wheeled armored vehicles for which the brigades are named are not only on the front lines of the global war on terror, they also represent a revolution in military training – and SAIC is playing a key supporting role. At Fort Lewis, Washington – home to three Stryker brigades – SAIC manages and operates the Battle Command Training Center (BCTC), the Army’s Center of Excellence for Army Battle Command Systems training for Stryker combat brigades. A new, state-of-the-art 67,000-square-foot complex, the BCTC includes a Mission Support Training facility and the Stryker Center for Lessons Learned, both of which SAIC also operates for the Army. Stryker training benefits from the continuous f low of combat information from the Stryker units deployed in Iraq. The day-to-day feedback from deployed troops helps those preparing for combat adjust their own tactics before they deploy. This feedback is obtained from the SAIC operated Home Station Operations Center where units can collaborate with deployed forces using secure VTC, phone or computer. Additionally, the Operations Center has the ability to display and monitor the “live feed” from the EPLARS and satellite equipped platforms: An observer can watch operations in Iraq from Fort Lewis. “Among the Army units that have rotated in and out of Iraq during the past three years, the Stryker brigades appear to have perfected the lessons learned drill,” according to National Defense magazine. Recently, Colonel Steve Townsend, Brigade Commander of the currently deployed 3d Brigade, 2d Infantry Division (Stryker) wrote of his unit’s status “But I really don’t have any worries as we’ve been trained well – due in no small part to contributions of staff at MSTF and BCTC.” While Stryker forces in Iraq conduct combat missions, Stryker forces at home conduct simultaneous, synchronized training missions using the same information available to the combat forces. SAIC collects and analyzes information from combat operations in Iraq almost as quickly as it becomes available and produces training products for use at home stations and by deployed units in combat. SAIC immediately applies lessons learned and new tactics, techniques and procedures to each unit’s training plan. Stryker Brigades deployed around the world can access the information via a Web portal. SAIC’s efforts garnered a coveted Army Knowledge Award for the center for lessons learned. In addition, SAIC has designed and developed a Common Driver Trainer (CDT) virtual training system for the Stryker, including a motion platform, 180-degree visual display system, high fidelity driver’s cab, and an instructoroperator station. For more information on SAIC’s BCTC support team, contact SAIC Training and Analysis Division Manager Pat Blazek (patrick.w.blazek@saic.com) or SAIC Site Manager Matt McCarthy (matthew.j.mccarthy@saic.com) SAICMagazine 8 SAICMagazine 9 From the war on terror to protecting financial transactions, finding more SAIC promotes cuttingedge research through its Engineering Science & Technology Council (ESTC) publication awards competition. Since 1984, the ESTC has recognized some of the most innovative research and best written technical papers and books by SAIC scientists and engineers. Here are summaries of some recent winners. accurate ways to verify somebody’s identity has become increasingly vital. In fact, efforts to do so by measuring unique anatomical and physiological traits – biometrics – have grown steadily in popularity. This includes technologies that scan fingerprints, retinas, and facial features. Some of these technologies, however, have limitations. For instance, fingerprint scanning can fail in a dirty environment and facial scanning can be thwarted by disguises. However, a new type of biometric – heartbeat patterns – is difficult to disguise because everybody’s electrocardiogram (ECG) trace is unique. But information from an ECG trace is often a visual expression of traits, rather than data about the physiology of somebody’s heart. In their ESTC Award-winning article, SAIC’s Steven Israel, John Irvine, and Mark Wiederhold propose a more extensive set of ECG descriptors to better characterize a heartbeat trace. The article details a series of data processing and testing experiments to show that an ECG trace contains unique information about the physiology of someone’s heartbeat. The authors started by collecting data from different individuals, then characterizing the sources of noise (extraneous signals) in a raw data stream. From this, they designed a data filter to separate the cardiac information from the noise. According to the paper, the authors identified reference points on the filtered data and digitally extracted them to define stable features (that is, the unique information that characterized individuals.) The data was then tested to ensure that location of the ECG sensors did not affect it. Since a person’s heart rate can vary with mental and emotional state, the authors developed a data collection protocol in which subjects performed a variety of tasks designed to elicit different stress levels. (Low-stress levels included the subjects’ baseline state, meditative, and recovery tasks. Highstress level tasks included reading aloud, mathematical manipulations, and driving in virtual reality.) This was necessary to identify features in the heart signals unique to individuals, but not affected by a person’s mental and emotional state. In addition, the authors used the data set, including 15 attributes that characterize a heartbeat, to identify several individuals. Researchers such as Israel, Irvine, and Wiederhold, have helped make SAIC a leader in developing and deploying new biometric technologies. Their research into heartbeat patterns is funded by DARPA and designed to detect and identify humans at a distance. The Pattern Recognition journal published their article, “ECG to Identify Individuals.” For more information, contact Steven Israel at steven.a.israel@saic.com Information in a eat heartb NASA Photo SAICMagazine 10 SAICMagazine 11 Ancient elephant genes tell new story However, instead of having one African species with a dwindling population, there are two smaller species that may be at even greater risk. This is because the African elephant – distinguished from its Asian cousin by large, fan-like ears and long tusks – was categorized five years ago as two distinct species. In fact, genetic differences between the two African species – the evolutionary split occurred about 2.6 million years ago – were first confirmed by SAICFrederick researcher Alfred Roca (and colleagues) in 2001. To better understand the two species, Roca and colleagues recently published an ESTC Award-winning article examining gene f low between African savanna elephants and African forest elephants. According to the research, many savanna elephants far from forest habitats have certain genetic components that suggest forest elephant ancestry. These genetic components – mitochondrial DNA – are passed on only through female elephants. According to Roca, the apparent disconnect between the lack of forest nuclear DNA in savanna elephants and the presence of forest mitochondrial DNA implies crossbreeding between forest females and savanna males. In fact, the research indicates that larger savanna males – which are almost twice as massive as forest males – have for generations out-reproduced both forest males and smaller hybrid males. This has led to nuclear genome replacement in savanna herds that retained the maternal forest elephant DNA. (The authors also note that female elephants, in contrast to males, remain with their natal herd for life.) According to the authors, there have been recent proposals to use mitochondrial DNA as the sole marker to identify elephants. However, Roca cautions against using a single mitochondrial DNA sequence to characterize a species, as it may be misleading. Also, their research shows that mitochondrial DNA preserves a record of ancient habitat change. In fact, ongoing deforestation may foster genetic replacement of forest elephants by opening their habitat to reproductive competition by larger savanna males in those regions where both species exist. The article by Roca (and colleagues), “Cytonuclear Genomic Dissociation in African Elephant Species,” was published in Nature Genetics. Their research was supported by the African Elephant Conservation Fund of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. Roca conducted research at the Laboratory of Genomic Diversity, which SAIC operates for the National Cancer Institute. The lab investigates genetic factors involved in human and feline diseases, as well as genetic variability in wildlife. For more information, contact Alfred Roca at alfred.l.roca@saic.com As the largest creatures living on land, elephants can stand up to 13 feet at the shoulder and weigh more than 8 tons. But their population is less than elephantine – poaching and loss of habitat have halved their numbers in the last two decades to about 600,000. SAICMagazine 12 SAICMagazine 13 Estimating software-intensive systems If a software project fails, it’s probably because software is difficult to estimate and measure. There are, however, many tools and techniques to estimate and measure resources to develop, manage, and operate softwareintensive systems. Richard Stutzke brings these tools and techniques together in a practical guidebook called “Estimating Software-Intensive Systems.” Stutzke’s ESTC Award-winning book aims to help software managers and engineers prepare more accurate estimates and collect the measurements needed to track progress and identify problems. In his book, Stutzke explains how to size software, identify cost components, calculate the costs, and set a competitive price. These techniques apply whether users create custom in-house business software, purchase or customize off-the-shelf technology, or construct complex systems. Featuring easy-to-use templates, spreadsheets, and checklists, Stutzke’s book can help readers define a disciplined and repeatable way to produce accurate and complete estimates for their projects, products, and processes. The book also provides readers with a foundation to tackle future estimating situations. Besides advising how to choose the most appropriate estimating techniques and tools, Stutzke’s book discusses measurement and data collection so that readers can obtain accurate data to track progress, prepare updated estimates, and calibrate estimating models. In addition, Stutzke’s book shows how to tackle users’ problems and requirements, the structure of a solution, and the process needed to deliver that solution. The book also addresses the particular needs of large projects, such as crafting an appropriate work breakdown structure, collecting data from cost accounting systems, and using earned value measurement. Accompanying Stutzke’s book is a CD-ROM with short notes on specific topics, as well as templates, spreadsheets, and examples showing how to use the features of Microsoft Excel™ to analyze, plot, and manage data. In writing the book, Stutzke drew on more than 40 years of experience with software development and management. He has made many invaluable contributions to SAIC’s software business over the years, including founding the company’s Software Process Group in 1989 to guide and coordinate companywide software process improvement efforts. Stutzke’s award-winning book, “Estimating Software-Intensive Systems,” was published in 2005 by Addison-Wesley. Researchers develop better way to detect nuclear blasts The global network of monitors that supplies evidence of nuclear explosions, the International Monitoring System (IMS), does so by providing seismic and other geophysical information to the International Data Center, which SAIC helped develop. In fact, determining accurate seismic locations for detected events – such as nuclear blasts – is a highly important aspect of nuclear test monitoring because location is key to identifying such events. However, precisely locating events – especially small events recorded by limited numbers of monitoring stations – has proven difficult. Standard models to estimate arrival times of seismic waves can be in serious error for some source and station locations. (Seismic waves travel through the Earth, often as an earthquake, but sometimes from a nuclear blast.) In their ESTC Award-winning article, SAIC’s John Murphy, Theron Bennett, and Brian Barker summarized results of a three-year study designed to improve the way researchers locate small seismic events in eastern Asia. Their work included developing a new three-dimensional (3D) velocity model to better calibrate travel times of seismic waves for monitoring stations in eastern Asia. For the new model, the researchers assembled and archived a large database of travel-time observations from ground truth events – explosions and earthquakes. This included a unique database of more than 1,000 carefully validated regional P-wave (the fastest seismic waves) arrival time observations from Soviet peaceful nuclear explosions and weapons tests, as well as large samples of observed travel times from ground truth events from the India/Pakistan and China/Mongolia regions. (Because many of the 30 monitoring stations had not been installed, the researchers’ calibration was indirect – they used data recorded at historical surrogate stations near the planned stations to assess travel-time accuracy across the region.) According to the authors, their new 3D velocity model for eastern Asia represents a significant improvement over the standard prediction model (known as IASP91). They expect that the 3D velocity model will provide excellent seismic event location capabilities, particularly for events recorded by the sparse network of regional IMS stations in eastern Asia. In fact, such capabilities could help establish a more robust nuclear test-monitoring, which is critical to determine if a country is attempting to test the design and development of nuclear weapons. The article by John Murphy, Theron Bennett, and Brian Barker (and colleagues), “Calibration of International Monitoring System (IMS) Stations in Central and Eastern Asia for Improved Seismic Event Location,” was published in the Bulletin of the Seismological Society of America. For more information, contact John Murphy at john.r.murphy@saic.com SAICMagazine 14 SAICMagazine 15 IEDs C o n t i n u e d f r o m p a g e 3 Nuclear fuel leasing As nations continue to look for clean, reliable sources of energy, nuclear power is garnering renewed attention globally. For nuclear power to have a meaningful impact on reducing carbon emissions from electricity generation, a significant fraction of electricity generation must come from nuclear power plants. This will require a global nuclear enterprise many times larger than currently exists, according to nuclear energy experts Victor Reis and Matthew Crozat. An expansion of nuclear power will require the management of challenges associated with its use. In particular, the global expansion of nuclear power must not contribute to the proliferation of nuclear power and radioactive wastes produced must be safely stored for long periods of time, according to Reis and Crozat. To address these challenges, the concept of nuclear fuel leasing has gained attention. This involves nations with established fuel cycles producing and delivering nuclear fuel to states with nuclear reactors and then taking the used fuel back after it has been irradiated. These fuel cycle states could use advanced reprocessing and reactor technologies to recycle and efficiently dispose of the resulting wastes without creating separated plutonium, according to Reis and Crozat. In their ESTC Award-winning article, Victor Reis and Matthew Crozat created a model for simulating fuel cycle interactions between nuclear entities to investigate fuel leasing arrangements. The model was also adapted to evaluate proliferation and economic implications of an international leasing program. The results of the analysis, according to the authors, illustrate some important connections with respect to the possibility of nuclear fuel leasing: n A significant expansion of nuclear power based on current-technology thermal reactors with an open fuel cycle will generate a staggering amount of spent fuel. Disposing of this fuel represents a continuing political as well as technical challenge. n Proliferation concerns largely stem from the fuel processing technologies used to manufacture reactor fuel and recycle plutonium in spent fuel. By consolidating the fuel processing infrastructure in states with which there is little proliferation concern, the risks associated with the global expansion of nuclear power can be minimized. The modeling and analysis by Reis and Crozat in this article helped to provide the conceptual and analytical underpinnings for the new U.S. Global Nuclear Energy Partnership (GNEP) initiative. In fact, Reis and Crozat have joined the Department of Energy in support of GNEP. Victor Reis and Matthew Crozat’s article “Nuclear Fuel Leasing, Recycling, and Proliferation: Modeling a Global View,” appeared in Nuclear Technology. defeat the network or the system providing the bombs, defeat the devices themselves, and train ground forces to detect and avoid falling victim. This will require new technology, tactics, techniques, procedures, and training, according to the DoD. “The challenge is that within SAIC we have all these pockets of technology… but until now, we’ve had no way of integrating them. This office is something we’re creating by rapidly prototyping operational concepts,” said Pete Quast, director of the SAIC IED Defeat Systems Management Office. The key components of SAIC’s vision, according to Quast, enable an integrated system framework – which includes persistent surveillance, forensics, and interdiction technology. The framework also includes biometrics, robotics, and knowledge- and risk-management tools. Defeating IEDs is a tougher problem than most people realize, Smith said. Although many people would like an immediate solution, it will likely involve a system-level approach – rather than ad-hoc reactive measures – that may not be available in the near future. However, given SAIC’s skills in surveillance, interdiction, forensics, and robotics, the company is uniquely positioned to help the JIEDDO find a solution, according to George Ullrich, an SAIC senior vice president of advanced technology programs. He echoed Smith’s and Dahlberg’s thoughts that any solution should be on a system-wide level. According to Smith, tackling the IED issue is not only a priority for Dahlberg, it aligns with SAIC’s long history of taking on issues of national importance. In fact, Stephen Olexa, an SAIC senior technical recruiter who has worked in Iraq, knows from personal experience the critical importance of this undertaking. “Bravo Zulu to you, Mr. Smith, and the Board of Directors on your appropriations of funds to devise methods to [defeat] IEDs in support of the insurgency attacks on our brave troops serving in war zones,” Olexa said in an email to Dahlberg. “Having been on the receiving end of an IED… while riding in a convoy and on assignment with SAIC on the recruitment of the New Iraqi Army in downtown Baghdad, Iraq, I was profoundly made aware of how deadly these insurgent devices are and can be to life and limb to our troops.” New technologies take aim at IED threat SAIC scientists and engineers are already at work on groundbreaking initiatives aimed at defeating IEDs. Improved intelligence and surveillance is essential to defeat the network and enable ground forces to detect these threats. That’s the focus of some of our initiatives for the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA). • SAIC recently won the Persistent Operational Surface Surveillance and Engagement (POSSE) contract. The system-of-systems effort aims to provide persistent surveillance and exploitation capabilities needed to help counter the wide range of threats facing deployed troops and allies. • SAIC’s experience in “Smart Dust” wireless networks may enable new capabilities for persistent ground surveillance to supplement current capabilities of airborne systems. • We are also helping develop the SPEYES system, which is envisioned as an integrated suite of sensing and situation awareness tools for dismounted soldiers and Marines on the urban battlefield. Getting the right information to the right place at the right time is also essential. That’s the goal of an SAIC program for the Air Force Research Laboratory. • SAIC is running a program called research and development experimental collaboration (RDEC) to develop enhanced information sharing capabilities. The goal is to provide early warning of terrorist activities. Our technical professionals also help develop and test other promising new technologies. • SAIC’s system-of-systems experience on the Future Combat Systems program may aid development of a comprehensive IED solution. That solution may include a technology SAIC and Teledyne Brown Engineering developed, built and tested – the Multipurpose Troop Transport Carrier System (MTTCS) – an armored troop carrier system designed to protect warfighters from most IED fragments (and small arms fire). • We are investigating countermeasures for IED triggering devices. • SAIC has also been involved in several advanced concept technology demonstrations (ACTD), conducting military utility assessments on technologies and systems that counter IEDs, including the Joint Explosive Ordnance Disposal Knowledge and Technology Operational Demonstration ACTD and Counter-Bomb Counter Bomber ACTD. For more information, visit https://issaic.saic.com/sigs/ied/ Protecting troops C on t i n u e d f ro m BaC k C ov e r “On the ground, it can be used as a field hospital. It can be used as a checkpoint or a command post. You can dig a hole and bury it in the ground if you need to. I mean, it’s that versatile,” Daniels said. Another advantage is the composite armor system, which includes panels of armor that can be added or removed, he said. “If a new type of armor comes out, they can just unbolt the armor that’s on there and put the new armor on,” Varmette explained. “And if a panel gets a piece of shrapnel in it, the whole system isn’t useless – they can just pop off that piece and put on a new piece.” In addition, Varmette said, “SAIC has filed a patent application, and we’ve got an exclusive license with Teledyne Brown for production. We get a royalty payment for every one of these systems that are sold.” SAIC develops innovative way to help protect troops What began as an SAIC internal research and development effort to better protect soldiers has led to a new force protection capability called the Multipurpose Troop Transport Carrier System (MTTCS). “An employee had this great idea to develop a troop transport that was armored and that could be put on existing vehicles,” said Pete Varmette, an SAIC Technical Fellow. The system was field-tested in Iraq last year as part of an Army combat operational evaluation, Varmette said. Led by Chief Engineer Mike Lowe, an SAIC team – which included SAIC Military Analyst Jeff Daniels – designed the MTTCS. SAIC and Teledyne Brown Engineering developed, built, and tested the MTTCS. “You can take the MTTCS, mount it on the truck, then you can take it outside the base camp, transporting troops under armor; get back, you need to use it to go pick up supplies for the chow hall, take it off, you still got your truck,” said Daniels, a retired U.S. Army Ranger who helped test the system in Iraq. The modular design allows for multiple configurations. C o n t i n u e d o n p a g e 1 5