Applied Communication Sciences Lands Commercial Cellular Battlefield Program for Army's CERDEC
Will Continue to Serve as Prime in Bridging the Gap Between Commercial Technologies and Battlefield Requirements
BASKING RIDGE, N.J., Sept. 26, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- The U.S. Army has awarded Applied Communication Sciences (ACS) the contract option to continue the development of advanced networking capabilities for the Multi-Access Cellular Extension (MACE) program under the direction of CERDEC, the Army's Communications-Electronics Research, Development and Engineering Center.
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MACE is a primary component in the U.S. Army's drive to harness commercial 4G/WiFi and smart phone technologies to the rapidly evolving needs of dispersed and mobile war fighters. Advancing and integrating 4G LTE technology is a significant priority within the Army's Nett Warrior and WIN-T programs. However, using such a network in the field poses challenges not present in civilian settings.
"The biggest problem with deploying tactical networks that are cellular based is that they can't provide seamless coverage," says Benjamin Foresta, chief of the Commercial Technology Integration and Evaluation Branch at CERDEC.
Commercial networks have hidden assets that pick up gaps in coverage; MACE aims to create an ad hoc network that will fill in the coverage discontinuities often found in-theater so that users experience service hand-offs and features, such as security transfer from one point to another, transparently. Most of the Army's applications rely on multicast technologies, which are types of enhancements that MACE delivers.
"The MACE program is essential to ensuring information superiority across a variety of battlefield conditions," notes Sunil Samtani, Executive Director of Mobility Systems at ACS and the project team's leader. "Mission communications are critically dependent on robust network connectivity on-the-move and seamless information assurance. These are exceptionally complex functions and are the core elements of our MACE efforts."
The MACE program builds on previous successful contracts that ACS has performed for CERDEC under the TITAN, Radical, and PILSNER programs, as well as various ACS commercial projects The ACS MACE team is also tapping supporting expertise from Sypris Electronics and General Dynamics.
"In an era of constrained budgets and relentless technology advancement, leveraging commercial technologies' features and price points are becoming an imperative in the military and intel communities," said Brent Greene, CEO of Applied Communication Sciences. "We look forward to continuing to work with CERDEC in achieving highly advanced, highly secure capabilities in increasingly efficient ways."
About Applied Communication Sciences (ACS)
Drawing on its Bell Labs heritage, Applied Communication Sciences delivers advanced research, consulting and engineering to enable government agencies, telecom carriers and commercial enterprises to fully exploit the future of communications and information technologies. The company is headquartered in Basking Ridge, NJ, and is a wholly-owned subsidiary of The SI Organization, Inc. For more information about Applied Communication Sciences, visit www.appcomsci.com.
SOURCE Applied Communication Sciences
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