ROCHESTER, N.Y., Oct. 10 2011 – The United States government has awarded ITT Corporation (NYSE: ITT) a contract to provide software and hardware solutions tied to the collection, processing and dissemination of full motion video (FMV) and wide area airborne surveillance (WAAS) from unmanned aircraft.
ITT will deliver its solutions, including the FELCO™ (Federated Embedded inteL-server for Collaborative Operations) processing solution, to the U.S. Army Project Manager-Unmanned Aircraft Systems (PM-UAS) early this fall in support of planned system flight tests and assessments. FELCO was jointly developed with Mercury Computer Systems, a trusted intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) subsystems provider.
ITT is contracted to develop and demonstrate an expanded capability for the U.S. Army’s FUSE (Federated Universal Synchronization Engine) program, increasing the effectiveness of Army unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) serving the warfighter. The FUSE program has made significant progress in transforming single-user, down-linked feeds into federated video sensors between “collaborative” UAS and other intelligence systems.
“Our deliverables are congruent with the PM-UAS roadmap for FUSE and collectively advance the approach to delivering FMV and WAAS sensor modalities to users,” stated Matthew Pellechia, manager, Geospatial Information Solutions, part of ITT Defense & Information Solutions. “Our joint solution provides PM-UAS with a PED (processing, exploitation, and dissemination) capability, constructed upon an open-architecture to synthesize volumes of multi-INT information into formats that directly respond to warfighter requirements.”
ITT will update the existing FUSE systems with advanced open-standards FMV software capabilities, deliver multiple FELCO solutions to remove limitations inherent with ground computing shelters, and deliver a WAAS motion imagery client-server simulator.
FELCO is expected to be the fastest means of transforming raw sensor imagery and metadata from airborne surveillance platforms into assured geospatial intelligence in a small, open-standards configuration while a mission is on station.
“FELCO is an extremely high-performance, real-time solution for PED applications on board UAV platforms that can substantially improve the user’s ability to obtain situational awareness in real time,” said Brian E. Perry, vice president and general manager of Services and Systems Integration at Mercury Computer Systems. “Its quick adoption by the U.S. government underscores its importance as a critical tool in supporting mission success.”
Developed and supported on Mercury’s Application-Ready Subsystems™ (ARS™), FELCO leverages the company’s high-performance Powerblock™ processing architecture and ITT’s open-standards PED software, Enhanced AGILE Access, and AdLib™.
ITT Geospatial Systems (www.geospatial.itt.com), headquartered in Rochester, N.Y., is a global supplier of innovative night vision, remote sensing and navigation solutions that provide sight and situational awareness at the space, airborne, ground and soldier levels. Key applications include image intensification and thermal imaging; advanced power supplies; multi-spectral image systems; weather and climate monitoring; space science; intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance; GPS-based positioning, navigation and timing systems; and image exploitation software.
ITT Corporation (www.itt.com) is a high-technology engineering and manufacturing company operating on all seven continents in three vital markets: water and fluids management, global defense and security, and motion and flow control. With a heritage of innovation, ITT partners with its customers to deliver extraordinary solutions that create more livable environments, provide protection and safety and connect our world. Headquartered in White Plains, N.Y., the company reported 2010 revenue of $11 billion.
Mercury Computer Systems (www.mc.com, NASDAQ: MRCY) is a best of breed provider of open, commercially developed, application-ready, multi-INT subsystems for the ISR market. With over 30 years of experience in embedded computing, superior domain expertise in radar, EW, EO/IR, C4I, and sonar applications, and more than 300 successful program deployments including Aegis, Global Hawk, and Predator, Mercury’s Services and Systems Integration team leads the industry in partnering with customers to design and integrate system-level solutions that minimize program risk, maximize application portability, and accelerate customers’ time to market. Mercury is based in Chelmsford, Massachusetts, and serves customers worldwide through a broad network of direct sales offices, subsidiaries, and distributors.