ROME, NY — ANDRO Computational Solutions, LLC located at Griffiss Business & Technology Park in Rome and celebrating its 30th year of operation, was recently awarded a $5.4 million research and development contract by the Air Force Research Laboratory Information Directorate (AFRL/RI) titled, “High Assurance Waveform Capability (HAWC).” The funding will be used to further advance the state-of-the-art in true-software-based waveform development for enhancing software-defined radio communications, networking, interoperability, and security.
ANDRO’s HAWC significantly reduces the time and cost to generate validated digital communications waveforms for the rapid field deployment of military radio platforms. The work is being performed at ANDRO’s Heisenberg Lab under the leadership of Dr. Ashwin Amanna, Chief Scientist – Research Sector.
Dr. Andrew Drozd, president of ANDRO reaffirmed, “This contract builds upon our ongoing efforts to help the Air Force propel innovations in true software-based waveform development and in the growth of the Government’s software waveform ecosystem to support the warfighters’ needs. HAWC waveform technologies represent the ‘tip of the spear’ in advancing communications technologies for military and commercial radio manufacturers and their products.”
ANDRO works with large defense/aerospace and commercial companies interested in leveraging the HAWC capability to enhance their radio communication product lines and production services. The company is expanding its HAWC research and development activities to serve a growing clientele base, which includes a Waveform-as-a-Service (WaaS) delivery model.
Amanna credits ANDRO’s success with HAWC to his resolute research team and the forward-thinking vision of the AFRL Communications Mission Area Lead, Michael Gudaitis. Amanna stated, “This has been an exciting program to support because of the combination of hands-on engineering and meeting a real mission need. We get to work with the latest in off-the-shelf computer technology and see direct increases in our waveform capability. For the warfighter to succeed in a rapidly changing spectrum battlefield, we have to break the current dependency between the waveform and the hardware. It takes too long to implement waveforms let alone adapt them quickly. The True-Soft waveform development approach excels when considering time to development, modularity, portability, cost, and flexibility. We are accomplishing data rates and implementing complex waveforms in software today thought impossible only 10 years ago. ‘Faster – Better – Cheaper’ is a mantra we strive for. We are succeeding in this mission and participating side-by-side with traditional firmware approaches.” Amanna’s research team includes James Bohl, Zach Goldsmith, William Blair, David Diaz, Tom Gadek, Tim Reichert, among others, all area residents.
ANDRO provides research, engineering, and technical services to defense and commercial industries in the areas of advanced spectrum exploitation, secure wireless communications, software-based waveform development, cognitive software defined radio networking, multisensor data fusion, and sensor resource management. For more information on ANDRO including job placement inquiries, visit www.androcs.com.
About AFRL: The Air Force Research Laboratory is the primary scientific research and development center for the United States Air Force. AFRL plays an integral role in leading the discovery, development, and integration of affordable warfighting technologies for our air, space, and cyberspace force. With a workforce of more than 11,000 across nine technology areas and forty other operations across the globe, AFRL provides a diverse portfolio of science and technology ranging from fundamental to advanced research and technology development. For more information, visit: www.afresearchlab.com.
Distribution A. Approved for Public Release; Distribution Unlimited; AFRL-2024-4672, Aug 2024
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