Congratulations to Dr. Jithin Jagannath, Chief Scientist of Technology and Founding Director of the Marconi-Rosenblatt Lab at ANDRO Computational Solutions, LLC, for his year of service as an Exemplary Reviewer of the IEEE Communications Letters.
The IEEE Communications Letters publishes short papers in a rapid publication cycle on advances in the state-of-the-art of communication over different media and channels including wire, underground, waveguide, optical fiber, and storage channels. Both theoretical contributions (including new techniques, concepts, and analyses) and practical contributions (including system experiments and prototypes, and new applications) are encouraged. Peer review is vital to the quality of published research. Each article submitted to IEEE is evaluated by at least two independent reviewers selected by a member of the publication’s editorial board.
ROME — The Air Force Office of Scientific Research (AFOSR) in Arlington, Va. has awarded ANDRO Computational Solutions, LLC of Rome a highly competitive Direct-to-Phase-II Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) contract.
The contract is to develop a novel capability called ADJUST – Adaptive and Dynamic Jammer nUlling System with multi-resolution Transform domains. The contract is valued at $750,000 for a 24-month period of performance. ADJUST will be used to adaptively detect and suppress the effect of jammers that can negatively impact or compromise various radio frequency (RF) communication signals and associated spectrum bands.
ANDRO’s Marconi-Rosenblatt Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning (AI/ML) Innovation Lab in Rome will lead the work headed by principal investigator, lab director and chief scientist, Jithin Jagannath, in cooperation with a resident research team that includes Keyvan Ramezanpour, Anu Jagannath and Justin Henny.
Company President Andrew Drozd said this opportunity further accelerates the pace of the lab’s current research in advancing the state of the art in jammer-resilient technologies for wireless communications. He envisions Phase III opportunities on the horizon for a multi-million-dollar program to transition the capability to the warfighter and for potential commercial applications.
“We have all seen even in the most recent events [like Ukraine] how hostile jamming is a constant challenge to RF systems,” said Jagannath. “These challenges are further exacerbated in satellite communication and navigation systems where the high sensitivity of the receiver is critical. We have an excellent team tackling this challenge head-on with a unique approach.”
According to Jagannath, the uniqueness of ADJUST is attributed to a combination of a flexible architecture design, performance optimization features, and an open architecture framework. He explained that ADJUST adopts a novel software-defined modular architecture with the flexibility of different signal processing blocks for hardware and software acceleration optimized for software-defined radio (SDR) platforms and that considers multiple RF signals to ensure a broader impact.
The ADJUST software-defined architecture concept also allows portability across platforms and seamless future upgradeability to ensure more robust jammer-resilient solutions for the future.
Drozd mentioned that announcements are forthcoming soon on additional Department of Defense contract awards to ANDRO relevant to the AI/ML Innovation Lab’s research in advancing the state of the art in intelligent SDRs and robust wireless communications applications.
ANDRO is a privately-owned company established in 1994 focused on scientific research, development, and the application of advanced computer software in the domains of radio frequency spectrum exploitation, secure wireless communications, cognitive radios, advanced radar data fusion, sensor resource management, computational electromagnetics and co-site modeling and simulation.
ROME, N.Y. — The U.S. Air Force Office of Scientific Research (AFOSR) has awarded ANDRO Computational Solutions, LLC a $750,000, 24-month direct-to-phase-II Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) contract.
The pact seeks to develop jammer-resistant, wireless-communication capabilities for the Air Force. The novel capability called ADJUST – Adaptive and Dynamic Jammer nUlling System with multi-resolution Transform domains — will be used to adaptively detect and suppress the effect of jammers that can impact or compromise various radio-frequency (RF) communication signals and associated spectrum bands.
ANDRO’s Marconi-Rosenblatt Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning Innovation Lab, will lead the work, headed up by Jithin Jagannath principal investigator, lab director, and chief scientist, in cooperation with a research team that includes Keyvan Ramezanpour, Anu Jagannath, and Justin Henny.
“We have all seen even in the most recent events how hostile jamming is a constant challenge to RF systems,” Jagannath said in a news release. “These challenges are further exacerbated in satellite communication and navigation systems where the high sensitivity of the receiver is critical. We have an excellent team tackling this challenge head on with a unique approach.”
The opportunity further accelerates the pace of the lab’s current research in advancing jammer-resilient technologies for wireless communications, ANDRO President Andrew Drozd noted, and may lead to phase III opportunities to transition the capability to the warfighter and potential commercial applications.
Established in 1994, ANDRO focuses on scientific research, development, and the application of advanced computer software for radio-frequency-spectrum exploitation, secure wireless communications, cognitive radios, advanced-radar data fusion, sensor-resource management, computational electromagnetics, and cosite modeling and simulation.
Dr. Jithin Jagannath, Chief Scientist of Technology at ANDRO Computational Solutions, LLC and Director of the Marconi-Rosenblatt AI/ML Innovation Lab will be a panelist at the upcoming IEEE Consumer Communications & Networking Conference to be held 8-11 January 2023 in Las Vegas, NV. Held in conjunction with the International Consumer Electronics Show (CES), the world’s largest tradeshow on consumer technology, the IEEE Consumer Communications and Networking Conference (CCNC) is a major annual international conference organized with the objective of bringing together researchers, developers, and practitioners from academia and industry working in all areas of consumer communications and networking.
The panel will take place Tuesday, January 10 and will focus on the Role of Machine Learning in Next Generation Wireless Networks. Traditional communication and networked systems have been developed from mathematical models of the wireless channel and optimizing the network based on the model. Modern Machine Learning is fast changing this approach from theoretical models to data-driven models in every aspect of communication and networking. This panel is going to address how machine learning can help to transform the design of next generation wireless communication networks. The experts in this domain will discuss their vision for unifying different approaches in each layer of the network towards an intelligent future network. The speakers will also discuss the efforts required to make these models practical, implementable and reliable.
Dr. Jagannath is also an Adjunct Assistant Professor at the University at Buffalo, State University of New York. He received his Ph.D. degree from Northeastern University. Dr. Jagannath heads several of the ANDRO’s research and development projects in the field of 5G and beyond, machine learning for wireless, advanced signal intelligence, Internet-of-Things, and UAV automation. These projects are sponsored by several customers including the U.S. Army, U.S. Navy, U.S. SOCOM, DHS, and AFSOR. Dr. Jagannath has been invited to give various talks including Keynotes on the topic of machine learning and Beyond 5G wireless communication. He is an IEEE Senior member and serves as an IEEE SPS Applied Signal Processing Systems Technical Committee member. Dr. Jagannath was the recipient of 2021 IEEE Region 1 Technological Innovation Award with the citation, “For innovative contributions in machine learning techniques for the wireless domain”. He is also the recipient of the AFCEA International Meritorious Rising Star Award for achievement in Engineering and AFCEA 40 Under 40. Dr. Jagannath’s recent research has led to 14 patents (granted and pending) and over 40 peer-reviewed publications which include the recipient of best paper award.
ROME — The U.S. Navy has awarded ANDRO Computational Solutions, LLC a Phase I Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) contract valued at $240,000 to develop a new type of autonomous capability for uncrewed air system applications called Robust Autonomy for NeGation of Enemy Radar (RANGER).
The work will be performed by ANDRO’s Marconi-Rosenblatt Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning (AI/ML) Innovation Lab team in Rome led by Jithin Jagannath.
The team will apply novel AI/ML techniques for enhancing human-machine teaming based on the Manned-UnManned Teaming (MUM-T) model first developed by ANDRO for cooperative UAS scenarios to combat next-generation radar systems and adversarial radar networks. The ANDRO lab team includes engineers Sean Furman and Tyler Gwin, who will deploy RANGER on UAS hardware as the capability matures.
According to Jagannath, RANGER is envisioned to provide superior battlefield agility for collaborative UAS in MUM-T scenarios for increased mission efficiency and survivability by adapting negation techniques on-the-fly in response to enemy actions.
ANDRO President Andrew Drozd explained that the importance of a human-machine teaming is driven by the need to migrate from a UAS platform that is strictly controlled by a human operator who must orchestrate its flight to effectively achieve a particular mission objective — representing a “human-in-the-loop” approach.
Rather, Jagannath and his team are focused on an end-to-end, human-on-the-loop framework that leverages specialized machine learning techniques to provide autonomy, adaptability, and highly effective human-machine teaming performance based on experiments recently conducted at the lab to demonstrate the capability.
“The RANGER technology sits at the intersection of ANDRO’s Marconi-Rosenblatt Lab expertise in UAS autonomy, machine learning-enabled signal intelligence (SIGINT), and cooperative control and decision-making strategies,” said Jagannath. “The AI/ML lab team sees RANGER as the next-generation autonomous MUM-T planning and coordination system that will be engineered for operation in dynamic and austere application environments.”
The Phase I work sets the stage for a potential second-phase multimillion dollar research effort for additional development, experimentation, and flight testing for future transition to the Navy. Drozd said he anticipates considerable growth in business arising from this work to incorporate the solution into advanced UAS platforms during the next phases of advanced research and development.
“RANGER is a next step in a strategic plan to expand ANDRO’s research portfolio and footprint in 2023 and beyond, including the research activities of the Marconi-Rosenblatt AI/ML Innovation Lab,” said Drozd.
ANDRO is a privately owned company established in 1994 focused on scientific research, development, and the application of advanced computer software in the domains of radio frequency spectrum exploitation, secure wireless communications, cognitive radios, advanced radar data fusion, and sensor resource management.
ROME — Solemn ceremonies at several local cemeteries are planned for noon on Saturday, Dec. 17, as part of the annual Wreaths Across America effort. Deceased local military veterans will be remembered with more than 1,500 wreaths placed at their graves at St. John’s, St. Mary’s, St. Peter’s and Wright Settlement Cemeteries in Rome; Evergreen Cemetery in Lee Center; and the Westernville Presbyterian Cemetery.
Also, at noon on Saturday, wreaths will be placed on veterans’ graves at Arlington National Cemetery and at 3,620 cemeteries nationwide and 26 American cemeteries overseas.
The public is invited to the events at any of the local cemeteries. Family members and friends of the deceased – especially youngsters – are encouraged to attend and participate in placing wreaths.
Ceremonies at each cemetery focus on celebrating the Wreaths Across America mission of “Remember-Honor-Teach” by remembering the fallen, honoring those serving in the military and their families and teaching the next generation the value of freedom.
Organized by the Greater Rome-Utica Chapter, Military Officers’ Association of America (GRUC-MOAA) in conjunction with the cemetery staffs, Wreaths Across America is being presented for the 11th consecutive year in Rome.
Most of the wreaths for this year’s events have been sponsored by local businesses, organizations and individuals for placement on vets’ graves, including the graves of veterans with no survivors.
Major 2022 sponsors are:
Gold level — Deployed Resources; First Source Federal Credit Union; NYSTEC; the Hazen B. Hinman Sr. Foundation; KeyBank and Varflex;
Silver level — ANDRO Computational Solutions; Baum’s Castorine; Cathedral Corp.; Kris-Tech Wire; Western Legion Post #1846 Auxiliary; M&T Bank; Stewart’s Shops; First Student; and UHaul Moving & Storage;
Bronze level — Acme Pool & Spa; Alliance Paving Materials; AmeriCU; Community Bank; Express Employment Professionals; GPO Federal Credit Union; Jones Family Enterprises; Lee American Legion Post #1794; MGS Manufacturing; New York Sash; Oneida County American Legion Auxiliary; PAR Government Systems; Price Chopper/Golub Corp.; Revere Copper Products; Rome Rotary Club; Rome Teachers Federal Credit Union; Sears Family Foundation; Stanwix Veterans and Men’s Club; Strong, Burns & Sprock Funeral Home; The Eclectic Chic; Turin Road Treasures; Upper Cut Salon; USAA; Victory Chrysler Dodge Jeep Ram; VFW Post #2246; Waters Land Surveying; and Woods Valley.
A portion of the proceeds from wreath sponsorships will go to GRUC-MOAA for its contributions to programs such as the Junior ROTC units at Rome Free Academy, Proctor and Notre Dame and the National Defense Cadet Corps at Central Valley Academy in Ilion as well as other area organizations that seek to promote leadership skills, civic involvement and patriotism among the youth of the area.
For more information contact Joe Maurer, GRUC-MOAA Wreaths Across America Coordinator, at 315-725-9673 or jmaurer1215@gmail.com.
Among the many outstanding veterans to be memorialized are:
Lt. Ebenezer Wright who was born on January 14, 1742, at Stamford, Conn. As a young man he was employed as a saddle maker and at 19 joined the Connecticut State Militia to fight in the Revolutionary War. Wright fought at Concord and the Siege of Boston and rose quickly in the ranks to become a lieutenant and take command of his company at the Battle of Long Island when his captain was killed. In 1789 he moved to Rome where he owned and operated a tavern near the location of present-day Ridge Mills School. An active and influential member of the community, he founded Wright Settlement and its cemetery where he was buried after his death on September 2, 1808. He and his wife, Grace, were co-founders of Rome’s First Presbyterian Church.
Maj. Emlyn Griffith – in June of 1942, when most Rome 18-year-olds were graduating from high school, Griffith was an 18-year-old graduate of Colgate University. He had completed his high school courses at Rome Free Academy four years earlier. Right after college, he enlisted in the Army where his talent as a quick study was immediately noticed and he was sent off to Officer Candidate School in Gainsville, Fla. He received a commission as a Second Lieutenant and served in the Army Air Corps for four years during World War II. Discharged as a major in 1945, he returned to Rome, became an attorney and served for several years as a member of the NY State Board of Regents. Griffith is buried at Westernville Cemetery.
Corporal Frank Donai – a native of Parsons, Penn., Donai moved as a youngster with his parents to Ava where he grew up on the family’s farm. After school at West Leyden High, he was drafted into the Army Air Corps in March of 1941 and deployed to the Phillipines. Following the attack on Pearl Harbor, Donai’s company was relocated to the Bataan Peninsula. The challenge of Frank’s life would start on April 9, 1942, when his company was ordered to surrender its defense of the Peninsula and the infamous Bataan Death March of 70,000 U.S. and Phillipine troops began. Surviving the 120-mile march without food or water was just the start of a long ordeal; he was held for 3 ½ years in slave labor as a POW and, by the time of his liberation in September, 1945, he weighed just 86 pounds. Upon his discharge this highly decorated veteran returned to his hometown, married Doris Pritchard and enjoyed a long career as a tool and die maker at Rome Cable. Donai passed away on May 27, 2012 and is buried at Evergreen Cemetery.
ROME, N.Y. — The U.S. Navy has awarded ANDRO Computational Solutions, LLC a phase I Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) contract valued at $240,000 to develop a new type of autonomous capability for uncrewed aircraft system (UAS) applications.
ANDRO’s Marconi-Rosenblatt Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning (AI/ML) Innovation Lab team in Rome, led by Jithin Jagannath, will perform work on the Robust Autonomy for NeGation of Enemy Radar, or RANGER for short.
The team will apply novel AI/ML techniquest for enhancing human-machine teaming based on the manned-unmanned teaming (MUM-T) model ANDRO first developed for cooperative UAS scenarios to combat next-generation radar systems and adversarial radar networks.
RANGER’s goal is to provide superior battlefield agility in MUM-T scenarios for increased mission efficiency and survivability by adapting negation techniques on the fly in response to enemy actions.
“The RANGER technology sits at the intersection of ANDRO’s Marconi-Rosenblatt Lab expertise in UAS autonomy, machine learning-enabled signal intelligence (SIGINT), and cooperative control and decision-making strategies,” Jagannath said in a press release. “The AI/ML lab team sees RANGER as the next-generation autonomous MUM-T planning and coordination system that will be engineered for operations in dynamic and austere application environments.”
The Phase I work sets the stage for potential second-phase, multi-million-dollar research for additional development, experimentation, and flight testing for future transition to the Navy. The ANDRO lab team includes engineers Sean Furman and Tyler Gwin who will deploy RANGER on UAS hardware as the capability matures.
ANDRO President Andrew Drozd anticipates considerable growth in business from this work to incorporate the solution into advanced UAS platforms during the next phases of research and development.
“RANGER is a next step in a strategic plan to expand ANDRO’s research portfolio and footprint in 2023 and beyond, including the research activities of the Marconi-Rosenblatt AI/ML Innovation Lab,” he said.
Founded in 1994, ANDRO focuses on scientific research, development, and the application of advanced computer software in radio-frequency spectrum exploitation, secure wireless communications, cognitive radios, advanced-radar data fusion, and sensor-resource management.
Anu Jagannath, Associate Director of ANDRO’s Marconi-Rosenblatt AI/ML Innovation Lab is presenting at IEEE Communications Society’s Flagship conference IEEE Global Communications Conference (GLOBECOM) on Tuesday, December 6, 2022.
She will be discussing an innovative approach for RF Fingerprinting in the recent paper “RF Fingerprinting Needs Attention: Multi-task Approach for Real-World WiFi and Bluetooth”.
IEEE Global Communications Conference (GLOBECOM) is one of the IEEE Communications Society’s two flagship conferences dedicated to driving innovation in nearly every aspect of communications. Each year, more than 3000 scientific researchers and their management submit proposals for program sessions to be held at the annual conference. After extensive peer review, the best of the proposals are selected for the conference program, which includes technical papers, tutorials, workshops and industry sessions designed specifically to advance technologies, systems and infrastructure that are continuing to reshape the world and provide all users with access to an unprecedented spectrum of high-speed, seamless and cost-effective global telecommunications services.
The 2022 IEEE Global Communications Conference (GLOBECOM) will be held in the warm and wonderful city of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, from 4 to 8 December 2022. Themed “Accelerating the Digital Transformation through Smart Communications,” this flagship conference of the IEEE Communications Society will feature a comprehensive high-quality technical program including 13 symposia and a variety of tutorials and workshops. IEEE GLOBECOM 2022 will also include an attractive Industry program, with keynotes and panels from prominent research, industry and government leaders, business and industry panels, and vendor exhibits.
ROME — ANDRO Computational Solutions, LLC of Rome was awarded a two-year, $1.25 million Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) contract from the Air Force Research Laboratory Information Directorate (AFRL/RI) to enhance the capabilities of wireless Android Tactical Assault Kit (ATAK) device networks.
ATAK is a widely-used, feature-driven Android smartphone app that provides for military geospatial intelligence, precision targeting, navigation, data sharing and situational awareness. The SBIR contract is a Direct-to-Phase-II award that accelerates the further development, maturation, and transition of an existing technology, called PRISMTech, commercially developed by ANDRO. The new TAK plug-in is called PRISMTAK.
The TAK plug-in is part of a larger TAK family of products used by military intelligence tacticians and civilian emergency managers. ANDRO’s upgrades will specifically enable ATAK devices unprecedented mission-driven, on-demand tactical edge (also called “fog”) networking performance to enhance device-to-device connectivity, data exchanges, and situational awareness anytime and anyplace.
The work is being performed at ANDRO’s in-house software defined radio lab and is being supported by Raytheon BBN of Cambridge, Mass. and OmniMesh, Inc. of Syracuse, both subcontractors to ANDRO under the effort. PRISMTAK leverages the Omnimesh Technology Product (OTP) to solve disconnected ATAK user issues to improve situational awareness and real-time decision-making at the tactical edge.
“ANDRO is compelled by the forecasted growth of the commercial TAK user market to commit to launching a PRISMTAK Innovation Center dedicated to servicing future TAK customers and the TAK ecosystem at large,” said Dr. Andrew Drozd, president of ANDRO. “The contract will propel innovations across the TAK user domains to support military applications, including civilian emergency management and first responders. This will be accomplished by enhancing situational awareness and rapid decision-making using a device-to-device approach coupled with implementing new dynamic spectrum access and decentralized architecture paradigms.”
According to the ANDRO research team, PRISMTAK will provide disconnected ATAK operators and users with reliable and persistent access to the most critical data, regardless of where it is hosted or stored.
“The technology has implications for improving the efficacy of moving data ‘in the field’ for multiple purposes, from Cursor-on-Target to Map Imagery all with low latency,” said ANDRO Chief Information Engineer Timothy Woods, adding that such concepts have yet to be materially realized at the tactical edge. Drozd pointed out that civilian first responders and law enforcers also suffer from a loss of situational awareness when operating in challenging environments, highlighting the broad applicability of PRISMTAK for civilian use.
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 placements, visit www.androcs.com.
ROME, N.Y. — The Air Force Research Laboratory Information Directorate (AFRL/RI) has awarded a two-year, $1.25 million Small Business Innovation research (SBIR) contract to ANDRO Computational Solutions, LLC.
ANDRO will use the grant to enhance the capabilities of wireless Android Tactical Assault Kit (ATAK) device networks.
ATAK is a widely used, feature-driven Android smartphone app that provides for military geospatial intelligence, precision targeting, navigation, data sharing, and situational awareness. The contract accelerates the further development, maturation, and transition of an existing technology called PRISMTech, commercially developed by ANDRO. The new plug-in is called PRISMTak.
The upgrades will enable ATAK devices with mission-driven, on-demand tactical edge (also called “fog”) networking performance to enhance connectivity between devices, data exchanges, and situational awareness.
The company is performing the work at its in-house software-defined radio lab with support from subcontractors Raytheon BBN of Cambridge, Massachusetts, and OmniMesh, Inc. of Syracuse.
“The contract will propel innovations across the TAK user domains to support military applications, including civilian emergency management and first responders,” company President Andrew Drozd said in a news release announcing the grant.
Timothy Woods, head of ANDRO’s PRISMTak Innovation Center, is leading the project with research teams lead by Chris Maracchion and Sean Furman.
“AFRL recognizes that the warfighter network is a power projection platform,” Woods said. “A forward operator drops a pin on a map, and a commander makes life-or-death decisions based on that information, so if data transfers are slow or lost because of bottlenecks that exist, grim outcomes can arise. Our work paves the way for new fog computing in the battlespace where high levels of information and data transport security must be ‘baked’ into a resilient cloud-native scalable network while maintaining quality of service.”
PRISMTak will provide disconnected ATAK operators and users with reliable and persistent access to the most critical data, regardless of where it is hosted or stored, ANDRO said.
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 fusions, and sensor-resource management.
Read the full story from the Central New York Business Journal here
Timothy Woods is heading up the team at ANDRO Computational Solutions, LLC doing the work on a two-year, $1.25 million contract with the Air Force Research Laboratory Information Directorate. (Photo credit: ANDRO)
