DAHLGREN, Va. — What new technologies do producers have in mind for a future James Bond film or the next Star Wars sequel titled ‘Episode IX’ due for release in December 2019?
Did they imagine the ‘Digital Twin’ or the ‘CYBER DeVIL’ as technologically advanced adversaries who will faceoff with James Bond or Princess Leia?
The two technologies — among more than 150 technological projects presented by innovators at the 2018 Naval Innovative Science & Engineering (NISE) Technical Exchange Meeting held at Naval Surface Warfare Center Dahlgren Division (NSWCDD) — are not under research, development, testing and evaluation (RDT&E) for a Hollywood or any movie production.
The revolutionary ideas, processes, and technologies – including ‘Digital Twin’ and the ‘CYBER DeVIL’ — are in RDT&E to provide warfighters with more solutions and capabilities so they can fight, win and come home safely.
The audience — a who’s who in Department of Defense technical leaders, scientists and engineers — arrived at the Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense (DASN) RDT&E sponsored event, May 1-2, to see and learn about the NISE projects and their alignment to naval systems and naval needs.
They listened as keynote speakers — DASN RDT&E William Bray; Chief of Naval Research Rear Adm. David Hahn; and NSWC Chief Technology Officer Dr. Megan Fillinich — discussed the impact of NISE initiatives on the warfighter and what is being accomplished as the Navy’s Warfare Centers leverage their internal development funding and engineering creativity.
More than 500 visitors spent time engaging with scientists and engineers from the Naval Research and Development Establishment (NR&DE) who presented their technological topics and projects under massive tents set up near the banks of the Potomac River. The visitors included senior NR&DE leaders as well as leaders and technologists from the Office of Naval Research, the Navy’s systems commands, program executive offices; Chief of Naval Operations staff; Marine Corps resource sponsors; Assistant Secretary of the Navy (ASN) Financial Management and Comptroller; ASN Energy, Installations and Environment; the Naval Warfighting Development Centers; and the Marine Corps Warfighting Lab.
“We hope everyone in the naval research community has an opportunity in this information exchange and innovation forum to review new technologies, exchange ideas, and foster collaboration,” said NSWCDD Commanding Officer Capt. Godfrey ‘Gus’ Weekes and NSWCDD Technical Director John Fiore as they welcomed visitors. “We encourage you to take full advantage of all the NISE Technical Exchange Meeting 2018 offers and to meet the scientists, engineers, and technicians who make these innovations a reality for our warfighters. Most of all, let's continue sharing ideas to foster maritime superiority.”
NISE was established by the Secretary of Defense, in consultation with the Secretaries of the Military to provide a mechanism for funding research and development within the laboratories of the Department of Defense. The goal of the program is to grow the internal technical capabilities of the workforce through research projects, technical training, and other workforce development innovations. The NISE program also fosters creativity and stimulates exploration of cutting edge science and technology; serves as a proving ground for new concepts in research and development; and supports high-value, potentially high-risk research and development.
Getting back to ‘Digital Twin’ presented as a technology topic at the NISE Technical Exchange Meeting. The framework that NSWC Carderock Division is developing to meet future surface and subsurface fleet commander needs is called ‘Navy Digital Twin — Platforms.' Specifically, a ‘digital twin’ is an integrated data and modeling framework that brings all systems and information to bear on how best to meet commander's intent. A platform's digital twin exists virtually and is part of a continuous analytical fusion of data, physics-based models, and machine learning to prescribe multiple future instantiations of the ship and its environment, which enables the user to readily identify the optimum choices. As a platform's digital twin matures it becomes able to predict potential future outcomes of platform behavior.
‘CYBER DeVIL’ was also presented as a technology topic. The full name of the NSWC Philadelphia Division’s workforce development project is Cyber Defense Vulnerability Insight Laboratory (CYBER DeVIL Philly): Evil-Bit Training for System Designers. The project introduces NSWC Philadelphia system designers to practical cyber-physical system security practices at the basic level by viewing the process through the mindset of an attacker. The CYBER DeVIL concept — initially developed at NSWC Dahlgren and NUWC Newport — provides workforce system designers hands-on experiential training on how cyber-attacks operate and propagate through a connected system.
The visitors, including NSWC Dahlgren’s workforce, engaged scores of scientists and engineers in conversations and collaborations at poster sessions on the NISE 219 funded projects over the course of the two-day technical exchange. The NISE projects featured names such as: Raptor Integration for Electromagnetic Sensors; Rocket Propelled Grenade of the Sea Vehicle with Modular Payload; Energetics and Munitions Additive Manufacturing; Molecular Beam Epitaxy of Next Generation Interband Cascade Lasers with Capped Wafer Growth; Counter-small Unmanned Aerial Systems Innovation Jam; Paramagnetic Nanoparticles: Formation and Seeding During Electrocoagulation; Autonomous Amphibious Assault Vehicle Developing Unmanned Systems to be the First Wave in Amphibious Assault; Multistatic System for Autonomous Underwater Laser Vision; and Nano-Satellite Tracking.