As a result of the Combating
Terrorism Technology
Task Force, NRL has produced the current
surge communications
system - InfraLynx. Now NRL has been invited
to bring the
InfraLynx prototype to the Winter Olympic Games
in Salt Lake
City, Utah. InfraLynx is designed to provide critical
communications infrastructure (phones, fax, networks, cellular
phones, etc.) restoration following a disruption of normal
communications
channels.
At the Olympics,
InfraLynx will provide a surge capability that
will augment the
existing communications infrastructure. The
system is a mobile
unit installed in a specially outfitted truck.
The InfraLynx
system provides a full suite of military and civilian
communications equipment, phone lines, fax, secure voice, networks,
and conventional communications (VHF/UHF/800Mhz) bridged through
satellite back to NRL. With the satellite link up, video from
cameras inside and outside the system are viewable at NRL. This
capability supports video teleconferencing.
NRL engineers have been working
with several state and federal agencies to assist them in improving
interoperability. The Office of Domestic Preparedness (ODP) is
one of those agencies. Although they have pre-positioned equipment
to support all contingencies for the Olympics, they believe that
the Olympics will provide an excellent opportunity to look at
the new InfraLynx technology in a real world environment, without
it being mission critical. The NRL equipment left by flatbed
truck on January 26th and the NRL team departed for Salt Lake
City on January 29th. The NRL team will be at the Games for the
month of February.
The team of NRLers and contractors,
working in either the Naval
Center for Space Technology or the
Information Technology Division,
includes Chris Herndon, Jeff
Westley, Pat Pritchard Honeywell,
David Kolesar, Ivan
Corretjer, and Tim Freeman. Back at NRL,
the team is being
supported by Mark Fratta, Bill Koch, Bruce
Morgan, Mike Rupar,
Allen St. Jean, and Mark Solsman.
Immediately after the Olympics,
NRL's
InfraLynx will be sent to Louisiana in support of the
Homeland
Security Advanced Concept Technology Demonstration (HLS
ACTD).
The U.S. Naval Research Laboratory is the Navy's full-spectrum corporate laboratory, conducting a broadly based multidisciplinary program of scientific research and advanced technological development. The Laboratory, with a total complement of nearly 2,500 personnel, is located in southwest Washington, D.C., with other major sites at the Stennis Space Center, Miss., and Monterey, Calif. NRL has served the Navy and the nation for over 85 years and continues to meet the complex technological challenges of today's world. For more information, visit the NRL homepage or join the conversation on Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube.
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