RF Alliance Newsletter, Fall 2010
In This Issue..
RF Reflections, From the director, Mike Gentile
My name is Mike Gentile and I am the new director of the RF Alliance. In future newsletters, I will tell you a bit more about me and what the RF Alliance is doing to continue down the path started by Larry McPike.
Other recent additions to the RF Alliance include Lenne Vanzant as the Transition Coordinator and Jay Inman as the STEM/Workforce Development Coordinator. We - along with our existing staff of the RF Alliance including Matt Harvey (Deputy Director), Nichole Lustre (Project Coordinator), Willice Doyle (Technology Coordinator), and Jacque Norris (Analyst) - will continue to pursue our mission of enabling RF technology transition.
Our five major projects are on track to transition and our STEM program is expanding. Our STEM Coordinator is working to expand the Office of Naval Research Program called SeaPerch in the state of Indiana. Additionally, the RF Alliance showcased at the SBIR Beyond Phase II Conference in San Antonio and Larry McPike presented at the Technology Transition Working Group (TTWG) of the Office of Secretary of Defense. All of this activity is discussed further in our newsletter.
The RF Alliance is growing and has seeded efforts to establish a technology cluster, which is foundational to technology and economic development. We have been instrumental in transitioning technology and creating jobs and small businesses. Our collaboration is paying off.
I am excited to be part of this initiative and look forward to working with and supporting our partners.
Above: Mr. Larry McPike (right), retiring director of the RF Alliance, hands over leadership to Mr. Mike Gentile (left).
Larry McPike has retired as the Director of the RF Alliance on August 31, 2010. Under his leadership the RF Alliance has expanded to the point of needing a full time director, and we would like to thank Mr. McPike for his many contributions in establishing relationships with key communities of interest. We look forward to the continued growth of the RF Alliance with leadership from Mr. Mike Gentile, who has replaced Mr. McPike as Director.
Mr. Gentile's experience includes over 38 years of engineering and managing assignments, collaboration with industry, academic institutions, congressional and state representatives on key research and planning initiatives. He has served 8 years as the Director of the Crane Technology Transfer Program, and is currently executive director of the Southern Indiana Business Alliance (SIBA) and Crane Technology, Inc. (CTI). Mike's connectivity with the government and professional organizations will strengthen and enhance the success of the RF Alliance to date.
Under the leadership of Mr. McPike, we have accomplished our first transition of and innovative RF technology from research into a military application. The RF Alliance is now recognized as a Special Interest Program under the Department of Defense Office of Technical Transition. Congratulations Larry on your retirement, and thank you for your contributions to the success and growth of the RF Alliance.
As a high school Physics and Project Lead the Way teacher, I was constantly on the lookout for ways to motivate my students and get them excited about Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics. Academic competitions, such as Science Olympiad and the Rube Goldberg Machine Contest, always seemed to get the creative juices flowing and provided the spark that 'set the hook' for many of my students. The Office of Naval Research has developed a new academic competition that takes STEM education to new depths, literally. It's called SeaPerch.
SeaPerch (www.seaperch.org) is a hands-on educational tool and curriculum that gets kids excited about Science and Engineering. In the SeaPerch competition, middle and high school students build underwater robots from kits comprised of low-cost, easily accessible parts. SeaPerch follows a curriculum that teaches basic engineering and science concepts with a marine engineering theme.
Students build their SeaPerch from scratch, going through engineering phases of design, construction, testing, redesign, troubleshooting, and producing a final product before a deadline. They saw, solder, twist, bolt, fasten, waterproof, trim, snip, tether, and get a little wet on their way to creating an underwater ROV (remotely operated vehicle) that will perform various tasks-usually in a swimming pool at depth of 2-6 feet. Tasks vary from state to state. In the first Indiana SeaPerch competition, held at the Owen County YMCA in May 2010, students had to demonstrate underwater speed and maneuverability with a SeaPerch built to specifications. There was also an open design class which took creativity into account. Students and Teachers/Coaches worked with several NSWC Crane engineers who volunteered their time to help guide the local student teams.
In 2011, Indiana SeaPerch will see an increase in the number of competitors as well as a more rigorous and structured series of events. There are four challenges being developed for next year: Surface Race, Underwater Race, Underwater Retrieval, and Open-Target ID (identification). Surface Race and Target ID both have direct RF design implications.
Susan Giver Nelson, Director of Outreach and Strategic Development for the Society of Naval Architects and Marine Engineers (SNAME), runs the national SeaPerch Program. Her team is currently planning a National SeaPerch Competition in May 2011. If you would like more information about SeaPerch, or want to get involved with this or other RF Alliance STEM initiatives, please contact me at jay.inman@rfalliance.org.The RF Alliance helped Sponsor SBIR Beyond Phase II Conference
From left to right: Matt Harvey, Nichole Lustre, Mike Gentile, and Lenne Vanzant attend the SBIR Beyond Phase II Conference in San Antonio, TX. Representatives from the Radio Frequency Alliance recently participated in the 2010 National SBIR Beyond Phase II Conference and Technology Showcase from 13-17 September 2010 in San Antonio, TX.
By bringing together small and large businesses, Defense Department Acquisition program managers, and representatives from other government organizations/offices that acquire technology products and services, this event showcased technologies and provided a forum for commercialization opportunities.
With participation in the conference, RF Alliance personnel 1) highlighted the RF technologies of members to company and organizational attendees who would benefit from the transition of member technologies to their products, 2) learned of additional opportunities and methods for inserting and maturing emerging technologies and 3) sought new partnerships and teaming members.
Hosted by the Defense Department, with support from all 11 Federal Agencies active in small business innovative research, the annual Beyond Phase II Conference and Technology Showcase serves as an excellent venue to highlight the capabilities provided by emerging RF Technologies.
Technology Transition Working Group Meeting
The Office of Secretary of Defense (OSD) Office of Technology Transition (OTT) Technology Transition Working Group held its monthly meeting on July 8th in Washington DC. Larry McPike (Past Director of the RF Alliance) reviewed the RF Alliance program with this committee and discussed the transition of RF technology being accomplished through RF Alliance efforts and the transition's relevance to Military weapon systems advancement.
Participation in the exchange provided an opportunity to enhance the awareness of:
- The criticality of RF Technology to the War Fighter and commercial applications
- The benefits of the technologies currently being addressed by the RF Alliance projects
- More efficient ways of transitioning critical technologies
As a high level working group, the OSD Technology Transition Working Group consists of representatives from all military agencies and the Office of Homeland Defense coming together to discuss programs for technology transition within the DoD and the process for implementation. Technology transition programs under their purview include:
Technology Transfer
TechTRANSIT is your access to Department of Defense technology transfer programs policies and resources. TechTRANSIT promotes partnering opportunities between the private sector and defense labs and improved accessibility of technology transfer information and activities.North American Technology and Industrial Base Organization (NATIBO)
The North American Technology and Industrial Base Organization is chartered to promote a cost effective, healthy technology and industrial base that is responsive to the national and economic security needs of the United States and Canada.
Manufacturing Technology (ManTech)
For over 50 years, the DoD Manufacturing Technology (ManTech) Program has been the Department's investment mechanism for staying at the forefront of defense-essential manufacturing capability. ManTech carries out its mission through programs in the Military Departments, participating Defense Agencies, and OSD. A past report to Congress identified over 100 projects funded by ManTech over a three year period have resulted in implementations yielding a cost avoidance of more than $6.3 billion. The Deputy Under Secretary of Defense for Advanced Systems and Concepts administers and oversees the program through the OSD ManTech Director, with primary program execution at the Service/Agency level, and cross-component coordination via the Joint Defense Manufacturing Technology Panel (JDMTP).ManTech Mission: ManTech anticipates and closes gaps in manufacturing capabilities for affordable, timely, and low-risk development, production, and sustainment of defense systems.
Defense Manufacturing Vision: A responsive, world-class manufacturing capability to affordably and rapidly meet warfighter needs throughout the defense system life cycle.
Service components of DoD ManTech include:
Army ManTech: http://www.armymantech.com/
Navy ManTech: http://www.onr.navy.mil/Science-Technology/Directorates/Transition/Manufacturing-ManTech.aspx
Air Force ManTech: http://www.ml.afrl.af.mil/mlm/default.html
MDA ManTech: https://www.dodmantech.com/
DLA ManTech:https://www.dodmantech.com/
Defense Production Act Title III
The Title III Program is a DoD-wide initiative that establishes, maintains, or expands a production capability offered for national defense. Management responsibilities include: program oversight and guidance, strategic planning and legislative proposals, approval of new projects, and liaison with other Federal agencies and Congress.
Additional details on these programs can be found at the OSD Acquisition Web site - http://www.acq.osd.mil/ott/ or by contacting the RF Alliance.For information on the how the RF Alliance can help you, contact: info@rfalliance.org
Contributor - Mr. Eugene Dutkowski, RF Alliance Technical Liaison, NSWC Crane
