VirtualAirBoss, NASA UTM and CAW to Coordinate UAS Flights at Coastal Trident exercise

 Grand Forks, ND – June 2, 2015 — SmartC2 Inc. announces that the VirtualAirBoss™ integrated with the NASA UTM system will participate in an experiment with the Center for Asymmetric Warfare (CAW) to coordinate flights of unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) during threats and emergencies at the Coastal Trident 2015 field exercise in the Port of Hueneme, CA in early June.

Alan Jaeger, director of the Center for Asymmetric Warfare, is participating with VirtualAirBoss and NASA’s Parimal Kopardekar, Manager of the Safe Autonomous System Operations Project, to demonstrate connectivity of the VirtualAirBoss to NASA’s Unmanned aircraft systems Traffic Management (UTM) program, or UTM system, during this field exercise involving state, local and federal agencies responding to simulated regional threats and emergencies.

“Coastal Trident is the perfect environment to evaluate this convergence of extensive expertise in emergency and threat response, with the cutting edge technology of VirtualAirBoss and NASA’s new UTM. Unmanned aircraft (UAVs) will play an increasing role in damage evaluation and crisis response, and coordinating drones in the airspace will be vital,” says Stuart Rudolph, President of SmartC2, who is participating from the private sector. “The feedback provided by the Coastal Trident users who are coordinating flights during this scenario will improve our technology moving forward.”

More than 90 local, state, and federal emergency response agencies will collaborate with the Port of Hueneme to conduct the annual Coastal Trident Regional Maritime Security and Response Exercise, and along the Southern California Coast near and around the Port of Hueneme in the first two weeks of June 2015. The full scale exercises involve a variety of air, land, and sea operations as well as testing a number of technologies related to maritime operations. The exercise activities are designed to test threat and emergency response plans, processes, and systems, along with command and control procedures.

The Maritime Advanced Systems & Technology Laboratory (MAST) is a collaborative research facility. MAST is dedicated to fostering leading edge technology innovation in the port and maritime environment in partnership with the Port of Hueneme.

A MAST Technology Expo and Open House will occur on 10 June, 2015 at Port Hueneme, and in addition to a variety of technologies focused on port and maritime security the MAST Expo will feature a panel of subject matter experts discussing their technology vision for Maritime Safety and Security. Stakeholders are encouraged to register for the seminar and Expo at http://www.portofhueneme.org/business/mast-2015/

About Coastal Trident and CAW

The Coastal Trident Program was established by the Port of Hueneme and in collaboration with the Naval Postgraduate School’s Center for Asymmetric Warfare as a comprehensive training, experimentation, and exercise program for the Port of Hueneme. Since its inception in 2007, Coastal Trident has evolved into a regional maritime security and response program, enabled by operational evaluation of leading-edge technology systems, with participation by over 100 agencies, and organizations. www.cawnps.org