...LONG BEACH, Miss. – The list is impressive: A shoulder-mounted system
that detects the location of snipers; a device that checks for explosives at
airports; a system that makes supply drops more accurate. There are more
products, including some the company can’t talk about.
...Much of the work on those products and more is done at Long Beach
Industrial Park by Planning Systems Inc. out of its 25,000 square-foot
engineering and production facility. It’s been here several decades and has
quietly been doing some of the most cutting-edge, niche engineering work
imaginable.
...You might be forgiven if images of the scientists and technicians for James
Bond 007 come to mind. It’s an image that the parent company in United
Kingdom would not discourage.
...“It is a collection of well-educated, just plain old smart people,” said Dan
DeSandro, business development manager, about the people he works with at
PSI. “They see things from the side of the user.”
...None of the troops in Afghanistan and Iraq would disagree with the value of
that “side of the user” approach. One of the company’s most interesting
products is called EARS (Early Attack Reaction System). It’s a gunshot
detection system that allows a soldier to find a sniper a fraction of a second
after a shot is fired. The type worn by a soldier is called SWATS (Soldier-
Wearable Acoustic Targeting System), with four microphones, multiple
sensors and high-powered processors that weighs just 6.4 ounces. The Army
late last year placed a $9.9 million order.
...That in itself would be enough of an accomplishment for a company. But
for PSI and it’s parent, it’s just one of a bagful of interesting, life-saving
devices they’ve cooked up to solve sticky problems for the military.
DARPA-like roots
...Planning Systems Inc. was established in 1972 in Reston, Va., and in short
order opened an office in Long Beach to handle some work at Stennis Space
Center. From the start the focus of PSI has been on using cutting edge science
to solve difficult problems for the government.
...Then came a series of purchases that would eventually make PSI a part of
the QinetiQ Group plc, of Farnborough, UK, founded as a spinoff of the
United Kingdom’s version of DARPA. Like its U.S. counterpart, DERA
delved in pushing science and technology to the limit to solve problems.
QinetiQ’s subsidiary in the United States, QinetiQ North America, bought
Foster-Miller in 2004 and put it under the Technology Solutions Group of
Waltham, Mass., which serves both commercial and government clients.
Foster-Miller then purchased PSI for QinetiQ in 2005. PSI is a subsidiary of
FMI.
...Like other QinetiQ North America operations, PSI does research and
development and engineering as well as manufacturing, and its engineers
support other QinetiQ offices in North America. The Technology Solutions
Group has more than 700 employees. In Long Beach the last count was 35
engineers and about 24 technicians and assembly people. But the number
fluctuates depending upon projects.
...In the immediate region, the Technology Solutions Group also has an office
in Slidell, La., which provides staff to two locations at Stennis Space Center
and provides technical services to both the Navy and NOAA.
...“The solutions are not purely from the mind of a scientist stuck in a
laboratory or in the recesses of a research facility. The solutions are well
thought out, designed, and built from the perspective that our products are to
be used in situations where almost doesn't count,” said DeSandro.
...QinetiQ provides research and engineering services, mainly for defense
applications, in the United Kingdom and the United States. Its scientists and
engineers help some of the world’s top manufacturers push the boundaries of
technology in such areas as aviation, defense, energy, IT, and space
exploration. In addition to providing technical services, the company licenses
some of its technologies to manufacturers. Major customers include the
United Kingdom Ministry of Defence, NASA and the U.S. Department of
Defense.
...The products developed by QinetiQ and PSI are used on land, some in the
air and some in the sea. And much they won’t discuss.
...“Some of the more interesting and intriguing use of our people's skills and
knowledge are esoteric and must remain confidential,” said DeSandro.
...But what they can discuss gives a sense of what they do.
Products
...The gunshot detection system, whether stationary or mobile, monitors the
acoustic environment and the position and orientation of the sensor package.
It can calculate the origination point of the projectile and provide the operator
with the location. Pressure and sound waves, rapid changes in geographic
location, and orientation of the sensor package are all measured and calculated
during the sequence of events.
...All the sensors, electronics, and software is contained in a 4”x4”x1" box that
sits on a soldier's shoulder. The urban and marine variants have different
hardware and algorithms for their environments. The urban variant also ties in
with video systems to document the event and aid authorities in identifying the
shooter.
...The technologies inside the box have application for the commercial world,
including devices for the hearing impaired.
...Dropping supplies to troops is crucial, but there are real dangers, including
exposing both the aircraft and troops on the ground to enemy fire. But
QintetiQ and PSI came up with PADS (Precision Airdrop System), which
enables the accurate delivery of supplies from high altitudes without the high
cost of a steerable, one-time-use-only parachute.
...Developed jointly with the Defense Department over the past decade,
PADS uses drop sondes packed with instruments to measure winds,
corresponding altitudes and a super-accurate GPS during the tool's decent
from altitudes as high as 25,000 feet to precision-guide cargo pallets to troops.
It was first used successfully by the Air Force to re-supply troops in
Afghanistan in August 2006.
...A ground penetrating radar (GPR) system developed by PSI is being used to
find buried improvised explosive devises (IED's). Using radar to penetrate the
ground and image buried metal isn’t new, but doing it from a vehicle traveling
at 50 mph is.
...The system employs a technique that allows the use of a large amount of
RF energy in a way that someone could stand in front of the antenna array
and use a cellular phone, with neither the cell phone nor the user being
affected.
...It may wind up with some commercial applications. It’s of interest to the oil
and gas industry for use in underground pipe detection, where the apparatus
(miniaturized) is mounted to an all terrain vehicle for high speed field data
collection.
...The amount of pipe buried on land along the Gulf Coast and in the
waterways of the coast is large. Over the years, surveys have been lost or pipe
has been shifted and or moved from its original location.
...“The GPR technique works for land based operations, however the same
customer has operations in the inland waters, rivers, and offshore. The
solution we are exploring is to miniaturize a pulsed magnetometer and mount
the hardware on a submersible autonomous robot,” said DeSandro. The
robots are the creation of another QinetiQ NA operation.
...“If you seen a video of bomb squads using robots to neutralize or isolate a
package or the use of a robot to enter a hazardous space, you most likely have
seen a QinetiQ NA product in action,” DeSandro said.
...“One of our more intriguing recent projects was the development of an
acoustic signature capture solution for the U.S. Navy,” said DeSandro. “In
essence, the technology provides a highly accurate sound picture of a ship at
sea. This technology has a very functional place in harbor safety and security.
This technology makes it possible to acoustically ‘see’ a swimmer on surface
or below the surface of the water with extreme clarity, not to mention any
vessel or device that might be on or under the surface of the water.”
...If that’s one of the things PSI can talk about, imagine what they can’t
discuss. - David Tortorano, Tcp
April 2009
that detects the location of snipers; a device that checks for explosives at
airports; a system that makes supply drops more accurate. There are more
products, including some the company can’t talk about.
...Much of the work on those products and more is done at Long Beach
Industrial Park by Planning Systems Inc. out of its 25,000 square-foot
engineering and production facility. It’s been here several decades and has
quietly been doing some of the most cutting-edge, niche engineering work
imaginable.
...You might be forgiven if images of the scientists and technicians for James
Bond 007 come to mind. It’s an image that the parent company in United
Kingdom would not discourage.
...“It is a collection of well-educated, just plain old smart people,” said Dan
DeSandro, business development manager, about the people he works with at
PSI. “They see things from the side of the user.”
...None of the troops in Afghanistan and Iraq would disagree with the value of
that “side of the user” approach. One of the company’s most interesting
products is called EARS (Early Attack Reaction System). It’s a gunshot
detection system that allows a soldier to find a sniper a fraction of a second
after a shot is fired. The type worn by a soldier is called SWATS (Soldier-
Wearable Acoustic Targeting System), with four microphones, multiple
sensors and high-powered processors that weighs just 6.4 ounces. The Army
late last year placed a $9.9 million order.
...That in itself would be enough of an accomplishment for a company. But
for PSI and it’s parent, it’s just one of a bagful of interesting, life-saving
devices they’ve cooked up to solve sticky problems for the military.
DARPA-like roots
...Planning Systems Inc. was established in 1972 in Reston, Va., and in short
order opened an office in Long Beach to handle some work at Stennis Space
Center. From the start the focus of PSI has been on using cutting edge science
to solve difficult problems for the government.
...Then came a series of purchases that would eventually make PSI a part of
the QinetiQ Group plc, of Farnborough, UK, founded as a spinoff of the
United Kingdom’s version of DARPA. Like its U.S. counterpart, DERA
delved in pushing science and technology to the limit to solve problems.
QinetiQ’s subsidiary in the United States, QinetiQ North America, bought
Foster-Miller in 2004 and put it under the Technology Solutions Group of
Waltham, Mass., which serves both commercial and government clients.
Foster-Miller then purchased PSI for QinetiQ in 2005. PSI is a subsidiary of
FMI.
...Like other QinetiQ North America operations, PSI does research and
development and engineering as well as manufacturing, and its engineers
support other QinetiQ offices in North America. The Technology Solutions
Group has more than 700 employees. In Long Beach the last count was 35
engineers and about 24 technicians and assembly people. But the number
fluctuates depending upon projects.
...In the immediate region, the Technology Solutions Group also has an office
in Slidell, La., which provides staff to two locations at Stennis Space Center
and provides technical services to both the Navy and NOAA.
...“The solutions are not purely from the mind of a scientist stuck in a
laboratory or in the recesses of a research facility. The solutions are well
thought out, designed, and built from the perspective that our products are to
be used in situations where almost doesn't count,” said DeSandro.
...QinetiQ provides research and engineering services, mainly for defense
applications, in the United Kingdom and the United States. Its scientists and
engineers help some of the world’s top manufacturers push the boundaries of
technology in such areas as aviation, defense, energy, IT, and space
exploration. In addition to providing technical services, the company licenses
some of its technologies to manufacturers. Major customers include the
United Kingdom Ministry of Defence, NASA and the U.S. Department of
Defense.
...The products developed by QinetiQ and PSI are used on land, some in the
air and some in the sea. And much they won’t discuss.
...“Some of the more interesting and intriguing use of our people's skills and
knowledge are esoteric and must remain confidential,” said DeSandro.
...But what they can discuss gives a sense of what they do.
Products
...The gunshot detection system, whether stationary or mobile, monitors the
acoustic environment and the position and orientation of the sensor package.
It can calculate the origination point of the projectile and provide the operator
with the location. Pressure and sound waves, rapid changes in geographic
location, and orientation of the sensor package are all measured and calculated
during the sequence of events.
...All the sensors, electronics, and software is contained in a 4”x4”x1" box that
sits on a soldier's shoulder. The urban and marine variants have different
hardware and algorithms for their environments. The urban variant also ties in
with video systems to document the event and aid authorities in identifying the
shooter.
...The technologies inside the box have application for the commercial world,
including devices for the hearing impaired.
...Dropping supplies to troops is crucial, but there are real dangers, including
exposing both the aircraft and troops on the ground to enemy fire. But
QintetiQ and PSI came up with PADS (Precision Airdrop System), which
enables the accurate delivery of supplies from high altitudes without the high
cost of a steerable, one-time-use-only parachute.
...Developed jointly with the Defense Department over the past decade,
PADS uses drop sondes packed with instruments to measure winds,
corresponding altitudes and a super-accurate GPS during the tool's decent
from altitudes as high as 25,000 feet to precision-guide cargo pallets to troops.
It was first used successfully by the Air Force to re-supply troops in
Afghanistan in August 2006.
...A ground penetrating radar (GPR) system developed by PSI is being used to
find buried improvised explosive devises (IED's). Using radar to penetrate the
ground and image buried metal isn’t new, but doing it from a vehicle traveling
at 50 mph is.
...The system employs a technique that allows the use of a large amount of
RF energy in a way that someone could stand in front of the antenna array
and use a cellular phone, with neither the cell phone nor the user being
affected.
...It may wind up with some commercial applications. It’s of interest to the oil
and gas industry for use in underground pipe detection, where the apparatus
(miniaturized) is mounted to an all terrain vehicle for high speed field data
collection.
...The amount of pipe buried on land along the Gulf Coast and in the
waterways of the coast is large. Over the years, surveys have been lost or pipe
has been shifted and or moved from its original location.
...“The GPR technique works for land based operations, however the same
customer has operations in the inland waters, rivers, and offshore. The
solution we are exploring is to miniaturize a pulsed magnetometer and mount
the hardware on a submersible autonomous robot,” said DeSandro. The
robots are the creation of another QinetiQ NA operation.
...“If you seen a video of bomb squads using robots to neutralize or isolate a
package or the use of a robot to enter a hazardous space, you most likely have
seen a QinetiQ NA product in action,” DeSandro said.
...“One of our more intriguing recent projects was the development of an
acoustic signature capture solution for the U.S. Navy,” said DeSandro. “In
essence, the technology provides a highly accurate sound picture of a ship at
sea. This technology has a very functional place in harbor safety and security.
This technology makes it possible to acoustically ‘see’ a swimmer on surface
or below the surface of the water with extreme clarity, not to mention any
vessel or device that might be on or under the surface of the water.”
...If that’s one of the things PSI can talk about, imagine what they can’t
discuss. - David Tortorano, Tcp
April 2009
advanced technology
QinetiQ/PSI's cutting-edge devices
QinetiQ/PSI's cutting-edge devices
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