DVIDS – News – Defense Technology Exploration Continues at JIFX

The Naval Postgraduate School (NPS) conducted its spring Joint Interagency Field Experiment (JIFX) event in May with a technical focus on command, control, communications, computers, cyber, intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (C5ISR) and countermeasures.

Held quarterly at Camp Roberts, California Army National Guard, JIFX provides an unparalleled opportunity for applied research for NPS students, faculty, industry engineers and stakeholders. This most recent JIFX attracted 170 participants, conducted field experiments utilizing 18 unique technologies, and conducted a total of 52 flights with Unmanned Aerial Systems (UAS).

“JIFX provides our technical personnel with an opportunity they wouldn’t have on their own: an operational field environment where they can see how their prototypes work in the real world, with immediate feedback and insight from DoD end users,” said JIFX sponsor John Lazar, director for Innovation and Modernization (I&M) in the Office of the Under Secretary of Defense for Research and Technology (OUSD (R&E)).

The interaction between JIFX technologists and stakeholders helps drive faster innovation that can concretely address operational technology gaps.

In April, NPS signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the Defense Innovation Unit (DIU) to expand complementary efforts and future opportunities covering education, research and innovation, including joint experimentation. JIFX is well-suited to effectively deliver on this effort.

“JIFX is an excellent example of how NPS helps accelerate concepts into capabilities,” said Dr. Kevin Smith, NPS vice chancellor for research and innovation, “blending new technologies with operational experience to create learning opportunities for innovation.”

U.S. Air Force Maj. Gen. Steve Batow, DIU’s military adjutant and commander of the California Air National Guard, recognizes the importance of JIFX to current and future DIU projects.

“JIFX provides an incredibly unique environment to incubate breakthrough technologies and accelerate their progress from development to deployment,” Butow said. “By partnering with California National Guard Camp Roberts, JIFX connects engineers to testing sites and airspace that are needed but otherwise very difficult to access.”

WeatherHive, a crowd weather measurement system being developed by GreenSight, is one of several projects DIU is funding for the U.S. Air Force Weather Agency. Deploying 10 small quadcopter drones from a portable “hive” canister, the system can collect meteorological data for tactical weather forecasts as well as “nowcasting” — what’s happening now and in the near future.

GreenSight has experimented with WeatherHive at the past four JIFX events and found access to Camp Roberts’ vast controlled airspace to be essential to accelerating the development of its technology.

“The airspace access situation here is really unique. We’ll be here for a full week and have almost unfettered access to high altitude airspace,” said Greensight CEO and co-founder James Peverill.

“We can do a lot more testing here and it more accurately reflects how we want to use the system in the real world. We can go to the highest altitudes. We can fly at full power. And we can really test the full extent of the system in a way that we can’t really do anywhere else.”

Peverill believes one of JIFX’s major advantages is its accessibility to stakeholders: While initially funded for the U.S. Air Force, feedback has led to the development of new applications for other stakeholders across the Department of Defense (DOD).

JIFX Director and former U.S. Army Colonel Michael Richardson believes that these types of interactions, which take place regularly at JIFX, are of great benefit to all stakeholders involved.

“NPS and DOD stakeholders benefit from identifying technologies that have the potential to solve operational challenges, and technologists benefit from learning about DOD needs,” Richardson said. “Both communities benefit by building relationships that lead to needed capabilities and business development.”

Retired U.S. Navy Capt. Marco Romani, director of NavalX Central Coast Tech Bridge for NPS, is a frequent attendee at JIFX events and highlighted NavalX’s commitment to supporting JIFX’s innovation mission.

“The Navy sees JIFX as a valuable tool for technology discovery,” said Romani. “NPS JIFX provides the lowest barrier to collaboration with the Department of Defense for companies of all sizes, from one-person startups to major defense companies. JIFX is all about learning, and everyone embraces the motto of ‘fail fast, succeed fast’ in a shared learning environment.”

The next JIFX event this summer will be held Aug. 5-9 and will focus on “Non-Standard Communications and Navigation.” For more information about JIFX and to register for upcoming events, visit https://www.nps.edu/fx.

Participation in a Joint Interagency Field Experiment (JIFX) event does not imply endorsement of the participating companies or their products or services by the Naval Postgraduate School, the Department of the Navy, or the Department of Defense.