By Debbie Gregory.

If a biometric sensor is accurate enough, combined with suitable activity context, the device can provide deep insight and tracking that can provide a much broader picture of someone’s overall personal health.

A few years ago, the Air Force Research Laboratory tested the BioStampRC Wearable Sensing Platform, a flexible and wearable patch used to measure and monitor biomedical data. Now the Marine Corps Rapid Capabilities Office (MCRCO) wants to develop a similar product that will utilize biometric sensor technology to monitor the mental and physical health of Marines on the battlefield.

A request for information (RFI) went out to the defense industry “seeking input to identify potential sources for a Biometric Sensor capable of aiding in warfighting functions through physiological metrics such as mental and physical fatigue, hydration levels, heart rate, temperature, nutrition level, impact forces, etc.,” according to the solicitation.

MCRCO plans to conduct a limited Rapid Capability Assessment using sensor prototypes to inform concepts of employment and capability requirements.

Biometrics-enabled monitoring systems will recognize and evaluate the level of awareness of military personnel through detection of drowsiness and other distractions. With alerting integrated, the monitoring system will help reduce missteps resulting from fatigue
and inadvertent mistakes.

The requirements for the sensor prototypes include the ability to be worn with or integrated into individual equipment loads; the ability to accept/integrate with government-owned command-and-control systems and architectures and be managed from a common tablet; and be capable of collecting and exporting real-time or near real-time data.

MCRCO plans to conduct limited assessments of prototypes to guide how the technology could be used in the future, as well as inform future requirements

By Debbie Gregory.

According to the National Association of Women Business Owners (NAWBO), more than 11.6 million firms in the United States are owned by women, employing some 9 million people. There are numerous resources available to women-owned businesses and entrepreneurs.

The first obstacle that many business owners face is capital. There are a few options when it comes to funding your business. There are a number of grants available for women business owners including Amber Grants for Women, Eileen Fisher’s Community Partnerships Grants, FedEx Small Business Grants, The Girlboss Foundation, Idea Cafe Small Business Grant Program, and the Open Meadows Foundation Grants.

While free money may be music to your ears, business grants, which are basically free money, have some disadvantages, most of which is the amount of paperwork necessary to just apply for, let alone, secure this type of funding.

Additionally, there are opportunities to pitch your business in contests to receive prize money or invaluable business guidance and coaching.

Cartier’s Women’s Initiative Awards are open to female entrepreneurs “in the initial stages of development, in any country, of any nationality and operating in any industry.” The goal of the program is to help high-potential women take their early-phase businesses to the next level.

The Entrepreneurial Winning Women program is a national competition and executive education program that identifies women entrepreneurs with high potential and offers them the assistance to help them succeed.

The InnovateHER Challenge looks for products and services that have a positive, measurable impact on the lives of women and their families. These are products and services that are not quite on the open marketplace yet, but need a bit of help to meet their commercialization potential.

The Streetshares Foundation’s Veteran Small Business Award is open to all veteran business owners. The judging is based on the social impact of your business on the military community , your business idea, what customer need you are filling (product-market fit), your team and company history, and how you plan to use the award and its potential impact.

The Tory Burch Foundation’s Fellows Program aims to provide community support and education opportunities to those wanting to grow their business.

If a grant or a contest are not the way for you to go, you can consider getting a business loan. Be sure to have your business plan and your financials together and ready-to-go.

You will also want to avail yourself of personal and professional growth opportunities, including online/webinar courses, mentorship and networking opportunities.

By Debbie Gregory.

The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) published new guidelines that took effect on October 1, 2018 for verification of Veteran-Owned Small Businesses (VOSBs) and Service Disabled Veteran-Owned Small Businesses (SDVOSBs),

Under the changes, the VA continues to determine whether individuals are veterans or service-disabled veterans, and is responsible for verification of applicant firms for listing in the Vendor Information Pages (VIP) database.

Responsibility for adjudicating challenges of the status based upon issues of ownership and control is now to be determined by administrative judges at Small Business Administration’s (SBA’s) Office of Hearings and Appeals (OHA).

These newly implemented rules are an attempt to resolve inconsistencies between SBA and VA regulations that have led to conflicting decisions about a company’s qualification for set-asides.

The standard for reviewing a VOSB or SDVOSB’s eligibility is “totality of the circumstances,” with the burden of proving eligibility falling on the applicant. Decisions based on an applicant’s failure to meet any veteran eligibility criteria are not subject to appeal; however, an applicant can re-apply and submit a new application six months after denial.

The changes also clarify the process for removal from the VIP database and expand the reasons for removal to include having tax liens and unresolved debts. Other removal criteria include being found guilty of or involved in criminally-related matters as well as debarment of any individual owning or controlling the business concern, as well as submitting false information to VA.

The VA is not providing an additional level of review, but merely acting on determinations issued by courts or other administrative bodies. Further, bankruptcy has been added as a changed circumstance that can lead to a contractor’s removal from the VIP database.

The new rules clearly define VA’s role in determining whether individuals are veterans or service-disabled veterans, and responsibility to determine the ownership interests of those individuals now ultimately falls on SBA, subject to appeal to OHA.

By Debbie Gregory.

In preparation for the arrival of U.S. F-35A Lightning II stealth jets, the British government has awarded a $205 million contract for construction work at Royal Air Force (RAF) Lakenheath to build the the military jet. Although the base is an RAF station, it hosts United States Air Force units and personnel.

The contract, a joint venture with Kier-VolkerFitzpatrick, is part of a larger program to support Air Force operations in the U.K., with a further $1 billion expected to be in invested in the U.K. over the next seven to 10 years.

The Suffolk County airbase will be the first permanent international site for US Air Force F-35s in Europe and continues the base’s long history of supporting U.S. Air Force capability in the UK.

“For more than one hundred years now our armed forces have fought in defense of our common values and interests,” said Defense Minister Tobias Ellwood. “Our two countries have developed the deepest, broadest and most advanced relationship of any two nations.”

The contract includes the construction of a flight simulator facility, a maintenance unit, new hangars and storage facilities. Engineers will modify the base’s current infrastructure and build new squadron parking aprons, two new hangars, a new dual-squadron operations/aircraft maintenance facility, and a flight simulator.

The flight simulator will have the capacity to link to other simulators used by U.K. pilots across the U.K. and beyond, allowing expertise to be shared and pilots from the U.K. and U.S. to train together on a regular basis.

About 700 contractors are expected on base at the height of construction. Once complete, it will welcome an additional 1,200 U.S. airmen and 48 aircraft.

“This is an exciting milestone for the 48th Fighter Wing and for all our partners. We’re transforming RAF Lakenheath together, and the work we do today is critical to the future security of the United States, the United Kingdom and the NATO Alliance,” Col. Will Marshall, 48th Fighter Wing commander, said in a statement.

The Royal Air Force currently has nine F-35s in its inventory, stationed nearby at RAF Marham.

Work on the base will begin summer, 2019. The first F-35s are scheduled to arrive in 2021.

By Debbie Gregory.

OtoTech, a new invention from Samuel Owen, could be a game-changer for motion sickness.

While it might not seem like such a big problem, motion sickness affects soldiers riding in vehicles, sailors during moderate as well as rough seas, Air Force personnel and parachutists.

And now, as more and more training is conducted in virtual reality, the problem is expected to worsen.

Owen’s prototype OtoTech is worn on a headband behind the ear, and uses subtle vibrations to change the way the brain computes the fact that the body that it’s attached to is in motion. Early tests show it relieves motion sickness without the side effects of drugs, Owen said, though he admits the science is so young that it’s not clear just how.

While many other devices are designed to treat the symptoms of motion sickness, OtoTech goes after the actual cause.

“Two [of the four vestibulocochlear nerve fibers] go to the brain, two go to your reflexes,” Owen said.

“The working hypothesis is that [the vibration] causes a chaotic and non-informative stimulus to go to the brain. Somewhere, probably the cerebellum, there’s a filtering mechanism that filters out non-informative sensed information. It’s the reason you don’t notice the shirt on your back right now,” he said.

So while you remain consciously aware that you’re moving, the balance portion of your brain stops noticing the fact; the data has been drowned out in white noise from the device.

Initial testing has resulted in a decrease of motion sickness without affecting balance, vision or alertness.

Owen says that he has initially marketed the device to vertigo sufferers.

Double-blind trials conducted by researchers at Jaguar Land Rover have so far yielded positive results.