By Debbie Gregory.

UTC Aerospace System, one of the world’s largest suppliers of aerospace and defense products, is currently testing its next-generation short-wave infrared (SWIR) camera sensor in an effort to quickly identify friendly forces vs. targets of opportunity.

UTC’s multi-mode tracking sensor “can pick up designators as well as markers from friendly forces,” said Tara Martin, director of business development for UTC Aerospace Systems, ISR and Space Systems.

Sensors can pick up a wide range of markers on the infrared spectrum, but it’s the repetition/pulse rate that matters most, according to Martin.

“One thing that’s unique about our sensor is how fast it can operate. The faster the sensor can operate, the more different codes you can differentiate between,” she said. “We can tell if someone is pulsing at 4.99 hertz versus 5 hertz … and if you can verify you’re seeing that rate, that anticipated repetition rate, you can confirm with much more certainty you’re looking at the right person or the right target.”

An added benefit is that the enemy can’t pick up the laser on standard night-vision goggles.

While the sensors can be placed in handheld devices, tripods and ground vehicles, the units in the engineering and manufacturing phase will require further testing if the sensor is to be integrated into another system.

“There is always some modification or customization to the software that you tend to build for a particular program,” Martin said, adding that the sensor needs fewer optimization upgrades once it’s integrated.

“It’s … turn it on and let it run,” Martin said. “Some other sensors require a lot of fiddling with different parameters for each [mission] to make it work. This has a lot of automatic adjustment.”

In addition to the camera sensor system, UTC’s product range includes ejection seats, cockpit controls, fire protection systems, aircraft landing gear, rescue hoist, and even space suits.

The company is headquartered in Charlotte, North Carolina.

By Debbie Gregory.

A new pack-frame design using ground-breaking technology could be a game-changer when it comes to reducing fatigue.

Lightning Packs, LLC has developed a patented pulley/bungee cord system that allows it to slide up and down on a mounting of metal rods. This reduces impact forces on the user by 80 to 90 percent, and reduces the metabolic energy requirement by 40-80 watts. This allows a wearer to carry an extra 8-12 pounds “for free.”

When people walk, their hips move up and down by as much as seven centimeters, which normally causes a backpack to bob up and down, too. That is bad news for the joints and back, because on its downswing the pack exerts added force on the wearer. A 50-pound load, for example, can slam down with 80 pounds of force when a person is walking and up to 150 pounds when running, says Lightning Packs’ founder Dr. Lawrence Rome.

A video on the company’s website demonstrates that when the pack is in the locked position, it bobs up and down as a normal pack would. But when the pulley system is activated, the pack appears to “float.” As a person’s hips rise, the mounting raises as well, but the bungee cords let the load dip down, limiting its movement.

“We first designed, built under contract, and delivered a series of ergonomic and electricity-generating backpacks for personnel of the United States Army and Marine Corps,” according to the company’s website. “The ergonomic benefits of our design have been field-tested and approved by soldiers themselves,” the website states.

What was originally designed for the military and rescue workers could be a game-changer for consumers, especially for parents who have long been concerned  about the effects on the spines of their school-aged children who carry heavy loads of school books.

The company will be launching a Kickstarter campaign to raise funding for the consumer version, the “Hoverglide,” sometime in September. The Hoverglide will be offered in several models for backpacking, commuting and light hiking. There will also be a tactical model which is about the size of a standard daypack or assault pack.

By Debbie Gregory.

McLean, Virginia-based government technology consulting firm Booz Allen Hamilton has won a $1 billion contract for up to six years to provide a suite of cybersecurity services to six federal agencies, the defense and cybersecurity contractor has announced.

Cybersecurity services will be provided to the General Services Administration, the Health and Human Services Department, NASA, the Social Security Administration, the Treasury Department and the U.S. Postal Service. With one base year and five one-year options, Booz Allen will help the federal agencies address cybersecurity gaps and help fortify the security of networks, systems and data.

The work will be part of the federal government’s largest cybersecurity initiative known as Dynamic and Evolving Federal Enterprise Network Defense and its Continuous Diagnostics and Mitigation program (CDM), which Booz Allen has supported for the past five years. Booz Allen also won a multi-million dollar contract in May for seven other agencies under the CDM project, which covers the Executive Office of the President and the Office of Personnel Management, as well as the departments of Energy, Veterans Affairs, Interior, Transportation, and Agriculture.

Booz Allen’s CDM program secures nearly 80 percent of the “.gov” enterprise, including 4.1 million network addressable devices, 1.75 million users, 19,700 sites and 89 individual federal organizations.

“Cyberdefense has become a race. And success means faster decisions and faster actions,” said Rob Allegar, Booz Allen vice president and lead for the CDM work. “We design Booz Allen’s CDM solutions to help agency leaders understand their attack surface, detect evolving threats, make informed risk-based decision, and act quickly.”

Founded in 1914 by a young college graduate in psychology named Edwin G. Booz, the company laid its foundation using new approaches to management that emphasized people, not products, were the key to unlocking an organization’s full potential.

Booz Allen shares (NYSE: BAH) climbed on news of the contract. Its stock has gained more than 50 percent in the past 12 months.

By Debbie Gregory.

The dog days of summer can often be a slower time for small businesses, unless you’re in a travel-related or back-to-school related business. Not every small business has an audience that can use its products and services year-round. But slow times are a great opportunity to catch up and revisit your long-term marketing goals or revive some unfinished marketing projects.

The slow season is also a good time to take a look at the big picture of your marketing and sales process, and make corrections and improvements. Evaluate what part of your business you think needs the most work and allocate a majority of your time to enhancing it.

Here are a few proven strategies that can be done during slow times that will serve you well year round:

• Review your website and purge outdated information and broken links.
• Make sure your website has plenty of calls-to-action (CTAs) for people to stay in touch with you by subscribing to an email list or a blog. If you haven’t hopped on the blogging bandwagon for your business’s marketing, don’t worry, it’s never too late to get started.
• Make sure your contact information is up-to-date.
• Make sure your marketing materials both print and digital, are not only up-to date, but also consistent.
• Keep an eye on your analytics to fine-tune your online marketing, landing pages, and calls to action.
• If you have good customer relationships in place, the slow season is also a good time to follow up with your existing customers to see how they’re doing and ask for referrals, remembering to reward them accordingly.
• Tell customer stories and get testimonials that are detailed and personal, and use the person’s full name if possible.
• Create compelling content that will speak to your target audience.
• Stay in touch via your website, email and social media.

By Debbie Gregory.

When considering small business marketing ideas, the first thing you should think about is your audience. Who are they? What do they do? How can you help them do it better? Having adequate knowledge of your target audience helps make your marketing more effective and cost-efficient.

Establishing a buyer/user “persona” is vital to understanding your current customers and identifying potential future customers. This information allows you to produce what you need to meet the specific needs of your audience, be it products, services or content. Clickbait and countless sales pitches aren’t the way to gain trust from your network. Instead, make it your goal to reach your audience on a more personal level. Show them you understand them and care about their wants and needs.

To develop a good idea of who your customers/users are, you need to conduct market research. The best place to start is with your existing customers/users, and can be garnered from surveys, questionnaires and interviews. If you’re sending these requests out by email, make sure your emails are coming from a recognizable sender name, make sure the subject line tells the reader what’s in the email, and make sure the content is visually appealing with a clear call to action.

You can also utilize social media and in-person interviews. Offering a coupon or discount for their participation is a good incentive.

Be sure to analyze the data you collect to understand your ideal customer/user so that you’re in a better position to target your advertising campaigns effectively.

Additionally, use your website analytics to see where your visitors come from, the keywords they are using to find you, and what they’re doing on the site. This will give you further insights into your buyer/user persona.

Knowing your customer/user persona enables you to communicate with them more effectively, which should help you to grow your customer/user base, which in turn will grow your business.