SciTec Showcases its “App Works” Ecosystem at the 36th Space Symposium
For the first time, Space Symposium attendees will have the opportunity to see SciTec, Inc. exhibit elements of its transformative “App Works” ecosystem on the symposium floor. SciTec, Inc., an innovative small business headquartered in Princeton, New Jersey, is bringing a team of scientists, developers, and customer solution leaders to showcase the company’s products delivering advanced mission data processing for space-based missile warning/missile defense and related applications.
SciTec focuses on rapid, agile delivery of mission-performant, user-centered products through its unique App Works infrastructure and process. App Works teams leverage DevSecOps enterprise resources and customer-facing Agile processes to efficiently and securely adapt and advance industry-leading foundational products for signal-chain processing and domain-agnostic data fusion into bespoke solutions for customer mission needs. For U.S. Government customers, SciTec delivers software with the data rights, built-in testing, user documentation, and build tooling necessary for Government-Owned Technical Baseline and long-term sustainability.
“With today’s information-driven warfighter requirements and need for integration across multiple domains, industry can no longer deliver vendor-locked, stove-piped software.” said David Simenc, Executive Director of Tactical Systems. “SciTec developed our App Works concept to bridge the gap between commercially proven practices and no-fail defense mission needs, with Government ownership as a foundational philosophy. Our App Works team have already shown the power of the approach. Success stories include the Sensor Open Framework Architecture (SOFA) effort for the Space Force where we refactored and modernized legacy vendor-locked code into a fully open solution in place at the TAP Lab, OBAC and NASIC, and the Fusion Engine for All Source Tracking (FEAST) activity which is delivering multi-domain, multi-security level Fusion as a Service for USTRATCOM at a fraction of the cost of traditional monolithic fusion systems.”
David continued, “SciTec’s App Works model is really being put to the test on Space Systems Command’s Future Operationally Resilient Ground Evolution (FORGE) application provider prototype competition. We’re nearing the finish line with our fourth and final demo on the prototype effort shortly after Space Symposium. In just 12 months we will have stood up a full suite of prototype Mission Data Processing applications, operating on the FORGE framework, that demonstrates sensor agnostic end-to-end processing of OPIR systems, including surrogate NextGen Geo data, and a modernized operator interface – all ready to scale into the complete, certified Production solution.” SciTec’s partners on the FORGE MDPAP prototype include L3Harris, Raytheon, Outside Analytics, Monterey Technologies, Cosmic AES, and Centil.
Jim Lisowski, CEO, added, “Our App Works is not just about the ground systems. We’re working to deliver this mission processing capability on-board the satellites that support the autonomous operation and low-latency network processing demanded of future space layers. Building upon decades-long expertise developing advanced instrumentation, we started an internal R&D effort in 2015 to move our image processing libraries onto custom, commercial small SWaP computers. Through the Small Business Innovative Research program and other funded efforts, we’ve matured that code to perform on today’s focal plane arrays and a variety of space-qualified processors and delivered capability into orbit.”
Combining ground and space processing, SciTec was recently awarded a contract under the Space Development Agency’s Mission-Specific Application Prototypes BAA to develop a robust mission data processing capability in support of their Battle Management Command, Control, and Communications (BMC3) Tracking Layer objectives. As part of this effort, SciTec will deliver the ground software for track fusion, correlation, and reporting from Tracking Layer data to support SDA’s Tranche 0 Warfighter Capstone demonstration. Concurrently, they will research and develop initial on-board processing for future BMC3 demonstrations.
Looking to the future, SciTec is applying their App Works model to new customer challenges. “The next application for SciTec’s App Works takes us beyond space and missiles” said Dr. Jen Wilbur, Director of Future Systems. “We are bringing low-latency edge processing, deployed throughout sensor layers, to multiple missions across terrestrial, air, and space domains, including counter UAS. With sensor specific processing at the edge, we’re able to rapidly extract and transport key data to mission processing computers and deliver actionable information to users.”
If you’re attending Space Symposium, plan to stop by booth #215 in Exhibit Center South and talk with some of the staff of this dynamic and innovative company.
