Date: Mar 05, 2008 Source: Military & Aerospace Electronics (
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McQ Inc. won four new contracts within the U.S. Department of Defense. The awards enable the company to continue its work developing advanced unattended ground sensors (UGS) and fusion processing technologies. With primary uses in detecting illegal immigration and counter terrorism defense, these networked technologies provide customers with automated, remote area target monitoring, as well as surveillance linked into map-based situational awareness displays.
The contracts include:
Army Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase II Contract Award for "G" Hardened Radio -- McQ will continue development of a Mesh Network sensor radio with GPS capability that can withstand the shock of being fired from a grenade launcher and the shock of impact at the target area. The Phase II effort draws on the iScout sensor development work McQ has performed for the U.S. Army. The resulting technology will allow unattended ground sensors to be launched into target areas from a distance. These sensors can communicate through other neighboring sensors to a central node using networking technology. Contract amount approximately $780,000.
Office of Naval Research -- Enhanced Target and Target Area Resolution Technology BAA Contract Award -- McQ will develop Situation Refinement Fusion techniques and a Test bed Architecture to demonstrate advanced Small Unit Operation Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance mission for the U.S. Marine Corps in support of the war on terror. McQ will perform sensor research on advanced algorithms and networking concepts for miniature disposable UGS sensors. Contract amount approximately $450,000.
Army SBIR Phase I Contract Award to Develop Structure Mapping for Urban Combat Special Operations -- McQ will develop a building characterization system using ad hoc networking and sensors to measure internal building dimensions. The sensor system can be deployed into the building by unmanned systems or delivered by personnel who clear the building. McQ's iScout unattended ground sensors will provide a technology starting point for this advance sensor system. The Phase I SBIR contract is $70,000.
Army SBIR Phase I Contract to Advance Standoff Detection of Personnel Using Seismic Sensors -- McQ will advance the state of the art technology in seismic signal processing for the detection of personnel. McQ will build on its extensive experience with the seismic unattended ground sensors to demonstrate advanced standoff detection of target personnel and rejection of nuisance or non target sources. McQ's OmniSense and iScout technologies will be adapted with new advanced sensor processing and transducer capabilities developed under this $70,000 Phase I SBIR contract.
"These contracts give McQ the opportunity to continue our mission of developing high quality sensors and surveillance technologies," said John McQuiddy, McQ's president. "We look forward to providing a new generation of sensor technology to our armed forces."
