Flatvision Industry News

IFSEC, the world’s largest annual security event, returns to the NEC Birmingham from 16 – 19 May 2011. The 38^th edition of the award winning event* will offer security professionals the opportunity to discover innovative security solutions in the industry as well as providing a glimpse into the future of security through the extensive exhibition, comprehensive educational programme and innovative feature areas.

James Blue, Portfolio Director – Fire & Security at UBM Live, organisers of IFSEC, said: “Every year, thousands of visitors come to IFSEC to source the most up-to-date technology in this evolving industry. As the organisers, we see it as our responsibility to be at the forefront of the security market so for 2011, we are expanding the seminar content and introducing new features to demonstrate what the future of this industry will hold. This will enhance the IFSEC experience for visitors as we also see the return of established, interactive features, including the Intelligent Integration Zone, and our industry-leading exhibition.”

Divided into six product areas, the IFSEC 2011 exhibition will house more than 700 of the world’s leading companies.

Hosting more than 22,000 visitors every year, including an international audience of more than 6,500 professionals, this is the central meeting place for the international security industry. Several countries will also have dedicated pavilions to house leading manufacturers and suppliers from the respective countries. China, France, Italy, Taiwan and USA are just a few to benefit from this initiative.

Since its inception, IFSEC has prided itself on providing unparalleled educational content to its thousands of visitors and 2011 will be no different. The ‘New Security Products & Technology Showcase’ seminar theatres will offer hours of free educational content looking at the newest technologies available in the marketplace. The IFSEC Conference 2011, the world’s leading security conference dedicated to the end user, also returns with a jam-packed programme of unique and topical content.

(See full article at: www.ifsec.co.uk)

SAN DIEGO: USS Peleliu (LHA 5) became the first ship in the Navy to implement the amphibious low-light surveillance system (ALSS) Aug. 12 while in port San Diego.

Peleliu’s ALSS provides for safer evolutions by allowing operational leaders more visibility of spaces on the ship and wider, zoomable views of places the old camera system covered.

“We installed 29 cameras, which can be controlled from eight stations throughout the ship,” said Dan Bischoff, project leader for Naval Air Systems Command in Lakehurst, N.J. “A combination of fixed and movable cameras with zoom capability will help cover the flight deck, well deck, waterline, hangar bay, vehicle stowage and engineering spaces.”

Bischoff estimated the implementation of ALSS from start to finish cost more than $1 million and was completed by a team effort of professionals from General Dynamics National Steel and Shipbuilding Company, Naval Air Systems Command and Naval Sea Systems Command.

Bischoff said the bombing of the USS Cole (DDG 67) on Oct. 12, 2000, influenced the planning of ALSS.

“Originally the ALSS was going to be used primarily for flight deck and amphibious operations only, but the Cole incident showed the benefits of being able to remotely monitor engineering spaces,” said Bischoff. “So, the designs were changed and the concept grew.”

Bischoff added that the ALSS works well with Peleliu’s new green well deck and primary flight control tower’s lighting, which provides for safe night vision device operations.

Another practical use of ALSS is video surveillance, helping to assist the ship’s security force.

“This system is better than the last one we had,” said Master-at-Arms 1st Class (SW) Ronald Maples, security leading petty officer. “It has better clarity, detail and definition. Before, we could barely make out if someone on the pier approaching the ship was a male or female, but now we can actually tell specifically who it is.”

Maples said the new system’s steerable zooming features enable the ship’s security force to track “persons of interest” near the ship, which the old system’s cameras could not do.

(See article at: http://www.defencetalk.com)

Scientists from the University of Illinois, US, have developed and successfully demonstrated an acoustic metamaterial cloak that could make submarines completely invisible to sonar and other ultrasound waves.

Mechanical science and engineering professor Nicholas Fang and his team have tried testing the technology on objects with different materials and densities and proved that the cloak could make objects invisible to a broad range of sound waves.

“We are not talking about science fiction. We are talking about controlling sound waves by bending and twisting them in a designer space,” he said.

The metamaterial cloak consists of 16 concentric rings of acoustic circuits that bend the sound waves to wrap them around the outer layers of the cloak making it appear invisible.

According to an Australian Government report, military sonar systems generally operate from 1,000Hz to 500kHz and the cloak is capable of covering sound wavelengths, from 40kHz to 80kHz.

The technology could also be used by other areas of submarine stealth including cavitation, through which small bubbles form and burst around fast moving objects such as propeller blades.

(See full article at: www.naval-technology.com)

The newest ship in the Royal Caribbean International cruise line fleet, the Allure of the Seas, integrates self-service, digital signage and other technologies to provide a high-tech customer experience.

The 16-deck ship with nearly 3,000 staterooms offers pervasive Wi-Fi access, with more than 900 Internet access points; self-service customer kiosks that allow voyagers to access their accounts and check-in for their flights home; and award-winning, digital-signage wayfinding stations.

“One of the things that we really wanted to do was to innovate new technologies that will make the guest experience better,” RCI senior vice president of hotel operations Lisa Bauer said in the video embedded below.

(See full article at: www.digitalsignagetoday.com)

Advances in 3D computing will be one of the driving technologies impacting a variety of industries in the coming years, including the digital signage and cinema industry. This is according to a new report from GigaOM Pro and Research 2.0.

Movie theaters will have 15,000 new 3D installations and will create $750 million in revenue over the next five years. For home entertainment, mobile and digital signage, 3D computing is fast becoming a critical technology.

The report says that while much of the focus for 3-D displays is on the home, the public space and digital signage markets will see significant penetration of 3D technology in coming years.

(See full article at: www.digitalsignagetoday.com)

Over the past year, the Army has developed a holistic network strategy that fundamentally changes how network technologies are integrated and deployed, said Gen. Peter Chiarelli, the Army’s vice chief of staff.

“The network is now the Army’s highest modernization priority. Having every Soldier plugged into the tactical network and giving them means to access and distribute information would give the Army a tremendous advantage [over our adversaries],” Chiarelli added.

In the past, the Army fielded network systems independently and on their own acquisition timelines, said Col. John Morrison, director, G-3/5/7 LandWarNet. The Army’s new approach is to leverage mature technologies through integrated network “capability sets” aligned against Army Force Generation requirements – the process through which equipment is delivered and synchronized to deploying forces, he added.

The most important component of the strategy is to deploy network “capability sets” that will provide an integrated, seamless network capability – from a tactical operations center to the commander on the move to the dismounted Soldier, Morrison explained. Beginning in FY12, he said the Army will align resources in order to field these network “capability sets” to as many deploying or available formations as possible.

With these goals in mind, the Army plans a series of network developmental exercises and evaluations at Fort Bliss, Texas, and White Sands Missile Range, N.M., aimed at evaluating technologies and integrating multiple programs into a larger tactical network able to transmit voice, data, images and video faster, further and more efficiently across the force in real time, service officials said.

Through integrating programs to develop these capability sets, the Army is striving to extend a robust network down to the dismounted Soldier, thus providing key situational awareness and mission command at the platoon and company levels.

The idea is for a terrestrial tactical network using non-proprietary high bandwidth waveforms such as Soldier Radio Waveform, or SRW; and Wideband Networking Waveform, known as WNW; a mobile satellite network such as Warfighter Information Network – Tactical, known as WIN-T; and various Battle Command applications to all work seamlessly as part of a broader battlefield network connecting dismounted Soldiers, command posts and vehicles on-the-move.

To help meet the challenge of dependent, synchronized network engineering and integration efforts, the Army will conduct synchronized network test and evaluation efforts — helping to align programs of record and other technical solutions in a holistic network that mirrors the complexity in theater today.

Structured tests for record such as Limited User Tests will be Synchronized while ongoing Brigade Combat Team Integration Exercises will serve as integration evaluations for tactical network development and allow the Soldier, through the Army Evaluation Task Force,or AETF, at Fort Bliss, Texas, to provide valuable doctrine feedback to combat and materiel developers prior to the network capability being integrated into the operational force.

The AETF will now serve as the Network’s primary test unit with a two-fold intent, to remove the integration burden from the operational units and to provide an operational venue to evaluate new technologies and network capabilities prior to fielding to operational units. The new capabilities they integrate and assess will ultimately provide the impetus for future acquisition and equipping decisions.

(See full article at: www.army.mil)