Germantown Innovation Center’s DSPlogic Integrates Successful Weapons Seeking Solution for the Air Force

Posted February 29, 2016

For several days in Montgomery County’s Germantown Innovation Center (GIC), the multi-purpose room windows were mysteriously shrouded in brown paper. Ominous signs warned tenants to stay away— “Caution— Laser In Use” they declared. “What was going on in there?” everyone wondered.

The room had been commandeered by Business Innovation Network member DSPlogic. Under the direction of CEO Michael Babst, the company was preparing for a demonstration that represented the culmination of a two-year project to create a complete 3D laser imaging system. The client: Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) at Eglin Air Force Base in Fort Walton Beach, FL. Specifically, the project was for their Munitions Directorate and Weapon Seeker Sciences Division.  AFRL had hoped to have an in-house platform that would integrate thermal vision, GPS, and 3D point cloud imagery with data analysis in a single, self-contained device. And DSPlogic delivered!

The demo took four weeks to set up.  This would be the first time that DSPlogic’s new laser imaging system was connected to AFRL equipment, after working independently for two years.  The GIC-based demonstration proved that the integrated DSPlogic-AFRL system could work in a close up environment with a wider field of view, saving testing time on the Air Force range, and enabling more rigorous testing.  This integration enables important new kinds of experimentation with weapons defense systems that was previously not possible with the equipment at AFRL.  The brown paper was installed in the room to protect the eyes of people passing by, not necessarily for security!

DSPlogic developed the custom electronics and signal processors required to create a fully embedded real-time multi-sensor 3D imaging system.  The system is built upon DSPlogic’s Vario platform— an IP-enabled device that combines the CPU and graphics power of a high-end tablet with the real-time processing capability of a Digital Signal Processor (DSP) and the massive, reconfigurable computing power of a Field Programmable Gate Array (FPGA).  The system DSPlogic developed might be compared to an Internet of Things (IoT) device, except that “it’s incredibly smart and power-efficient — using its massive computing power to extract key information from a firehose of sensor data in real time.  It’s 100 times faster than a typical desktop computer,” explains Michael.

Two visitors from AFRL came to the GIC for the demonstration. Within a matter a few hours it was apparent that the demonstration would be a success. When asked what the clients said after finishing the demo, Michael summed it up in one word: “awesome!”  He added that “Our solution will save the Air Force millions of dollars by leveraging equipment they purchased already, but couldn’t use in the way they wanted,” explained Michael. “Overall, they were thrilled with it,” he added.

DSPlogic’s work was supported by a Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) contract earned through the Department of Defense.  DSPlogic aims to commercialize the 3D imaging system by enhancing it with new features while also marketing the Vario platform for other high-performance embedded sensor applications such as Radar and Electronic Warfare.

DSPlogic was founded in 2005 by Michael Babst. It has been a member of the GIC since 2010. The GIC is part of Montgomery County’s Department of Economic Development’s Business Innovation Network and serves to support growing companies.

For further information about DSPlogic visit www.dsplogic.com. For more information about the Business Innovation Network visit https://www.mcinnovationnetwork.com/.

DISTRIBUTION A.  Approved for public release, distribution unlimited. (96TW-2016-0028)