New tools will let soldiers digitally ‘see’ and map deadly chemical, biological, and radiation threats on future battlefields using mobile phones and other futuristic displays

PITTSBURGH, PA., December 7, 2021 ― Teledyne FLIR announced it has won a development contract worth up to $15.7 million with the U.S. Defense Threat Reduction Agency’s Joint Science and Technology Office (DTRA JSTO) to develop novel battlefield threat mapping and visualization tools. The technology will allow the capability to digitally map hazardous material threats from sensor data and to ‘see’ their exact location via mixed reality on mobile phones, tablets, and Heads-Up Displays (HUDs).

Teledyne FLIR will work with partners to develop software that allows Chemical, Biological, Radiological and Nuclear (CBRN) hazards to be precisely located, measured and mapped for viewing within the Tactical Assault Kit (TAK) suite of tools. The threat map will be visualized in a ‘see-through’ augmented reality (AR) display by those running TAK on their electronics, as well as by futuristic HUD devices like the Integrated Visualization Augmentation System (IVAS).

Funded out of DTRA’s Digital Battlespace Management office, the program’s goal is to provide improved real-time CBRN situational awareness and enable TAK users to see and avoid chemical and biological hazards. The project also will allow future individuals equipped with IVAS to visualize chem-bio threats and receive real-time decision support when performing reconnaissance and decontamination missions. In addition, the program further lays the Artificial Intelligence (AI) and AR groundwork for the Army’s autonomous decontamination efforts.

“To protect our troops wherever they deploy, we need to leverage the most advanced detection and battlefield management technologies to counter the lethal risk posed by chemical and biological weapons,” said Dr. David Cullin, general manager of Teledyne FLIR’s Unmanned and Integrated Solutions business. “We’re proud to lead this effort that will help our warfighters intuitively visualize dangerous chem-bio threats, while also advancing future capabilities tied to IVAS and autonomous robotic decontamination.”

The contract will fund development of a mission-flexible prototype consisting of networked chem-bio sensors and AR visualization tools that DTRA will evaluate over the course of several events. The award comprises a 12-month base period, three 12-month options, plus other optional tasks. Work will be performed at Teledyne FLIR’s Pittsburgh site.

For more on Teledyne FLIR’s chemical detection and identification products, visit www.flir.com/threat-detection/.

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About Teledyne FLIR

Teledyne FLIR, a Teledyne Technologies company, is a world leader in intelligent sensing solutions for defense and industrial applications with approximately 4,000 employees worldwide. Founded in 1978, the company creates advanced technologies to help professionals make better, faster decisions that save lives and livelihoods. For more information, please visit www.teledyneflir.com or follow @flir.

About Teledyne Technologies

Teledyne Technologies is a leading provider of sophisticated digital imaging products and software, instrumentation, aerospace and defense electronics, and engineered systems. Teledyne’s operations are primarily located in the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada, and Western and Northern Europe. For more information, visit Teledyne’s website at www.teledyne.com.

The city of Escondido (CA) is investing more than $4 million to upgrade and modernize the fire department’s apparatus and equipment, reports sandiegouniontribune.com.

City council recently approved a series of contracts for the purchase of three fire engines, one brush rig, three ambulances, and 15 cardiac monitoring devices for fire apparatus and ambulances, the report says.

Escondido will pay $2.4 million for the three Sutphen engines. The city is allocating $1.7 million in surplus funds from last year’s budget as well as $950,000 from public facilities fees to pay for the new fire engines, the city’s first since 2013, the report says.

Officials note that the purchases are a good start, but additional investments still need to be made to bring the department’s fleet up to date; two of the department’s Type-1 engines are 22 years old, and two more engines are 18 years old, according to the report.

The new brush rig will replace one of the city’s three existing brush rigs, which is 29 years old. Its $400,000 purchase price will be covered by surplus budget funds, the report says.

Surplus budget funds will also be used for the majority of the $786,000 for three new Medix ambulances. Several of the city’s current ambulances are older than the typical life span of 5 to 7 years. The five front-line units are in service 7 days a week, 24 hours a day, and are heavily used, officials say.

Also approved was spending $306,000 for six cardiac monitors, additional supplies, up-front maintenance, and data costs. The funds will be combined with a $345,000 FEMA grant, which will cover nine other cardiac monitors.

On the heels of a $500,000 allocation from the recently adopted budget, Carteret County (NC) officials are hoping to build a new Down East fire station in Sea Level with help from a BRIC grant, reports carolinacoastonline.com.

The estimated cost of the new facility is $3.5 million, and the county has already been approved by state officials to move forward with the application process, the report says.

Officials say the $500,000 is guaranteed even if the station project doesn’t get selected for the BRIC program. Station plans are still in the early stages, but officials say they’ve created a general floor plan.

This summer, the Carteret County Board of Commissioners gave about five acres of land to use for a new facility, FA reported at the time.

Earlier: Town to Donate 4.9 Acres of Land to Down East (NC) Fire Department for New Station

Beloit (WI) officials are investigating how a 43-year-old woman died during an incident at Leeson Park at 4:03 p.m. Saturday, December 4.

The City of Beloit Fire Department was dispatched to report of an unresponsive person in a vehicle in the park. The fire engine involved was on the roadway with emergency lights illuminated when the vehicle fled the scene and crashed into the fire engine.

Firefighters assigned to the engine reported the female passenger was slumped over in the vehicle prior to the crash. The female passenger was transported to a local emergency room where she was pronounced deceased.

A cause of death will need to come from the Rock County Medical Examiner’s Office.

The driver of the vehicle Marvin E. Flint, 56, of Rockford, was arrested for operating while intoxicated.

No City of Beloit personnel were injured in this crash.