PORT TOWNSEND, WA /Marketwire/ -- Mobilisa Inc., a leader in innovative wireless technology, announced the award of a $3.3 million contract, over a period of two years, to extend its Floating Area Network project supported by the U.S. Navy's research facility at the Naval Surface Warfare Center-Carderock, West Bethesda, MD. The contract is in addition to the $4.1 million recently announced Defense ID sales.
Mobilisa will lead the research and development of the hardware and software for a prototype system identified as the Littoral Sensor Grid (LSG). LSG is a constellation of high-tech coastal sensor buoys configured with latest-generation wireless communications. Equipped with advanced environmental and security system sensors, the buoys will be able to share data and network buoy to buoy, buoy to shore, and buoy to at-sea platforms. The buoy sensors include video, acoustic, environmental, and advanced homeland security sensors to extend the protection zone around harbors, ports, and seaways to better protect commercial and military ships.
"Essentially we are building a very large wireless hot spot over the water," said Dr. Nelson Ludlow, CEO of Mobilisa. "This technology allows information collected from the buoys to be transmitted to homeland security agencies, environmental groups, and universities and schools. This is the future for port security."
The LSG increases situation awareness by putting sensors directly between protected assets and harm's way, allowing security forces more time to react to threats. "Greater reaction time is the key to making our current protection systems safer and more effective," stated Craig Bleile, Mobilisa's Chief Scientist and former U.S. Navy's Fifth Fleet Science Advisor.
The first component of the project will consist of a small grid of a wireless buoys in the Puget Sound, a maritime area of high interest from both an environmental and homeland security perspective. Mobilisa headquarters is strategically located in the region and near several key naval facilities.
Mobilisa has partnered with the Applied Physics Laboratory at the University of Washington (APL-UW) in supporting the design and development of buoys, particularly the environmental aspect.
"APL-UW has an incredible breadth of knowledge in buoy construction, oceanography, and environment analysis," Curtis Sneddon, Director of Wireless Services for Mobilisa. "We are excited about this partnership and look forward to improving our nation's port security while also protecting the environment."
Mobilisa's Wireless Over Water (WOW) technology enables the buoys and ships to communicate with each other. WOW technology is "a more cost-effective alternative to satellite-based communications, providing faster connection speeds without the communication delay associated with satellites."
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For more information about Mobilisa, call toll free 877-7MOBILISA.