SRI International Awarded NAVAIR Contract to Lead Development and Deployment of Maritime Domain Awareness System in Tampa Bay
SRI's National Center for Maritime and Port Security Launches Its First Major Project to Improve Port Security in the United States
St. Petersburg, Fla.,– October 26, 2007 – SRI International, an independent nonprofit research and development organization, announced it has been awarded a five-year, $36.5M contract to develop a Maritime Domain Awareness (MDA) system to demonstrate advanced sensing and situation awareness technologies for improved port security in the United States. The contract was awarded to SRI by the U.S. Naval Air Systems Command (NAVAIR).
The Maritime Domain Awareness system is the first major project of SRI's National Center for Maritime and Port Security (NCMPS). The mission of the Center, which is based in SRI's St. Petersburg facility, is to help the United States understand the global maritime elements that could impact the security, safety, economy or environment of the United States. The Center uses a comprehensive approach to maritime and port security that spans research, technology development, systems integration, testing, demonstrations, deployments, evaluations, policy and training.
SRI officials provided details about the contract award at a press conference today with Florida Congressman C.W. Bill Young, representative of the 10th Congressional District and the senior Republican in the House of Representatives.
"Our goal has been to make St. Petersburg an international center of excellence for marine science and technology, and with the addition of SRI International, we have the ideal organization to lead the National Center for Maritime and Port Security and the development of an integrated port security system," said Congressman Young. "We are in a prime location to gain the greatest information about underwater systems and maritime security, and we have excellent research and development partnerships in the area. This five-year initiative will bring opportunities for greater security to Pinellas County residents, to Florida, and to our entire nation."
In the first year of the project, currently available technologies, such as the Mobile Inspection Package (MIPS) underwater sensor developed at the University of South Florida’s College of Marine Science, will be deployed in a demonstration system. The integrated system will serve as a testbed and will augment existing maritime security systems around Tampa Bay, providing awareness of the air, land, sea and undersea domains. It will produce warnings of anomalous events and generate actionable information in a way that is readily usable by analysts, decision makers and emergency responders.
"The development and deployment of a Maritime Domain Awareness system in Tampa Bay is an important step forward in creating integrated, technology-based approaches to securing our nation's ports," said John Prausa, SRI vice president and director of SRI's Engineering & Systems Division. "SRI International is very proud to lead this new initiative, which extends our ongoing efforts in homeland security to a marine environment."
SRI St. Petersburg's National Center for Maritime and Port Security is a result of SRI's recent expansion into Florida, which is a partnership with the city, county, state, and University of South Florida. The Center and its new project are part of SRI's strategic plan to accelerate research and development and the deployment and commercialization of technologies related to ocean science, the maritime industry and port security.
Six of the subcontractors have facilities in Florida, including the University of South Florida's College of Marine Science, from which SRI St. Petersburg was formed. Additional subcontractors are St. Petersburg College’s National Terrorism Preparedness Institute; Science Applications International Corporation (SAIC); STS International; Alaka’i Consulting & Engineering, Inc.; TechProjects; Concurrent Technologies Corporation; Navatek, Inc.; and Sarnoff Corporation.
About SRI International
Silicon Valley-based SRI International (www.sri.com) is one of the world’s leading independent research and technology development organizations. Founded as Stanford Research Institute in 1946, SRI has been meeting the strategic needs of clients for more than 60 years. The nonprofit research institute performs client-sponsored research and development for government agencies, commercial businesses and private foundations. In addition to conducting client-sponsored R&D, SRI licenses its technologies, forms strategic partnerships and creates spin-off companies.
SRI St. Petersburg is focused on research, development, deployment and commercialization of technologies related to ocean science, the maritime industry and port security.
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