Invocon (United States)

This research discussed an idea for a defensive system using a GAN-based model to protect against cyber-attacks on virtual network systems. The plan was to train the GAN-based model using simulated attacks created by the attacker generator portion of the model, so when it is exposed to a new real cyber-attack, it will be able to recognize and block it. Both portions of the model (the attacker and defender) were designed to learn from each other during the training process. As demonstrated via simulation within MATLAB, the overall accuracy of the model increased as training progressed and it began to identify increasingly complex attacks. Additionally, it was found that the model trained at a faster pace than previously experienced and produced fewer errors than before training. Ultimately, this research demonstrated that <tex xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">$A I$</tex> is capable of adapting into a defensive thinking mode and not simply passively detecting attacks. It is somewhat similar to developing a “smart wall” where after each successful cyber-attack, the wall becomes stronger due to continuous learning.

In higher-income countries, manufacturers, proces-sors, and logistics managers of life-affecting goods such as food, medicine, and medical equipment are required to document product life cycles from factory, to warehouse, and eventually to the end-user. However, some low and middle-income countries (LMICs) do not have logistic management systems or regulatory agencies overseeing processing standards. Global aid shipments may be impossible to track in low-resource environments, and bad actors may flood markets with counterfeit products. Global Distributed Tracking (GDT) provides a novel solution: anyone handling an object may securely and anonymously document the object by uploading media, shipping manifests, location receipts, and quality reports without authentication. This encrypted, time-stamped “provenance” becomes a discoverable self-audit, granting the end-user trust through transparency. GDT allows an end-user to directly report adverse events pertaining to an object. This feature creates automatic fulfillment of some FDA and EU regulatory requirements for medical device distribution.

The successful development and market insertion of a financially successful new product requires technology, marketing, manufacturing, and luck. This suggests various steps in the process that are critical to success. More specifically, the paper deals with the special problems encountered by small business. The analysis is presented in light of the Small Business Innovative Research program (SBIR) which is an effort by the US government to enable the development of new high technology products and the successful establishment of business enterprises that will ultimately contribute to the GNP and tax base. It is not an entitlement program. Competition for contracts is fierce. This identities a chain of events that must be successfully navigated in order to insure small enterprise survival and profitable product insertion into the US business base. A model program is used to define and describe how each step in the process was accomplished toward the ultimate success of the product. This model is an actual SBIR derivative event that has resulted in a successful product that not only completely satisfied the customer demands, but also resulted in the spin-off of a family of other products that have since been sold into other commercial applications. The purpose of this is to highlight some of the issues that must be addressed by small business when attempting to both develop a high technology product and introduce it into the marketplace. This will be done by examining a successful product development history. It is done in the interest of “lessons learned” that may be of value for future small business enterprises. The example chosen happened to be a Phase 3 SBIR (Small Business Innovative Research) program. For this reason, a brief introduction of the SBIR process comes first.

The successful development and market insertion of a financially successful new product requires technology, marketing, manufacturing, and luck. This paper suggests various steps in the process that are critical to success. More specifically, the paper deals with the special problems encountered by small business. The analysis is presented in light of the Small Business Innovative Research program (SBIR) which is an effort by the US government to enable the development of new high technology products and the successful establishment of business enterprises that will ultimately contribute to the GNP and tax base. It is not an entitlement program. Competition for contracts is fierce. The paper identifies a chain of events that must be successfully navigated in order to insure small enterprise survival and profitable product insertion into the US business base. A model program is used to define and describe how each step in the process was accomplished toward the ultimate success of the product. This model is an actual SBIR derivative event that has resulted in a successful product that not only completely satisfied the customer demands but also resulted in the spin-off of a family of other products that have since been sold into other commercial applications. The purpose of this paper is to highlight some of the issues that must be addressed by small business when attempting to both develop a high technology product and introduce it into the marketplace. This will be done by examining a successful product development history. It is done in the interest of ldquolessons learnedrdquo that may be of value for future small business enterprises. The example chosen happened to be a Phase 3 SBIR (Small Business Innovative Research) program. For this reason, a brief introduction of the SBIR process comes first.

A wireless data acquisition, processing, and communications system for continuous monitoring of critical aerospace structures for potentially damaging impacts and resulting air leaks to vacuum has been developed. The system was initially developed under a NASA SBIR Phase II program to monitor the International Space Station (ISS) for atmospheric leaks due to micrometeor or orbital debris (MMOD) impacts. The system acquires data from multiple ultrasonic transducers and determines approximate leak location through a triangularization routine based on angle of arrival. Subsequently, the system was modified to monitor the shuttle wing leading edge RCC panels during ascent and on-orbit phases for potentially damaging impacts from foam, ice, ablator, and MMOD objects. The wing leading edge impact monitoring system is being installed within the shuttle wings for the return to flight mission, STS-114, and subsequent missions to assist in detecting, locating, and characterizing the severity of impact events similar to the debris impact that caused the Columbia disaster. Resulting data from this system will be used in conjunction with various video systems to determine likely impact locations requiring further inspections, and potentially repairs, on-orbit. Each battery operated unit interfaces with high-speed accelerometers and temperature sensors, records data internally, performs detection algorithms, and transfers data through Shuttle or ISS systems for analysis by ground personnel. The design of both system architectures are discussed in this paper, including sensor interfaces, hardware design, embedded software leak and impact detection algorithms, system operations, and Shuttle/ISS integration methods

For over 40 years, the test and measurements community has voiced requirements for wireless transducers. The primary interest has always been in overcoming specific limitations of hard-wired transducers needed to measure phenomena on moving test articles. The following paper deals with the reflections, assertions, and opinions of a company, Invocon, that has contributed to the initial technology development of civil infrastructure systems (CIS) wireless sensors and is still in operation to discuss the trials and tribulations of slow market growth. The paper reviews: (1) Invocon's opinions on why the market growth is slow; (2) the successful strategy implemented by Invocon to withstand the monetary challenges of slow market growth; and (3) the future areas of R&D needed to achieve products and services that will move the CIS utilization onto the next level.

Invocon, Inc. has developed a next generation data acquisition and communications network to be deployed in, on, and around space structures under construction. This Wireless Instrumentation System (WIS) is a highly integrated remote data acquisition system for use in a wide variety of distributed sensor applications. Typical applications include modal analysis, condition-based maintenance, structural monitoring and manufacturing process control. Designed for NASA Johnson Space Center, the system will monitor critical temperatures during the assembly of the International Space Station (ISS), and verify structural dynamics models for the ISS on-orbit. Similar units are used on Navy aircraft for flight testing data acquisition. The relaying network is automatically configured by the imbedded system software, which provides for simple installation and consistent operation in almost any environment. The ability to relocate the data acquisition electronics near the sensors decreases setup costs and reduces “noise” induced on analog signals by long wires. The first WIS hardware items flew as a Risk Mitigation Experiment on STS-83 in November of 1996 and STS-94 in July of 1997. The next phase of WIS involves development of the IWIS or Internal Wireless Instrumentation System and the SWIS or Shuttle Wireless Instrumentation System. IWIS, the internal system, will be deployed by the astronauts inside the partially completed ISS to collect data on the impulse response of the structure. The Shuttle-based system (SWIS) will provide units installed on the outside of the Station modules prior to launch. As the ISS modules are removed from the Cargo Bay and transferred to the assembly point on the Station, the SWIS data gathering units will transfer sensor data from the ISS module to the Crew Compartment of the Shuttle where the data will be down-linked to Mission Control for use by the flight controllers.