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ROME, N.Y. (WUTR/WFXV/WPNY) – FuzeHub is a not-for-profit organization providing manufacturers – from startups to medium-sized companies – with access to a network of industry experts and resources.

And they also just recently awarded grant funding to 10 collaborative projects through its ‘Jeff Lawrence Innovation Fund.’

One of those recipients is Mohawk Valley Edge and ANDRO Computational Solutions – who received $50,000.

With this funding, ANDRO Computational Solutions, of Rome, in collaboration with Mohawk Valley Edge, is introducing ‘SecondNet’ – a new concept in intelligent, coordinated emergency management for rapid alert and response to mitigate active threats.

“When you talk about delays, latency, people not getting there in time, it’s usually attributed to the lack of communications infrastructure,” explained Dr. Andrew Drozd, President & Chief Researcher, ANDRO Computational Solutions.

“That seems to be the common denominator, so that’s something that we can fill, and again, it’s repurposing military technology for a civilian environment.”

As Dr. Drozd said, this technology was originally utilized by the military, but when speaking with teacher friends, realized it could also, potentially, be used in school systems – to protect against in school threats.

“With the rise in school threats, that was sort of a logical question,” said Dr. Drozd.

“So, we started thinking about that last year and said, you know, we actually could because there’s a particular technology that we have called SPEARLink.”

The SPEARLink radio provides broadband coverage – where you need it, when you need it.

“The idea is that you want to have broad coverage 24/7, basically whenever you need it, so that when an emergency arises, you can communicate two ways – where the emergency is taking place, and also informing the administrators, the school principal and the law enforcement and first responders on the outside,” he said.

“If you can create this kind of a network with widespread connectivity, this provides that rapid response capability that’s often been lacking.”

Existing networks currently have to depend on cell towers, internet and Wi-Fi to function.

“If that infrastructure goes down or becomes unavailable, our system is available to you,” explained Dr. Drozd.

“And especially if you’re in a remote area where you have sparse broadband coverage – that’s exactly what our SPEARLink technology does.”

And as for the grant funding, ANDRO and MV Edge will be using it to implement a “pilot program” – to actually test this technology in schools.

“We want to bring our gear in, install it, come up with the use cases that we want to show and tell and demonstrate, and then actually fire it up and show it to people,” he said.

“Basically, collect metrics, collect information about how fast this works, the efficacy of the overall tech technology and where it might be approved.”

Read the full story here

Dr. Jithin Jagannath, Chief Scientist of Technology and the Founding Director of the Marconi-Rosenblatt AI/ML Innovation Lab at ANDRO Computational Solutions, LLC, will serve as the Guest Editor for the IEEE Communications Standards Magazine’s Special Issue Integrating Sensing and Communications. On behalf of Dr. Jagannath and other editors, we invite you to submit high-quality manuscripts to the Special Issues (details below)- Manuscript Submission Deadline: 1 July 2023

Signal processing methods played a crucial role in the early development of joint sensing and communication systems, driven by the need to use the limited spectrum more efficiently and reduce hardware costs. Initially, dual-function radar communication systems dominated the field of joint sensing and communication. However, it has since evolved into a more intricate paradigm called integrated sensing and communication (ISAC), which allows for various types of interactions between sensing and communication and considers other sensors besides radar. Designing future ISAC systems requires many tasks, such as selecting transmitter signals, designing precoders, processing received signals, estimating channels, tracking, and allocating resources. These tasks typically involve solving complex nonconvex optimization problems that require a standard performance metric or constraints related to the employed sensing and communication regime. In recent years, several signal processing techniques have been introduced to address these challenges, resulting in a growing interest in advanced signal processing methods for designing and implementing ISAC in future wireless networks. This Special Issue (SI) aims to provide a compendium of technical papers and vision-setting articles from academia, industry, and standardization activities, focusing on major disruptive trends related to ISAC.

Scope of Contributions

All submissions need to include standardization aspects to be in scope of the IEEE Communications Standards Magazine. In particular, this issue seeks submissions on a variety of topics including but not limited to:

• New spectrum regulations and standards
• Experimental demonstrations and prototypes
• Security and privacy issues for ISAC
• Spectrum sharing in CBRS band for ISAC
• Integrated sensing, localization, and communications
• Integrated sensing, communication, and computing
• Interference management techniques of ISAC
• Full duplex techniques of ISAC
• Fundamental information theoretical limits for ISAC
• Centralized/distributed machine learning for ISAC
• Reconfigurable intelligent surface for ISAC
• Synthetic aperture for sensing and communications
• Terahertz-band ISAC
• Unified/Integrated waveform design for ISAC
• Transmission protocols/frame designs for ISAC
• Radio dynamic zones and RF Data Factory for ISAC
• Radio science, radio astronomy and spectrum access for ISAC
• ISAC-enabled space-air-ground integrated networks
• ISAC for drones and vehicular networks

Submission Guidelines

Manuscripts should conform to the standard format indicated in the Information for Authors section of the Paper Submission Guidelines. All manuscripts to be considered for publication must be submitted by the deadline through Manuscript Central. Select “March 2024/Integrating Sensing and Communications” from the drop-down menu of Topic/Series titles.

Important Dates

Manuscript Submission Deadline: 1 July 2023
Initial Decision Date: 1 September 2023
Revised Manuscript Due: 1 October 2023
Final Decision Date: 1 November 2023
Final Manuscript Due: 1 January 2024
Publication Date: March 2024

For more information, visit: Integrating Sensing and Communications | IEEE Communications Society (comsoc.org)

ANDRO Computational Solutions, LLC of Rome, NY has been selected for the first-round award of FuzeHub’s Jeff Lawrence Innovation Fund Manufacturing Grants in 2023.  Industry lead ANDRO Computational Solutions, LLC in collaboration with not-for-profit economic development partner Mohawk Valley EDGE of Griffiss Business & Technology Park in Rome, introduces SecondNet – a new concept in intelligent, coordinated emergency management for rapid alert/response to mitigate active threats in schools and other public spaces.  ANDRO is adapting their patented SPEARLink^TM radio developed for the U.S. Army, to conduct proof-of-concept pilots to demonstrate an intelligent, agile communications networking capability.  ANDRO has implemented an in-house, low-volume production process to fulfill on SPEARLInk^TM orders for its customers and is seeking to expand its operations for the SecondNet market.  School violence and active shooter threats are rapidly escalating. There is an urgent need for reliable personal communication devices that provide real-time situational awareness during crisis situations.  SecondNet fills current technology gaps and assures that the safety needs of our school communities and any public space are met.  SecondNet will demonstrate an unparalleled breakthrough in rapid alert/response to save lives.

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Given his remarkable achievements in the area of computer networks, Dr. Jithin Jagannath, Chief Scientist of Technology and the Founding Director of the Marconi-Rosenblatt AI/ML Innovation Lab at ANDRO Computational Solutions, has been invited to join the Editorial Board of Computer Networks as an Area editor.

Computer Networks is a highly reputable journal established as one of the first publication venues in the field as “Computer Networks and ISDN Systems”. In 1998, Computer Networks published the original paper by Sergey Brin and Lawrence Page “The Anatomy of a Large-Scale Hypertextual Search Engine, ” that introduced Google [1], “a prototype of a large-scale search engine which makes heavy use of the structure present in hypertext.”

Computer Networks has now reached an impact factor of 5.5, and according to Google Scholar metrics, it is the 12th most impactful publication venue (including all conferences and journals) in the area of communication and networking, above venues like IEEE Infocom, ACM Mobicom, and IEEE/ACM Transactions on Networking. Dr. Jagannath will work to pursue the ambitious goal of making Computer Networks one of the most influential journals in the field.

On behalf of Dr. Jagannath, we invite you to submit high-quality articles to Computer Networks. For more information, visit Elsevier

Congratulations to Dr. Jithin Jagannath, Chief Scientist of Technology and Founding Director of the Marconi-Rosenblatt Lab at ANDRO Computational Solutions, LLC, for his year of service as an Exemplary Reviewer of the IEEE Communications Letters.

The IEEE Communications Letters publishes short papers in a rapid publication cycle on advances in the state-of-the-art of communication over different media and channels including wire, underground, waveguide, optical fiber, and storage channels. Both theoretical contributions (including new techniques, concepts, and analyses) and practical contributions (including system experiments and prototypes, and new applications) are encouraged. Peer review is vital to the quality of published research. Each article submitted to IEEE is evaluated by at least two independent reviewers selected by a member of the publication’s editorial board.

For more information, visit IEEE

ROME — The Air Force Office of Scientific Research (AFOSR) in Arlington, Va. has awarded ANDRO Computational Solutions, LLC of Rome a highly competitive Direct-to-Phase-II Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) contract.

The contract is to develop a novel capability called ADJUST – Adaptive and Dynamic Jammer nUlling System with multi-resolution Transform domains. The contract is valued at $750,000 for a 24-month period of performance. ADJUST will be used to adaptively detect and suppress the effect of jammers that can negatively impact or compromise various radio frequency (RF) communication signals and associated spectrum bands.

ANDRO’s Marconi-Rosenblatt Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning (AI/ML) Innovation Lab in Rome will lead the work headed by principal investigator, lab director and chief scientist, Jithin Jagannath, in cooperation with a resident research team that includes Keyvan Ramezanpour, Anu Jagannath and Justin Henny.

Company President Andrew Drozd said this opportunity further accelerates the pace of the lab’s current research in advancing the state of the art in jammer-resilient technologies for wireless communications. He envisions Phase III opportunities on the horizon for a multi-million-dollar program to transition the capability to the warfighter and for potential commercial applications.

“We have all seen even in the most recent events [like Ukraine] how hostile jamming is a constant challenge to RF systems,” said Jagannath. “These challenges are further exacerbated in satellite communication and navigation systems where the high sensitivity of the receiver is critical. We have an excellent team tackling this challenge head-on with a unique approach.”

According to Jagannath, the uniqueness of ADJUST is attributed to a combination of a flexible architecture design, performance optimization features, and an open architecture framework. He explained that ADJUST adopts a novel software-defined modular architecture with the flexibility of different signal processing blocks for hardware and software acceleration optimized for software-defined radio (SDR) platforms and that considers multiple RF signals to ensure a broader impact.

The ADJUST software-defined architecture concept also allows portability across platforms and seamless future upgradeability to ensure more robust jammer-resilient solutions for the future.

Drozd mentioned that announcements are forthcoming soon on additional Department of Defense contract awards to ANDRO relevant to the AI/ML Innovation Lab’s research in advancing the state of the art in intelligent SDRs and robust wireless communications applications.

ANDRO is a privately-owned company established in 1994 focused on scientific research, development, and the application of advanced computer software in the domains of radio frequency spectrum exploitation, secure wireless communications, cognitive radios, advanced radar data fusion, sensor resource management, computational electromagnetics and co-site modeling and simulation.

Read the full story here: Daily Sentinel

ROME, N.Y. — The U.S. Air Force Office of Scientific Research (AFOSR) has awarded ANDRO Computational Solutions, LLC a $750,000, 24-month direct-to-phase-II Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) contract.

The pact seeks to develop jammer-resistant, wireless-communication capabilities for the Air Force. The novel capability called ADJUST – Adaptive and Dynamic Jammer nUlling System with multi-resolution Transform domains — will be used to adaptively detect and suppress the effect of jammers that can impact or compromise various radio-frequency (RF) communication signals and associated spectrum bands.

ANDRO’s Marconi-Rosenblatt Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning Innovation Lab, will lead the work, headed up by Jithin Jagannath principal investigator, lab director, and chief scientist, in cooperation with a research team that includes Keyvan Ramezanpour, Anu Jagannath, and Justin Henny.

“We have all seen even in the most recent events how hostile jamming is a constant challenge to RF systems,” Jagannath said in a news release. “These challenges are further exacerbated in satellite communication and navigation systems where the high sensitivity of the receiver is critical. We have an excellent team tackling this challenge head on with a unique approach.”

The opportunity further accelerates the pace of the lab’s current research in advancing jammer-resilient technologies for wireless communications, ANDRO President Andrew Drozd noted, and may lead to phase III opportunities to transition the capability to the warfighter and potential commercial applications.

Established in 1994, ANDRO focuses on scientific research, development, and the application of advanced computer software for radio-frequency-spectrum exploitation, secure wireless communications, cognitive radios, advanced-radar data fusion, sensor-resource management, computational electromagnetics, and cosite modeling and simulation.

Read the full article here: CNY Business Journal

Dr. Jithin Jagannath, Chief Scientist of Technology at ANDRO Computational Solutions, LLC and Director of the Marconi-Rosenblatt AI/ML Innovation Lab will be a panelist at the upcoming IEEE Consumer Communications & Networking Conference to be held 8-11 January 2023 in Las Vegas, NV. Held in conjunction with the International Consumer Electronics Show (CES), the world’s largest tradeshow on consumer technology, the IEEE Consumer Communications and Networking Conference (CCNC) is a major annual international conference organized with the objective of bringing together researchers, developers, and practitioners from academia and industry working in all areas of consumer communications and networking.

The panel will take place Tuesday, January 10 and will focus on the Role of Machine Learning in Next Generation Wireless Networks. Traditional communication and networked systems have been developed from mathematical models of the wireless channel and optimizing the network based on the model. Modern Machine Learning is fast changing this approach from theoretical models to data-driven models in every aspect of communication and networking. This panel is going to address how machine learning can help to transform the design of next generation wireless communication networks. The experts in this domain will discuss their vision for unifying different approaches in each layer of the network towards an intelligent future network. The speakers will also discuss the efforts required to make these models practical, implementable and reliable.

Dr. Jagannath is also an Adjunct Assistant Professor at the University at Buffalo, State University of New York. He received his Ph.D. degree from Northeastern University. Dr. Jagannath heads several of the ANDRO’s research and development projects in the field of 5G and beyond, machine learning for wireless, advanced signal intelligence, Internet-of-Things, and UAV automation. These projects are sponsored by several customers including the U.S. Army, U.S. Navy, U.S. SOCOM, DHS, and AFSOR. Dr. Jagannath has been invited to give various talks including Keynotes on the topic of machine learning and Beyond 5G wireless communication. He is an IEEE Senior member and serves as an IEEE SPS Applied Signal Processing Systems Technical Committee member. Dr. Jagannath was the recipient of 2021 IEEE Region 1 Technological Innovation Award with the citation, “For innovative contributions in machine learning techniques for the wireless domain”. He is also the recipient of the AFCEA International Meritorious Rising Star Award for achievement in Engineering and AFCEA 40 Under 40. Dr. Jagannath’s recent research has led to 14 patents (granted and pending) and over 40 peer-reviewed publications which include the recipient of best paper award.

For more information, visit 2023 IEEE CCNC | IEEE Consumer Communications & Networking Conference (ieee-ccnc.org)

ROME — The U.S. Navy has awarded ANDRO Computational Solutions, LLC a Phase I Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) contract valued at $240,000 to develop a new type of autonomous capability for uncrewed air system applications called Robust Autonomy for NeGation of Enemy Radar (RANGER).

The work will be performed by ANDRO’s Marconi-Rosenblatt Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning (AI/ML) Innovation Lab team in Rome led by Jithin Jagannath.

The team will apply novel AI/ML techniques for enhancing human-machine teaming based on the Manned-UnManned Teaming (MUM-T) model first developed by ANDRO for cooperative UAS scenarios to combat next-generation radar systems and adversarial radar networks. The ANDRO lab team includes engineers Sean Furman and Tyler Gwin, who will deploy RANGER on UAS hardware as the capability matures.

According to Jagannath, RANGER is envisioned to provide superior battlefield agility for collaborative UAS in MUM-T scenarios for increased mission efficiency and survivability by adapting negation techniques on-the-fly in response to enemy actions.

ANDRO President Andrew Drozd explained that the importance of a human-machine teaming is driven by the need to migrate from a UAS platform that is strictly controlled by a human operator who must orchestrate its flight to effectively achieve a particular mission objective ­­­­­­— representing a “human-in-the-loop” approach.

Rather, Jagannath and his team are focused on an end-to-end, human-on-the-loop framework that leverages specialized machine learning techniques to provide autonomy, adaptability, and highly effective human-machine teaming performance based on experiments recently conducted at the lab to demonstrate the capability.

“The RANGER technology sits at the intersection of ANDRO’s Marconi-Rosenblatt Lab expertise in UAS autonomy, machine learning-enabled signal intelligence (SIGINT), and cooperative control and decision-making strategies,” said Jagannath. “The AI/ML lab team sees RANGER as the next-generation autonomous MUM-T planning and coordination system that will be engineered for operation in dynamic and austere application environments.”

The Phase I work sets the stage for a potential second-phase multimillion dollar research effort for additional development, experimentation, and flight testing for future transition to the Navy. Drozd said he anticipates considerable growth in business arising from this work to incorporate the solution into advanced UAS platforms during the next phases of advanced research and development.

“RANGER is a next step in a strategic plan to expand ANDRO’s research portfolio and footprint in 2023 and beyond, including the research activities of the Marconi-Rosenblatt AI/ML Innovation Lab,” said Drozd.

ANDRO is a privately owned company established in 1994 focused on scientific research, development, and the application of advanced computer software in the domains of radio frequency spectrum exploitation, secure wireless communications, cognitive radios, advanced radar data fusion, and sensor resource management.

Read the full story here: ANDRO receives Navy contract | Daily Sentinel (romesentinel.com)