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“This is a complex, data-rich environment,” says John. “It would take a very long time to integrate, correlate, and assess the signals from dozens of sensors. But U.S. decision makers need answers immediately. The analysis provided by ICADS before an operator ever sees the data makes real-time interpretation possible.”
When a signal is verified by detectors aboard multiple satellites and bears the pulse waveform signature characteristic of a nuclear event, the operators refer the event up the national command structure, including the U.S. State Department.
Last year Sandia delivered ICADS IIF, the latest USNDS military ground station system, including more than a million lines of custom software code and an emphasis on human-computer interface, which makes the job of interpreting ICADS data more intuitive. (IIF signifies the next generation of GPS satellites; the first GPS IIF bird is scheduled for launch in 2009.)
The $188 million Sandia ICADS IIF program was unusual in its size and complexity. The system was delivered fully qualified, under budget, and on time based on a delivery date set half a decade earlier — a rarity for a large military software development program, says Sandia ICADS project manager Don Rountree.
“A program this complex is almost expected to fall behind schedule,” says McDowell. “To keep the promise we made back in 2000 required an incredible level of dedication by hundreds of people.”
The program also required a broad spectrum of Sandia expertise, he says, from atmospheric phenomenology and high-energy physics to software development and systems engineering.
Sandians continue to support the USNDS program. Technical experts at Sandia and Los Alamos national labs are on pager call around the clock to assist the Air Force with satellite and ground station troubleshooting.
They also provide second opinions regarding Air Force analysis of “zoo events” — unusual data signatures that don’t match existing event profiles. And Sandians train the Air Force ICADS trainers, who in turn train the ICADS operators.
Under NNSA nonproliferation funding, Sandia is also working on the next generation of lighter-weight, smaller global burst detectors to fly aboard the GPS IIF and a planned new series of DSP and GPS III satellites. Continued ICADS development to support the new satellite systems is under way as well.
“USNDS is a long-term commitment for us,” says Williams.
Technical contact: Don Rountree, (505) 845-9035, dhrount@sandia.gov
Media contact: John German, (505) 844-5199, jdgerma@sandia.gov