ESC Innovation Challenge wraps up

  • Published
  • By Patty Welsh
  • 66th Air Base Group Public Affairs
HANSCOM AIR FORCE BASE, Mass. --  The inaugural Electronic Systems Center's Innovation Challenge recently came to a close with all participants saying that they saw benefits.

"It was a win-win for all involved," said Rich Lombardi, ESC executive director, at the May 14 awards ceremony. "It was a great learning experience [for the engineers] and also showed how we can get capabilities to the warfighter faster."

Since October, two teams of junior engineers have been competing to deliver a new wireless communication capability for the Theater Deployable Communications program management office, and ultimately, the deployed warfighter.

On May 14, Team Alpha was announced as the winner of the challenge, for finding the best technical solution for a warfighter need. In this instance, the competing teams had to develop a solution to ensure network connectivity for communications equipment, which would include Wi-Fi- and WiMAX-enabled devices. Team Alpha integrated and configured commercial-off-the-shelf communications equipment into a system that best met the requirements of the challenge.

The members of the winning team are 1st Lt. Jareth Lamb, Alyssa Feola, Pramod Kulkarni, 2nd Lt. Dylan Smith, 2nd Lt. Adam Wong and 2nd Lt. Justin Wylie.

One team member, Wong, said he had a "lot of fun," and it was great to see the teams coming together to work on a problem that would be applicable for the warfighter.

The TDC program office also saw advantages from their involvement in the challenge.

"We see a double benefit," said Marc Bastien, TDC program manager. "Using in-house personnel reduced costs and we're bringing the young engineers into the process early-on so they can see the entire process from the start. And of course, the proof will be when we can deploy the capability to the warfighter."

Team Bravo was composed of 2nd Lt. Kevin O'Brien, 1st Lt. Senobio Chavez, 2nd Lt. Michael Hofman, Andy Lee, Yakov Salzberg and 2nd Lt. Kyle Woodard.

The week of May 6, both teams demonstrated their proposed solutions to a panel of judges at an Air National Guard base in North Smithfield, R.I.

Teams were evaluated on criteria such as meeting requirements, innovation, fieldability, sustainability and team professionalism.

The judges were Susan Thornton, Engineering and Technical Management director, Col. David Crean, Engineering deputy director, Marc Bastien, TDC program manager, Joe Morrissey, MITRE lead engineer for TDC and Lt. Col. Thomas D'Abrosca, 281st Combat Communications Group Support logistics director, Rhode Island Air National Guard.

The 281 CCG and its associated unit, the 282nd Combat Communications Squadron, were instrumental in helping prepare the demonstration venue in North Smithfield and Coventry, R.I.

"The National Guard helped us the lay the groundwork for a successful demonstration," said Herb Grover, Challenge Administrative Board member. "They helped set up the demonstration environment, ensured the teams had what they needed and provided training."

They also participated as a user group, evaluating how easy the solution was to use, the utility of it and the scale of improvement it offered over current equipment.

Lombardi said the Air National Guard members were impressed with the junior engineers as well.

"We have testimony from the NCOs who were thrilled with the way the teams went about their work and their attention to detail," he said.

In addition, personnel on the Challenge's Administrative Board have been pleased with the commitment from the engineers participating.

"The [junior engineers] have been very flexible and really good at doing whatever they need to get the job done," said Deanna Michalowicz, board member. "This was our first time doing the challenge and everyone was learning as we went, so we appreciated the flexibility and team effort."

According to program coordinators, several of the participating junior engineers have commented on how, "challenging and rewarding," the experience has been. Both teams now will submit a written report that incorporates a synopsis of the technical solution and the test results.

"Our hope and desire is the Innovation Challenge will continue on an annual basis," said Michalowicz. "We need willingness from the program offices to invest in it, but it provides an excellent opportunity for the participating program to get in-house expertise and allows our junior engineers to gain invaluable experience."