NAVAIR wins two of 20 Navy top scientists and engineers awards

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1 NAVAIR won two out of 20 awards for the Navy s Top Scientists and Engineers of the Year in a May 19 ceremony at the Pentagon. A NAVAIR individual award went to Larry Venetsky, Senior Research Engineer at NAWC Lakehurst, N.J., for a system that automatically monitors the health of critical components of the aircraft carrier steam catapult launching system. Venetsky s Advanced Diagnostics for Steam Catapults (ADSC) employs advanced pattern-recognition algorithms that utilize pressure response data from the water brake. The NAVAIR team award went to Dr. John Asvestas, Dr. Saad Tabet, Mr. Stephen Yankovich and Dr. Oliver Allen in the NAWCAD radar and antenna systems division at NAS Patuxent River, Md. for upgrading the E-2D s AN/APY-9 Radar System and associated changes to the IFF Interrogator system. The upgrade gives the E-2D the ability to both mechanically and electronically scan the radar and IFF beams. The awards were presented by Sean Stackley, Assistant Secretary of the Navy for Research, Development and Acquisition (RDA). The awards were established to honor the Department s scientists and engineers for superior Page 1 of 5

2 technical achievements during a calendar year and to promote continued scientific and engineering excellence. The skill and talent we have in the Navy and Marine Corps today is unparalleled, Stackley said. No other country in the world can do what we do in providing capability for the warfighter. The Navy ceremony highlighted 20 team and individual efforts to maintain the nation s technological edge, including improvements in fielded systems such as upgrades to the SEAL delivery vehicle, enhanced monitoring for carrier catapult braking systems and consolidation in afloat network infrastructure. Combined efforts across organizations yield the best of the best. I m proud of this team and their accomplishments. They are the ones who will ensure the future force is capable of meeting whatever is thrown at them, said Stackley. In addition to engineering advancements, Stackley recognized researchers who advanced knowledge in basic and applied sciences, which hold promise for future deployable technologies. Researchers from across the country were lauded for work on projects such as detection systems to improve maritime domain awareness, hyperspectral imaging for automated target detection, semiconductor doping processes, laser and railgun weaponry, collaboration planning for fielding multiple unmanned vehicles, nuclear materials detection and spintronics, which may be the next transistor to revolutionize the electronics industry. The Department of the Navy's RDA staff numbers more than 42,000, including more than 16,000 scientists and engineers, and has an annual budget of more than $50 billion. Details of NAVAIR winners work Larry Venetsky, Senior Research Engineer at NAWC Lakehurst, N.J., created a system that will address a significant Fleet need, while simultaneously improving efficiency and safety of Fleet maintainers, and cutting ownership costs. Carrier fleets have been experiencing operational, maintenance and repair issues with Steam Catapults and the associated Water Brake system. Venetsky developed a unique system that automatically monitors the health of critical components of the aircraft carrier steam catapult launching system, called the Advanced Diagnostics for Steam Catapults (ADSC). This system employs highly advanced pattern-recognition algorithms that utilize pressure response data from the water brake. This pattern-recognition method uses neural network as well as classical advanced signal processing techniques to provide a reliable assessment of water brake performance in real-time. In less than six months, Mr. Venetsky developed and tested the system. Page 2 of 5

3 His ADSC system addresses a Navy need for a tool that monitors the health of the water brake on a real-time basis and gives maintainers advance notice so they can replace components before catastrophic failures occur. It could help avoid up to $1.0M in overhaul and engineering investigation costs for every catapult water brake failure occurrence and may save $0.9M annually per carrier by reducing billet requirements to perform water brake check and monitoring. The ASDC also enables Fleet maintainers to monitor the water brake performance without requiring them to have to physically climb into the harsh catapult environment to take manual readings. This is crucial both from an efficiency standpoint as well as from a safety perspective. Mr. Venetsky is a recognized leader in the field of condition-based maintenance and advanced signal processing. Besides the ADSC system, he has developed numerous other health monitoring systems for various applications, including aircraft engines and avionics. The Radar and Antenna Systems Division team, Dr. John Asvestas, Dr. Saad Tabet, Mr. Stephen Yankovich and Dr. Oliver Allen, was critical to the upgrade of the AN/APY-9 Radar System and associated changes to the IFF Interrogator system for the E-2D. A key feature being incorporated in the E-2D is the ability to both mechanically and electronically scan the radar and IFF beams. The complexity of this new design presented major technical challenges that if not adequately addressed would result in poor IFF interrogator performance and would degrade the ability of the radar to adaptively counter clutter and jamming. Two distinct focus areas developed in this project. The first was the suppression of radome induced grating lobes which were unacceptably degrading IFF interrogator performance. The second focused on compensating for the aircraft-induced changes to the radar system amplitude monopulse performance. The success of these efforts relied on culmination of a number of supporting projects in computational electromagnetics and signal processing. The team investigated a number of potential solutions for the IFF grating lobe problem and finally focused on a technique that provides dramatic performance improvements with minimal impact to the Advanced Hawkeye program budget and schedule. From early in the program the challenges brought about by the co-location of the radar and IFF systems within the new E-2D radome were significant. The antenna subcontractor had made numerous attempts to alleviate the sidelobe punch-through problem through mechanical re-design of the antenna and radome configuration but to no avail. As it stood, the IFF system was not going to be able to meet performance requirement goals. Discussions with the NAVAIR E-2D Chief Engineer indicated that the cost avoidance resulting from the Navy Page 3 of 5

4 engineering teams efforts have been substantial. The solution identified by the Navy team is estimated to have resulted in $5-10M cost avoidance and a sizeable weight reduction when compared to a modified diffraction grating. If the modified diffraction grating were unsuccessful, a complete redesign of the radome assembly would be required. The cost avoidance in that case would be an order of magnitude larger and would delay delivery of a fully capable weapon system to the Fleet. The team s work in compensating for the aircraft-induced changes to the radar system amplitude monopulse performance was made possible by advances in computational electromagnetics completed under the direction of this Navy team. This work was undertaken to provide significantly more accurate compensation coefficients that those computed by the radar prime contractor. The Navy team was able to produce results 20 to 30dB more accurate. The improved accuracy will directly lead to improved radar detection performance. CUTLINES Top2 Team award winners (L-R) Dr. Etter, Stephen Yankovich, Dr. Saad Tabet, Dr. John Asvestas, Dr. Oliver Allen, and Sean Stackley, ASN (RDA). Top1 Individual award winner Larry Venetsky between (L) Dr. Dolores Etter and (R) Sean Stackley, ASN (RDA) Page 4 of 5

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