SimpleSense, a tech start-up delivering critical response technology, has been awarded a $9M project to develop the Installation Resilience Operations Center (IROC), an innovative prototype to enhance base security, emergency response and facility operations at Tyndall Air Force Base. The award was made by the Tyndall Program Management Office in collaboration with the U.S. Air Force Civil Engineer Center. The IROC will be part of the $5B rebuild of the base, which sustained major damage due to Hurricane Michael in 2018.
According to SimpleSense, “the objective of the IROC is to modernize response operations to enable real-time data collection and analysis of all operational technology systems from smart buildings to physical security systems. Breaking down the stovepipes that separate data enables a safer, more productive, and resilient installation.”
SimpleSense CEO Eric Kanagy said the “proposal leveraged commercial best practices dominant in technology firms like micro-services, event driven code, CI/CD, Agile and Lean management, and translated it for the operational technology and government domain.”
Indeed, according to Brig. Gen. Patrice Melançon, former Executive Director of the Tyndall Air Force Base (AFB) Program Management Office (PMO), “It is truly a testament to the Air Force’s commitment to developing innovative, cutting-edge solutions for not only the installation of the future, but for military installations around the world.”
Case Western Reserve University (CWRU) will be a collaborator on the IROC project with SimpleSense, capitalizing on the university’s expertise and experience in predictive maintenance and IoT to inform IROC technologies, platforms, algorithms, and implementation.
According to ISSACS Faculty Director Dr. Kenneth Loparo, who spearheaded the University’s proposal for participation, “The Institute for Smart, Secure and Connected Systems (ISSACS) is well positioned to assist the SimpleSense team in this IROC project. The work being proposed is well aligned with our expertise and experience in using real-time data to improve the operational security of complex industrial systems through the detection, diagnosis and prognosis of incipient faults and the design of intelligent algorithms that assist personnel in operation decision-making.”
For more information on CWRU’s role in this project, please contact Dr. Kenneth Loparo at kal4@case.edu.