Athena Southeast 2.0 Roundup

By: LT Lindsey Beates and LCDR Tim Bierbach

The Athena Project returned to the Southeast region with quite a lot of energy! NAS Jacksonville, NS Mayport, and NS King’s Bay all rallied to support local grassroots innovation within the Navy and their communities at large. Athena Southeast 2.0 quickly hit targeted presentations of five, within two days after placing a call out for innovative projects. In all, five presenters and four other projects were accepted for this event. The event was held on August 5, at Veterans United Brewery, a veteran-owned company in the Southside of Jacksonville.

Presenters captivated the crowd with their creative concepts and ideas, making their pitches to fellow Sailors, industry, and academia, as well as a panel of leaders in the Southeast region. The panelists were CAPT Anthony Corapi, Commodore of Patrol & Reconnaissance Wing 11, CDR James Harney, CO of Afloat Training Group Mayport, LCDR Mike Zdunkeiwiz, Training Officer for the Maritime Patrol and Reconnaissance Weapons School (MPRWS) and Chief Collins, LCPO at the MPRWS Mobile Tactical Operations Center.

Each of the projects challenged existing paradigms in a progressive fashion, and the panelists did an exceptional job directing their questions toward challenging the weak portions of the projects while bolstering their strengths. Every question provided insight from experience and helped the presenters continue to mature their pitch and project.

In no particular order, our presenters were:

PO2 Kuhns, presenting Media Management Database

(Admiral Sims Award for Intellectual Courage – Athena Southeast 2.0)

The Media Management Database is designed to increase efficiency and quality control of the media sets required for the P-8A aircraft and media issues are currently plaguing the community, causing late departures, excessive preflight, and canceled events.   The relationship between the squadrons and the Mobile Tactical Operations Centers (MTOCs) continued to be stressed while senior leadership develops a viable solution. Furthermore, combat aircrews began flying with limited standard media loads that reduce the US Navy’s overall combat capability.

PO2 Kuhns worked with VP-16 to develop a database centered on supply management and lean six sigma principals, and programed using Microsoft Access. The concept simply tracks the each piece of media, associated burning step, and location from start to storage in a near real time application. Everyone with the rights to the database now had the ability to track the applicable stages and location of the media.

This database was employed by MTOC One and VP16 as a pilot project during their inter-deployment readiness cycle and last deployment. The success was recognized immediately and media related issues were reduced, enabling MTOC One to create a more agile and adaptive process meeting the needs of the fleet. The database has the potential to be developed concurrently with SPAWAR and implemented throughout Wing 11 to increase the quality control of Media and effectiveness of the fleet. PO2 Kuhns, is stationed at Mobile Tactical Operations Center (MTOC) One at NAS Jacksonville.

PO1 Laramie Foster, presenting Test Item Analysis

Test Item Analysis is program that has taken one of the Navy’s most vital challenges – its ability to conduct self-assessments. Training, one of the Navy’s core missions, is continuously improving the measures of performance (MOP) and measures of effectiveness (MOE) that build our warfighters. The current problem for the majority of the Navy is that we are still developing and testing based on a perceptual concept and not a systematic process. Test Item Analysis empowers the average sailor and improves our for Navy Instructional system design environments.

PO1 Foster’s program uses a visual basic to generate pre-populated templates to reduce the manual effort and increase the ease of use.  The Trident Training Center uses a beta version of the program and continues to undergo a continuous improvement cycle to deliver the training desire. Using a static version during several formal courses yielded extensive improvement on time required for testing the desired outcomes and reduced to time required to achieve the desired action. This program is not just for short-term analytics but it can develop long-term history base on outcomes and desired end states.

The test item analysis is looking to begin collaboration with other unit to expand its base and sample size. Several Commands at Athena expressed interest in building pilot programs to assess the potential outcomes. PO1 Foster designed the program to be maintained at a local level and is excited to collaborate with the Fleet in the near future. PO1 Foster is stationed at the Trident Training Facility NSB Kings Bay.

LT Braz Kennedy, presenting iLOC

iLOC is a project that focuses on increasing the accuracy and timeliness of tactic, techniques and procedures (TTP) during the anti-submarine warfare (ASW). For decades, TTPs have accepted numerous errors based on the human limitation and the variables calculated. With the introduction of the P-8A and its combat system, we now have the ability to conduct rapid calculation based on amplified information to increase our warfighting effectiveness.

The Project looks to conduct incremental changes. The First stage would be achieved by developing a basic excel style application that would codify the current math and science portions of our TTPs. This spread sheet would utilize the computer as a calculator for the basic equations and while enabling the crew to alter the variables to keep pace with current tactical situation. The 2^nd Stage would be to imbed this capability into the P-8A combat systems, similar to Boeing’s Flight management computer.

Currently the spreadsheet continues to be developed and reviewed by multiple Maritime Weapons and Tactics Instructors. The application has also been forwarded to the Center for Naval Analysis to begin validation. This project is a progression for Cold War system that was designed to be implemented into the P-7 program before it was canceled. LT Kennedy is stationed at VP-30 in NAS Jacksonville.

LT Doug Kettler, presenting High Velocity Learning within Maritime Patrol and Reconnaissance Force

High Velocity Learning (HVL) within Maritime Patrol and Reconnaissance Force (MPRF) looked at how to begin implementation of the CNO’s vision of HVL at every level. The project defined and dismantled the Toyota Production System (TPS) to build an initial framework to deviate.  It also drew a correlation between the history of the scientific method and the application in today’s innovative culture. This Framework is vital to cultivating an agile and adaptive process throughout the MPRF at large.

Doug’s project illustrated the progression from the Aviation Tactics and Techniques Innovation Cell (ATTIC) he helped stand up at VP-16. During his tour, he designed, developed, implemented and wrote on several innovative projects that applied HVL successfully. One of his examples was a project to reduce the P-8 preflight for ASW events from 3 hours to 1.5 hours. The command targeted several key performance indicators that related to delays, analyzed the information, and put controls in place. The Project was able swarm the problem and use ideology from TPS to develop the solutions. Within one day and the 6 flights dedicated to this portion of the project they were able to achieve their goal of reducing preflight time by 50 percent and saving in excess of 135 man-hours across the 6 project events. This data was then captured and published to complete the HVL process.

Doug continues mature his framework for HVL within MPRF. Many of his projects that he worked on during his tour at V16’s ATTIC have now been published as tactics, techniques, and procedures that have been adopted throughout the fleet. LT Kettler is stationed at the Maritime Patrol and Reconnaissance Weapons School (MPRWS) in NAS Jacksonville.

LT Josh Mitchell, presenting EMW4ASW

EMW 4 ASW (Electronic Maneuver Warfare for Anti-Submarine Warfare) was a CNO Rapid Innovation Cell (CRIC) accepted project before the group was defunded. This project targets a latent vulnerability from the Cold War ASW strategy. Sonobuoys use legacy technology that operates on one of 99 channels with in a small frequency range. This constraint also limits the data rate and amount of data transferred. Sonobuoys still possess enormous potential and the fix is not difficult. Incorporating photonic into the current sonobuoys increases their combat potential in the 21^st Century sensor.

LT Mitchell project looks to open the aperture by building an agile system and incorporating photonic into current sonobuoys.   For minimal cost, photonic will expand sonobuoys frequency spectrum exponentially and enable them to become frequency agile. Spectrum management would now be constrained via software updated and not hardware changes. Many secondary benefits would materialize from this upgrade. Data rates, bandwidth, and encryption are just a few of the potential areas for improvement. LT Mitchell, the MPRWS, and Georgia Tech Research Institute (GTRI) have been collaborating on this project for over two years to turn EMW 4 ASW into a reality, which would be a game changer for ASW.

The project continues to look for a champion and funding to build an initial prototype. PMA-264, ASW projects, has now taken an interest in the idea but due to funding cuts the project is still in idle. GTRI estimated that the project would take less than nine months for an initial test of the concept and could support the development in the near future. LT Mitchel is stationed at the Maritime Patrol and Reconnaissance Weapons School in NAS Jacksonville.

Overall, it was a very successful evening. All of the presenters gave practical, innovative solutions to current issues facing our Navy – either at the work center, squadron, or fleet level – and the audience members learned a lot. We are looking forward to Athena South East 3.0, to be held sometime this winter!

How an E-5 Dental Tech is Supporting the Navy’s Energy Security

By HM2 Joshua Cranford

Beginning fiscal year 2017 the United States Naval Academy (USNA) will be starting research into partially premixed diesel fuel as a measure to ensure the Navy’s energy security. They’ll do this with funding from the Office of Naval Research (ONR) as a direct result of a pitch that I made. Did I mention I’m a Second Class Petty Officer; who serves as a Dental Technician?

Empathizing with the reader taking this information in let me answer the obvious question- Yes, reality is stranger than fiction. Had I worked for a company like Google or Facebook and suggested an app for the company to produce, it would be very easy to digest one of these titans of innovations running with an idea from any source; but the Navy? One of the largest bureaucracies in the world listening to a… Dental Tech… on macroeconomic energy trends? The Navy has something Google and Facebook don’t though, and that’s ATHENA. And well, you know, a slightly over-zealous Dental Tech. Having said all that just know this isn’t a politically correct puff piece; just for the record- the Navy doesn’t pay E-5’s enough to write those.

A NAVADMIN was released in December of 2015 calling for sailors with a “High Risk, High Reward” idea to submit an application to the CNO’s Rapid Innovation Cell (CRIC). I read about this and submitted 18 pages of “this is so obscure, it might work” and associated documents on how to integrate hydrogen use into the fleet as a viable substitute for fossil fuels. Long story short my proposal on how to allocate $1.3 million for a proof of concept for Project Water Engine (PWE) fell by the way of congress defunding the CRIC- I wrote angry letters to both of my senators and my congressmen; but I digress.

A few weeks later I got an email from the CRIC coordinator informing me about ATHENA DC 1.0 taking place at the Sea Air and Space Symposium in just over a month. I sent off my white paper on PWE to ATHENA with all the enthusiasm an individual typical has when purchasing lottery tickets. Yeah I was ready for a win, but I wasn’t expecting my number to come up… I won the preverbal lottery.

The panelists and presenters at Athena DC 1.0, hosted at the 2016 Sea Air Space Expo.

Immediately after ATHENA informed me I would be pitching, I got an email from the good people at ONR asking if I needed help refining my five-minute pitch. Well I looked up who I would be pitching to (a three-star admiral, and three other individuals with a collective IQ around 550ish), had a momentary panic attack, and then humbly accepted the offer for help. The three individuals I meet with at ONR took the weighty tomb of my novel idea and made it sound intelligible enough for a meaningful five-minute pitch.

Sea Air and Space came and if memory serves correctly, I was the fifth best pitch of five presenters. Measuring success is tricky business though. The conversation on PWE continued long after my five-minute public forum was concluded. The conversation also led me to being connected with the Naval Innovation Network; a group of driven individuals who don’t need to be told “it’s their Navy”; they already know.

After the pitch I guess is when you could say the real work started. I received an email from ONR again. While confidence in a project that called for gasoline-hydrogen-hybrids was thin, I was informed that there could be a funding possibility. ONR had money to spend but it needed to come from the Naval Enterprise Partnership Teaming with Universities for National Excellence (NEPTUNE) initiative; AKA alternatives energy research that goes through a college capstone/ research project. I had some work to do to align interests on PWE. I took to the Naval Innovation Network and tracked down some individuals at the Naval Academy. After some real champions of innovations pointed me in the right direction I found the Mechanical Engineering Department.

The panelists and presenters at Athena DC 1.0, hosted at the 2016 Sea Air Space Expo.

From the start I wanted to prove that Hydrogen could be used as a cheap/ sustainable supplemental/ primary fuel in internal combustion engines; specifically, with gasoline. Fast forward a few months and a professor in the MECH ENG DEPT asks me the question “why not diesel, it’s the Navy’s favorite fuel source”. There’s more though- there was a concept floating around academia about pre-mixing hydrogen with diesel fuel. I looked at PWE and this concept of partially premixed diesel fuel fit like a glove.

So I had a few building blocks to work with: my idea, a college wanting to explore a new concept very similar to my idea, and funding for a college to explore my idea. Well ONR was very receptive to partially premixed diesel fuel and the Academy was very receptive to the idea of getting funding for a research project.

So if you’re considering submitting your idea to ATHENA for the opportunity to pitch remember three things:

1. Never accept a “no” from someone who’s not authorized to say yes.
2. A dental tech is influencing alternative energy research in the Navy.
3. This one is from MCPON (ret) Stevens and couldn’t apply more- Build on small successes, and stay positive!

Supporting the innovator to support the innovation.

HOWEVER, I hope it’s been noted that ATHENA never directly supported my “Innovation”. ATHENA supported me- the innovator. It was on me to align interests and exploit the Naval Innovation Network that I was connected with to promote my innovation. ATHENA provided me an opportunity to present my idea. More than that- ATHENA gave me the opportunity to create opportunity.

-Go Navy, Beat EVERYONE!

 

“Joshua Cranford is currently assigned to Naval Health Clinic Annapolis as a the Dental department ALPO and is currently pursuing a degree in mathematics.”

Introducing, ATHENA Far East!

By LTJG Tom Baker

USS BENFOLD (DDG 65), the Defense Entrepreneurs Forum, and a team of innovation veterans from fleet concentration areas across the United States have teamed up in Japan to establish ATHENA Far East, our first permanent ATHENA hub outside of the continental United States!

Rooting itself at Commander, Fleet Activities Yokosuka (CFAY), Japan, the opportunities to collaborate with Japanese and American sailors are tremendous.

The surface and submarine mariner of the Japanese Maritime Self Defense Forces across Yokosuka Bay, an entrepreneurship professor from a local university, the talented civilian maintenance community, an aviation mechanic in Aircraft Carrier RONALD REAGAN…we will reach at every corner of civilian and military entrepreneurship to bring the same diverse conversation under one roof that has made every ATHENA so successful before us!

If you are in Japan, make plans now to join us on January 15th from 1245 – 1430 at the Commodore Matthew Perry General Mess “Tatami Room” on the Yokosuka Navy Base.

Any Military members or DoD Civilians interested in pitching ideas at this event can reach out on facebook or connect with us on the gmail account listed below!

Connect with Athena on Facebook: www.facebook.com/athenanavy or follow us on Twitter: @AthenaNavy. Interested in starting a movement of your own? Message us, or e-mail athenanavy@gmail.com!

 

Athena East 2.0 Coming Soon!

By: Lyndsay Westby-Gibson

The Athena Project is coming back to Norfolk this summer!

Those who have been following Athena for a while may remember the first Athena East – back in September, 2014. You can read the roundup from the successful event here!

September’s Athena East Event at Old Dominion University

Are you in the Hampton Roads area and interested in learning more about The Athena Project? Are you ready to present your big idea? Do you want to volunteer to lead the charge on the waterfront?

Join us on Wednesday, July 1st at 1600 at O’Connor Brewing Company (211 W 24th Street, Norfolk, VA 23517) for an informal happy hour planning meeting to iron out the details of our next event!

Bring a friend, and definitely stay for OBC Trivia Night which starts at 1800. If you have any questions, e-mail me at lmwgibson@gmail.com or shoot us a note on the Athena Facebook page or e-mail!

Hope to see you there!

 

Connect with The Athena Project on Facebook: www.facebook.com/athenanavy or follow us on Twitter: @AthenaNavy. Interested in starting a movement of your own? Message us, or e-mail athenanavy@gmail.com!

The Future Will Be Made (By You!)

By LT Dave Nobles

Last week, I had the honor of presenting The Athena Project’s story at a conference on Additive Manufacturing (AM) put on by The White House’s Office of Science and Technology Policy.

The strength behind the AM movement is inspiring, and the best part is that this is the ground floor – and there’s plenty of room in the elevator!

 

The conference focused on evaluating not only policy for the use of 3D Printing Technology, but also the ways to get this innovative technology into the hands of Soldiers, Sailors, Airmen and Marines around the world. As you may expect, a workshop concerning a topic like this brought forth many key players in the Additive Manufacturing movement, including representatives from multiple branches of the military as well as government and civilian pioneers of AM.

Talking about our journey with The Athena Project fit naturally with the theme of the event, because we’re all about giving the talented minds in our services a voice. The cool thing about AM is that it allows that voice to be heard and be seen.

With a capability so empowering and burgeoning hardware and software options becoming easier and easier to use, servicemembers can employ their creativity to build an initial design or prototype of an idea that may have otherwise been difficult to express on paper or in a Powerpoint presentation. Indeed, AM is an excellent new technology, but it’s also an entirely new way to approach problem solving that unlocks a wave of possibilities to turn imagination into reality.

The encouraging thing about the AM movement is that the Navy is at the leading edge of getting the resources to the fleet. Last year, the LT Ben Kohlmann of the CNO’s Rapid Innovation Cell launched an initiative called Print the Fleet that has put 3D printers onto ships and have paved the way for more involvement at the deckplate level. You can read about it here.

And on August 6th and 20th out in Dam Neck, the Print the Fleet team is hosting an event to increase awareness and knowledge about AM as well as brainstorm some uses for the technology to solve challenges. VADM Phil Cullom, Deputy Chief of Naval Operations for Fleet Readiness and Logistics, talks about the this Makers Event during the Print the Fleet workshop here.

3D printers are getting more and more affordable – If you want one of your own, you don’t have to be an evil supervillian anymore!

Here in San Diego we aim to contribute to the cause as well. In the coming months, we hope to aim our first athenaSPEAR at Additive Manufacturing and pass your ideas to the team to ensure that we’re making the most of this awesome new capability.

So, how would you use additive manufacturing? If you’ve got a great idea that can solve some of of the challenges our ships, subs and squadrons face, we want to hear it! Hey, if you’d just like to get your hands on the latest 3D printing gear, let us know that too. And, as always, if you’re interested in doing some design thinking with us, come on down!

Sure, there are loads of ways that we can use AM to solve problems at sea, but beyond that, the use of the techniques can strengthen any potential Athena pitch as well. A quick Google search can direct you to a number of Makerspaces in most cities. Not into sharing? Well, there are truckloads of different AM printers that you can buy for less than $500. Take a look!

With Athena East right around the corner in Norfolk on September 12th and Waterfront Athena Six coming on October 10th in San Diego, there’s plenty of time to saddle up some Computer Aided Design software and print up your prototype!

 

Interested in presenting at Athena East or Waterfront Athena Six? Find us on Facebook and message us! Or, if you’re not into the whole social media thing, send us an e-mail at athenanavy@gmail.com

Want to read more about the Print the Fleet workshop? Check this out! Or, contact the team at PTF@navy.mil.