An academic and industrial consortium led by Northrop Grumman has won the first phase of a $6.7 million research contract to develop a high-tech pair of binoculars that will use human brain activity to detect, analyze and alert soldiers to threats, the Linthicum-based defense contractor announced Monday.
The binoculars, known as the Human-aided Optical Recognition/Notification of Elusive Threats, or HORNET, system, uses a helmet with electrodes placed on the user?s scalp to record brain activity. The operator?s neural responses to potential threats will train the system?s algorithms to provide relevant information to the soldier.
“The system will maintain persistent surveillance in order to defeat an enemy?s attempts to surprise through evasive move-stop-move tactics, giving the U.S. warfighter as much as a 20-minute advantage over his adversaries,” Michael House, Northrop Grumman program manager said in a statement.
Chamber of Commerce announces Small Business of the Year winners
ImpactHR, Choptank Transport, Specialized Engineering and MEDEX Global Group took home awards as the Small Business of the Year in their respective categories, the Maryland Chamber of Commerce announced.
Columbia-based impactHR won for the one-to-five-employee division, and was recognized for its significant growth in a short period of time as well as its customized human resources solutions.
Choptank Transport, based in Caroline County, took home the honor in the six-to-50-employees division, noted for its customer service and 35 percent growth in each of the last three years.
Two businesses, MEDEX Global Group of Baltimore and Ijamsville-based Specialized Engineering, received the award in the 51-to-200-employees category. Chamber judges said in a release they were impressed with both MEDEX?s work in assisting travelers with medical and security emergencies and Specialized Engineering?s engineering consulting services and 20 percent annual average growth.
MTA partners with Google Transit on trip planner
The Maryland Transit Administration in partnership with Google Transit has unveiled a new online trip planner and a new home page, the state agency announced Friday.
The new feature allow travelers to find both driving and public transportation information on one site, and is the first phase of the MTA?s plans to improve the functions of its Web site, mtamaryland.com.
Future plans include additional options for available departure and arrival times, the ability to select desired departure or arrival time and dates, estimated trip time and more.
