by Lauren Pafumi, Midwest Regional Support Office Naval Surface Warfare Center, Crane Division (NSWC Crane) has partnered with Next Wave Systems, LLC, to facilitate the commercial sale of surveillance systems developed at NSWC Crane. This partnership has made possible the successful sale of these systems to a variety of customers, including NATO military forces deployed to Afghanistan. NSWC Crane had previously entered into a patent license with Next Wave, a small engineering and technology company located in Pekin, Indiana, to commercialize patented software systems associated with the Rapid Aerostat Initial Deployment (RAID) system. The RAID system utilizes systems originally designed for the Joint Land Attack Cruise Missile Defense Elevated Netted Sensor System (JLENS). The overall technology is similar to the Google Maps application, but is useful for more secure purposes. The NSWC Crane-originated patented software is a plug-and-play modular mission payload system that permits the rapid integration of new payloads/missions for aerial vehicles. The software enables different systems to communicate with each another by "translating" among them. "The ability to translate across systems reduces costs and facilitates modification of those systems," said Mike Konerman, manager of the branch that first developed this technology at NSWC Crane. NSWC Crane and Next Wave saw a clear benefit to a partnership. NSWC Crane, which had access to the most current version of the surveillance system, was looking for a way to leverage and transition the technology for future and enhanced military value. Next Wave was able to negotiate sales, but had a license for an older version of the software, not the most current systems and configurations. Potential customers, particularly NATO military customers, wanted the most up-to-date systems to ensure interoperability with U.S. forces. To meet these customers' needs, NSWC Crane entered into a no-cost contract with Next Wave in 2007, and transferred title to a copy of the current software and technical data in exchange for access to Next Wave's proprietary improvements to the software. "We're very excited," said Larry Howard of Next Wave. "[The partnership] helps us get the opportunity to bring to market something that's really needed." Next Wave currently uses partners to sell this technology to NATO countries, but is also working to increase direct sales to government agencies and commercial customers. Potential future buyers include port authorities, municipalities, and purely commercial vendors such as airports, shipping lanes, oil rig platforms, and other facilities with "high-end assets." Howard said that the partnership is a synergistic opportunity because the greater variety of customers' needs provide NSWC Crane and Next Wave with more opportunities to add new functionality to the software. NSWC Crane used authority under the Federal Property and Administrative Services Act (FPASA) of 1949, 40 U.S.C. Section 481(c), which gives all agencies authority to sell or exchange property to replace or acquire similar property. Chris Monsey, NSWC Crane's patent attorney, saw that the FPASA could have benefits when it came to technical data of the kind NSWC Crane used to develop the surveillance system. "Existing technology transfer laws (such as the Bayh-Dole Act) don't focus on defense technical data. They only talk about patent rights," said Monsey. By invoking this rarely used Act, NSWC Crane obtained extra flexibility and allowed both parties, as well as Next Wave's customers, to benefit from sharing the technology. Next Wave has subsequently reported that its sales efforts are moving ahead. NSWC Crane and the Navy have benefited by receiving system improvements that were developed at private expense and no additional cost to the U.S. government. NSWC Crane will also receive a percentage of Next Wave's sales as patent license royalty payments—the ultimate in pay for performance rewards. Due to the success of this effort, Next Wave and NSWC Crane have begun working on a Cooperative Research and Development Agreement (CRADA) to further improve the system. (Note: The views expressed in this publication are not an endorsement or necessarily the views of NSWC Crane or the U.S. Navy.)
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