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BBN turns its focus to new technologies for use in wartime

Sep-26-2005 » Filed Under: 1/25 SBCT

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By Robert Weisman, Boston Globe

CAMBRIDGE -- BBN Technologies built the forerunner of today's Internet, employed the @ sign to send the first e-mail, and even designed the acoustics for the UN General Assembly Hall in Manhattan. But the company didn't get rich off of any of those milestones. [...]

But military research still represents more than 80 percent of BBN's revenue, and most of the cutting-edge technologies coming out of its labs today, from distributed software to artificial intelligence, are focused on aiding the US armed forces fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan.

One research effort is dubbed Ambush, a multiplayer military training program for personal computers that simulates a convoy moving on a desert highway.

''Over the past five years, because of what's going on in the world, their technologies have become ever more relevant," said David Fialkow, the General Catalyst managing director who sits on the BBN board.

The software and artificial intelligence agents create a series of virtual scenarios (sniper fire, improvised explosive devices, car bombs, rocket-propelled grenades) requiring quick decision-making by troops in the convoy.

''It throws you into situations," said Bruce Roberts, scientist at BBN's distributed systems and logistics division. ''The goal is to make day one like day three, to make sure that when you go on a convoy you're up to speed with the environment and the skills you need."

The program, part of the computer-based training initiative funded by Darpa, was tested at the Pentagon's Joint Readiness Training Center in Louisiana as a supplement to physical training. It was fielded by the Army's 1st Stryker Brigade, 25th Infantry Division, which was deployed to Iraq from Fort Lewis, Wash. [...]


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