Sofcoast

Beach and Surf

Sharing a video clip of Mako flying over the Tourmaline Surf Park in Pacific Beach, San Diego, California. Pretty straightforward, lots of folks approached me and asked me about it.  

Also including a couple of still photos as well...

Cheers - 

John

 

Down-N-Dirty

 

Sharing a 'down and dirty' video of today's launch and raw footage aloft. By 'down and dirty' I mean unedited and not salesy - just turned the camera on and went.

Couple of points to keep in mind.

• We've essentially bolted a little Hero HD camera under the wing - there is no stabilization, pan/tilt/zoom in this payload config. Zip. Nada.
• The FAA weather report from the nearest airport today forecast 6-16kt with 10 kt gust spreads on the ground. I'd say we were easily 5kts above ground winds at 500 ft. Now imagine the last time you went by a McDonalds parking lot or car lot with a balloon flying over it on a windy day. 

Not a pretty sight.

Again - according to the aero engineer today, you actually have to see this thing fly in order to believe it.


I agree.

Cheers,

J. Surmont

Founding CEO

Sofcoast, Inc.

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Signals & Drumbeats: See Clearly. View Life in HD.

Image via Wikipedia

Sharing a video I put together of the first sales demo we completed with the ASAP XP "MAKO" system in San Diego, CA.

ASAP XP "MAKO" is presently a hand-built prototype product substitute for aerial surveillance, imagery and rapid, ad-hoc, lightweight, mobile towers. As a team, we've spent 2+ years and built 18 prototypes in the product development phase.  We're now transitioning to a Go-To-Market strategy. Yesterday, 16 December 2010 marked our first beta product sale for MAKO. We're keeping additional details mum for now.

We are now actively marketing to commercial and federal buyers and this is one of the first of many marketing video's we'll be putting together. We're delighted with the image quality of the GOPRO Hero HD and we think you will be as well.

 

Elevate your life in 1080p

Cheers,

John Surmont

Founder/CEO

Sofcoast

 

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LFI Update: ASAP XP Mako Payload Testing

Sharing a short video clip of ASAP XP MAKO payload integration testing.

Untitled from John Surmont on Vimeo.

 

 

LFI Update: ASAP XP MAKO Flight Testing

We're pretty happy to share that we continue to have very positive results in our testing and development process of the ASAP XP MAKO system. This week we flew in Ft. Collins, Colorado and are very happy with the results of our flight tests.

To day we launched, flew and recovered in up to 22 kt. winds.  In this test  we flew at 200 ft. above ground level at a density altitude of 5,000 ft.

We took a picture right before we headed out today, on my right is Coby, yours truly is in the center with David to my left.  It was a fantastic day with fantastic people building a fantastic product.

Life is good.

Cheers,

John

It's hard to believe that I'm standing there holding on to MAKO with one hand in 22kt winds!

 Here's a brief video from today.  (The sound of the wind is actually pretty dramatic.)

 
   

LFI Update: Rapid, Mobile and ad-hoc Information Infrastructure that scales

Image via Wikipedia

I've already pointed out in a previous thread the dilemma of buying and operating an 800K platform to fly a $400 camera over a place. That's definitely not a highly scalable model, I'd say.

We all get that social is scaling, I caught the movie "The Social Network" this weekend and thought it rocked.  Mobile is scaling - there's an "app" for just about everything now. 

Real-time, localized and relevant information can scale - but right now it's not truly scalable.  Ask Apple.  Ask AT&T.  Ask anyone who's looked at their house in Google Earth and said "that's not my house anymore!".  Ask military members on the front lines.  Ask First Responders. Ask NGO's.  Ask anyone who drives through the mojave desert.

I mean, think about this - When Apple unveiled the iPad awhile back, the network went down and Steve Jobs had to "voluntell" everyone to get off the damn wifi so he could continue with his demo.  

Even Steve Jobs legendary product demo's and unveilings aren't impervious to the problems of infrastructure collapse or constraints. (I guarantee you that no expense will ever be spared again to ensure that never happens again...but again who's got wads of money like Apple?)  Needless to say, mobile and ad-hoc infrastructure is limited and expensive - which (once again) limits information relevance, availablity and scalability.

We think the ASAP coverage system can change this and actually enable scalability because if we're successful then we've dropped the cost of rapid, mobile and ad-hoc infrastructure to close to as close to zero as we can feasibly get it.

General Interconnected Coverage Concept (above)

Do you think it's feasible to have a mesh network with towers and airborne (even inflatable) systems if the systems drive the costs up by orders of magnitude?  Not unless your The US DoD during the Bush years.

And we're all pinching pennies these days but still demand our apps and mobile and information.

So what does one do?

Call us.

  Single Panel ASAP (ASAP XP - "extremely portable")

Image from 300 ft. above ground level via a Smartphone from the ASAP XP (Single Panel) in Utah at 8,000 ft. Density Altitude. (above)

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LFI Update: ASAP XP MAKO Flight Testing

We had a pretty good week of testing the Affordable Stationary Aerial Platform Single Panel (ASAP SP) in the mountains of Utah.  You can find lots of system pics at my photostream here.

This is a pretty good aerial image taken with a smartphone attached to an ASAP Single Panel.  You can see more aerial images here.

As you can see, we're not balloonists - we're former military operators and subject matter experts.  We've been working on this problem for about three years now and very early on decided that there wasn't much innovation that would suit or satisfy a guy on the ground with a backpack working to solve complex problems in complex environments, so we decided to build something that we personally would be willing/able to use.  We don't want big stuff.  We don't want to be (and aren't) balloon nerds.  Our designs are for a tactical user's or person's on the front lines with backpack's and pickup trucks.

As a result, we didn't know anything about balloons and balloon supply chains so we developed our own systems methods and techniques and now, in a nutshell, we build small, high performance inflatable flying things made out of ripstop nylon and garbage bags.

We think it's kind of like what the Rutan's did with general aviation when they decided to build composite  airplanes.

By the way, this was my first time in Utah and it was beautiful.  I'm definitely looking forward to my next visit.

 

   

 

Thoughtstream: Figuring it out

“Sometimes accidental discoveries or people "nudging" us forward is what makes the difference between success and failure.”

- April 2009 LFI blog post, “What’s in a name? (part two).

I very much appreciate what it means to “make the team” because one of the toughest moments of my young life was my 8^th grade year.  This was the year that I was passed over during tryouts for the middle school basketball team – I simply didn’t make the cut because I lacked the physical size, skills and strength.  It was tough.  

My mom and dad were so supportive of me.  They didn’t make a big deal about it (which was a relief!) and encouraged me to keep trying and that eventually I would find a place where I could fit and could be a contributor.

When I decided it was time to “turn the page” on my career as a SEAL, it was kind of like loving to play basketball and then picking up a new sport like golf when you realize that your knee’s (or other body parts) are wearing down with age and use.  As a young man, I watched my dad go through this process and learned that I too was going to face this inevitability in my life and might as well do something about it.

Some of the fondest memories of my youth revolve around team sports.  In my case it was mostly football.  I wasn’t a standout football star and I wasn’t a gifted athlete.  I was a pretty late bloomer and actually didn't start to peak until after I graduated from training.  I’ve known and played against and with some gifted athletes.  It was always amazing and frankly a treat to play against or with them.    I often tell people that when I arrived at BUD/S training (Basic Underwater Demolition / SEAL), I felt like I’d come home.  I think it was because I associated training and my time in the teams with those very positive experiences i had with athletics and sports. Both were very positive and formative periods.  I remember being in awe of all of the gifted athletes I grew up with and around and it was very similar for me in training and in the teams. I was (and still am) in awe of pretty much every person that I knew in training or afterwards– to me they seemed to be enormously talented, dedicated, courageous and damn tough, and they still are.  Even as an instructor years later I felt the same way, especially about the students. The guys that walked in through the front door were damn tough and some of the best and brightest this nation has to offer. The guys that graduated? Incredible. And Hollywood can't begin to do them justice.  I believed then as I do now that it was truly an honor to be associated with the entire organization. 

I think that being included and being a productive part of a highly valued team is something that helps give life meaning to people.  For me, I thrive on it and need it and think it’s one of the reasons I enjoyed being in the team's so much.  I think it’s also a big reason for why I am having the time of my life building Sofcoast. 

For a while after my military career ended, I tried to find a team and mission that I wanted to be a part of – and couldn’t – so I decided go build something myself. Specifically, I decided to develop a pursuit, a vision, a mission and a team that I would be happy to be associated with for a significant period of my post-military life.

I played football throughout high school.  In my sophomore year, I was on the Junior Varsity squad and we were essentially the “practice squad” for the varsity team.  At the time one of our assistant coaches was a former head coach for our school and he was legendary for hard-nosed “smash mouth” football.  He was a champion and his teams were champions.  His name was Archie Powers.

Archie Powers will be 75 this month^th, and I thought I’d tell a brief story about him that I believe provided me an experience - rather a - “gentle nudge” really - that helped me define myself years later in my life.

Happy Birthday, Coach.

Figuring it out (Part One)

The mid-day September sun sparkled and danced across white helmets while fiery burst of red, yellow and gold swayed gently in the distance on sturdy branches as the coolness of fall crept over the energy and enthusiasms of a youthful zeal and spirit of competition enthralled and in motion.

“Surmont!” the booming voice called my name.

“Yes, coach!”  I responded instinctively, automatically, anxiously turning and searching.

“Practice dummy – over here.”  Snapping towards the sound, helmet on, dead sprint to the far side of the field, I approached the group and was motioned towards a hulking figure that cast a long shadow towards my feet.

It was Coach Powers. 

With a very low and deep voice he said, “Son, I need you to stand in as a defensive end for this series. Get ready.”   

“OK, coach”.  I muttered as I hesitated and then turned and took my position.

As I set down into my ready position, the offense broke out of their huddle; the offensive tackle for the right side of the line jogged up to the line of scrimmage and crouched into a four-point stance. I remember seeing his stern face with sweat dripping from his eyes – the last thing I remember was thinking about how bloody his knuckles were.

The next thing I remember was the sound of a muffled voice that seemed far away asking me, “Surmont, you ok?”

“Yep, I’m ok.” I replied as I lay on my back.

The voice said, “Let me help you up.”  Looking up, I saw those same bloody knuckles wrapped around my facemask with gentle blue eyes gazing at me with the silhouetted shape of his helmeted head against the backdrop of a gorgeous blue sky.

With some help, I managed to pick myself up and get my bearings.

I could hear the low, gruff voice of Coach Powers in my ear saying, “Son, you’re going to have to at least try.”

I shifted my stance a little bit and turned away.

“Son, come over here.”

I walked over to Coach Powers and with a stern look and tilted head, said, “Son, I know he’s a hoss.  Let’s see if you’ve got sand in your craw.  Get in there and make something happen.”

Note:

To this day, I'm not quite sure what "sand in your craw" means - but I think it means do you have guts, gumption or some such word to describe being willing to figure out how to win.

At that point, the huddle broke and the offense jogged to the line of scrimmage and got into position.  This time I decided to think about making something happen and not worry about the bloody knuckles of the offensive tackle in front of me.

I decided that he clearly had the size advantage on me and I was going to have to figure out some other way to make a tackle.  I decided that I would watch to see if the end released or blocked down on me and decided that speed and surprise were my only advantages and I would have to use them to compensate for my lack of size and strength.

The ball was snapped.  I could see the end releasing in my peripheral and decided to fake like I was going right to collide with that tackle but I didn’t collide with the tackle.  I quickly spun around to my left and sidestepped the tackle and ended up in the backfield and tackled the running back at the line of scrimmage causing a fumble.

This time, I hopped up from the pile and walked back to the defensive huddle to a couple of pats on the backside, helmet and shoulder pad. 

Coach Powers smiled at me and with a twinkle in his eye, said, “Looks like you do have sand in your craw, boy.  Nice job. Do it again.”

Note:

I did and eventually got my clock cleaned when a pulling guard blindsided me... oh well...you live and learn...

This was a seemingly minor moment in my life, but it was of extraordinary significance to me.  The reason is because that was the moment that I discovered that I could face a challenge and figure out a way to overcome adversity. That seemingly minor moment helped me because it helped build confidence in me about my abilities and myself.

Happy Birthday, Coach.

 

Figuring it out (Part Two)

BUD/S training is hard and it can be a bit tricky too.  In the first phase of training students are tested in many ways and one way (as you might expect) is in their ability to survive in the water.  This is called survival skills.  Some of these skills that students are tested on include drown proofing, underwater swims and life saving.

Lifesaving is a test where instructors wear camouflage uniforms with combat boots and sometimes even weight belts and require students to demonstrate proficiency at basically rescuing a drowning victim in various scenarios.   This is not too different from what the lifeguard at the beach or pool is trained to do, however it seems that everything SEAL’s do (even in training) is always just a bit more than what is typical.

We had multiple stations and multiple instructors that day that we were to demonstrate proficiency in lifesaving techniques with.  We moved through the various stations, some students passing, others failing and requiring to be retested.  There was a particularly difficult instructor to save. He was a giant man who seemed to be able to hold his breath forever and students were having a heck of a time not turning into the drowning victims themselves when they would attempt to demonstrate lifesaving techniques on him.

Having a name that starts with “S” typically put me towards the last third of the class during test time. As I observed the first two thirds of the class being tested at various instructor stations, I began to notice a pattern emerging.  Students were avoiding one instructor’s line.  Of course, an empty line was not tolerated so there was a bit of a “mad rush” to get into any other line when your turn came in order to avoid this one instructor’s line.  It just happened that when it was my turn to get in a line, every other instructor’s line was full and this instructor’s was – you guessed it – empty.  And so off I went.

I entered the water and swam toward the instructor.  This station was to demonstrate approaching a panicking drowning victim from the front.  So, I approached the instructor and said as I was trained to, I made my approach to the back of the instructor and said “relax instructor, I’m here to save you.”  I then grabbed him and put him into the lifesaving position by reaching my right arm over the victim’s right shoulder, my right armpit was positioned over the victim’s right shoulder, arm across the chest firmly tucking my hand into their left armpit.  I kicked and pumped and began swimming him to the side of the pool.  At that point, he rolled left out of my hold dove down below me and came up behind me, wrapped his legs around my waist and put me into a choke hold.  I quickly began the process of turning my head and tucking my chin to free myself from this situation.  At this point the instructor reached over with his other hand and pulled my hand down and away preventing me from performing the move that would allow me to free myself from his grasp.  We then proceeded to sink to the bottom of the pool, which I think we were in the 9 ft. section.    

 

At this point, I wasn’t sure what to do but I do remember having two thoughts.  The first one was, “ I think he can hold his breath longer than I can, and if this goes on much longer, I’m going to pass out and drown.” Of course, I didn’t want this.  I then remember my next thought which was, “I don’t think he’s allowed to drown me and don’t think he wants me to drown, either.” 

Aha!

At that point I decided to act like I had passed out.  I went limp and allowed my weight to fully rest in his hands and arms.  I could immediately feel him relax his choke hold and grip on me – and as soon as he relaxed, I spun around to his back, reached across his chest and gripped his left armpit and swam as hard and fast as I could to the side of the pool.  As I swam him back I smiled as I said, “relax instructor, I’m here to save you.” 

Once we were to the side of the pool, he looked at me, spit some water out of his mouth and smiled saying, “Nice work, Surmont. You pass.”

Thanks to Coach Powers, I had learned to “figure it out” in the face of adversity as a boy and thanks to this SEAL instructor I learned another invaluable lesson about "figuring it out" as a young man.

 

One final note:

The SEAL Instructor that I am speaking about is Senior Chief Petty Officer Ted Fitz-Henry.  SCPO Fitz-Henry was killed in a training accident on June 15^th, 2004.  (Rest in Peace, Ted)

 

LFI Update: ASAP Payload development (360 degree camera)

It's taken us awhile to get something put together to help people understand what we're talking about when we describe a 360 degree streaming image. 

We had what we call an "RFN" project - for "Right f****** now!".... and decided to put this payload together for ASAP. 

We're pretty happy with it.

Below is the rundown clip....we'll have some higher quality pics coming soon..

Cheers,

John

Thoughtstream: Shiny Objects

There are lots of distractions in life. And we tend to be drawn to "shiny objects".  Some examples of shiny objects surround us in the form of marketing messages concocted in every conceivable medium marketers have been able to figure out. I drive down I-75 to the corporate offices in Kentucky and I see billboards.  I check a gmail email account and see targeted ads.  I watch hulu and see a promotion of some sort.  I'm even getting text messages from the red cross to send more money to them.  (talk about sticky!!!)

I find that I can get drawn in to these messages if I'm not focused on what it is I'm trying to produce in that single moment and incrementally over time.  

Distractions aren't just "there" for us as consumers - distractions exist for entire groups of people on the front-lines who are responsible for defending, serving or protecting our nation, our communities or other "expeditionary" environments. 

Note:  In our world, the word Expeditionary means "if you didn't bring it with you, you'll have to do without it."

One of the focal points for the formation of Sofcoast is the idea that in every single person's life everywhere on the planet, connecting to each other or sharing with each other is always hard.  It's just mostly in the background of obviousness for people in 1st world countries because of magnificent infrastructure.  

And...when difficulties arise...what matters comes into focus and what doesn't matter falls to the margin and into the background. Things that are of practical use are useful during these times - and things that aren't of practical use - aren't and quickly fade into the background.

We're attempting to see where we can apply deep knowledge towards the specific problem space of information coverage and collection in all environments at all times in order to produce practically useful and worthwhile solutions that show up to people as "huh...that's such a simple idea...why didn't I think of that?"  

We like (and welcome) those responses.

Sharing a couple of graphics to provide descriptions of one of our latest projects underway - the backpackable affordable stationary aerial platform or "SP" which stands for Single Panel.  (I'll talk about this in another post.)

 

Enjoy.

John Surmont

Founding CEO

Sofcoast

 

Coverage kit that enables collection.

 

Result (high res image of a portion of the Salt Creek Ranch Golf Course in Chula Vista, CA)

 

 

 

 

 

 

Low Friction Innovation: ASAP XP MAKO Aerial Imagery Example

Here's the final product from yesterday's flight test at Montevalle Park, Chula Vista, CA.

Thoughtstream: The Expeditionary Enterprise

Over the past two plus years we've been developing a system of systems to provide lightweight, tactical, mobile and approachable information systems for a market that we have identified that we call the expeditionary enterprise.

Put another way, before there was spreadsheet software people coped with numerical data entry, tabulations and storing and sharing this information the best way they could or didn't.  When the iPhone came along it revolutionized the way the mass market thought about mobile devices and their phone's.

We think that what we're doing can have a similarly huge impact.

Even Lewis and Clark's expedition began with a first step.  For us, one of the biggest first steps is resolving the problem that exists that is information infrastructure is important and this infrastructure provides coverage for people and when people are "out of coverage" this is problematic.  Especially when these people are on the front-line and the entire enterprise (organization) that they work for "goes expeditionary" which means more times than not some of the most basic information needed by these kinds of users isn't available for some periods of time.  In some cases, they don't expect to have access certain types of information so they just go without. One specific result of the aerial imagery coverage system is to bridge the gap that many people have with immediate, relevant and localized information in the form of high resolution and detailed imagery. 

We're not stopping there, though. 

Our whole approach to resolving this problem of localized and relevant information produces the need for information infrastructure systems to resolve the problem previously described  - and that is:

• rapidly deployed
• mobile
• lightweight
• tactical
• approachable

to provide information coverage. 

Information infrastructure that is needed is built on voice, data and imagery and our intent is to provide a system of systems to bridge these gaps effectively by providing "one kit coverage".

That being said, I had a lot of fun yesterday taking out what we call a test mule for the ASAP Single Panel.  We were testing payloads and collection and working out some kinks to process the imagery. 

UPDATE - 18 August, 2010: Here's the final product from yesterday's flight test at Montevalle Park, Chula Vista, CA.

FYI, This video is another experiment of sorts...

Enjoy!

John 

ASAP SP Aerial Imagery Coverage Kit from John Surmont on Vimeo.

Thoughstream: Approachable aerial coverage kits

After spending some time with Stewart Long at Gonzoearth and learning more about what he's trying to do and learning a little bit about the grassroots mapping project, I decided to share a video about the backpackable system we're developing that we call the ASAP-SP (single panel).  I think this might fit some interesting usecases, especially for making approachable methods for aerial imaging.  In other words if there is a need for a kit that's still affordable but is just a little bit more robust, I think we might have something that can be immediately useable and wanted to share it.

Here are a few video's as an intro about some of our core innovations with asap and here's a photostream with some some more asap pics from CWID that might be of interest.

Cheers!

John Surmont

Founding CEO

Sofcoast

ASAP-SP in a backpack.

ASAP-XP in a dufflebag clip 1.

ASAP-XP in a dufflebag clip 2.

 

LFI Update: Single Panel testing

sending out a quick update...more video is being processed and on the way......

Today we conducted a test flight of what we call the single panel ASAP XP. The single panel is a very small platform for elevating technology for short duration periods.

Most importantly, Mark H. demonstrated that he can eat leftover kettle korn from Petco Park while providing moral support and encouragement to me as I flight test Sofcoast's latest creation - aka project ditto... good stuff.

Long Video (Unedited and raw....9 minutes in length)

Airborne Video clip

Another clip of airborne video

For this flight test we flew in my backyard and decided to deploy the system winchless. We tied off the tether to a concrete footer we purchased from lowes.

We lifted a Sony DSC-H20 high definition digital still video camera to 120 ft. above ground.

In this test we were focused on demonstrating that the ASAP system is highly modular and flexible. We think it might be considered the first 'scalable' tethered system in the world.

We flew one bladder with a single shell attached to standard bridle lines and to a non powered tether.

Yesterday we flew a ubiquiti bullet with a 9db omni antennae along with a power tether to 150 ft.

More video here.

stay tuned!

LFI Update: Land Mobile Radio Repeater Flight Test Integration

I meant to post some video's and a photostream of the Land Mobile Radio repeater payload flight testing we conducted last week alot earlier than tonight, we've been busy this week and I've finally been able to get to it.

In summary, I think the coolest thing about this demonstration and test was the fact that we were able to establish voice radio communications at a range of over 5 kilometers between two $600 dollar UHF handheld radios.

Very cool.

Also, of note, since this flight we've flown a couple of times for the CWID exercise successfully. We'll continue interoperability demonstrations this week of the primary payload which is the Land Mobile Radio (voice repeater) as well as perform additional integration and interoperability demos of a data repeater as well as our Three2Link software system.

Here's the concept of operations and a graphical summary of what we achieved with the system.

Here's a picture of the Motorola EX500 handheld radios we used at range via the ASAP airborne radio repeater payload. Here's a link to the product page at Motorola's website.

Here are a couple of very brief video's of a six panel ASAP XP with a land mobile radio repeater payload in flight.

Another short video clip of a 6 panel ASAP XP with Land Mobile Radio Repeater payload. 

 

We're also pleasantly surprised that the 6 panel system flew with 5 fully inflated panels and a partially inflated sixth panel. 

Aft view post flight picture

In flight front view picture

For what it's worth, we decided to fly the system on 5 panels to see what would happen.  We were pretty happy to learn that on standard day conditions at 400 ft. above sea level that 5 panels were sufficient.

We patched this panel on post flight and have flown it twice since this event for another exercise and it's holding up just fine.

Here's a picture of the ASAP XP bladder patch kit....

Thoughtstream: Drawing Sheep

As a founder and CEO of a new company building new products for an "emerging" expeditionary enterprise user market, I've grown to love the "children's book" The Little Prince, by Antoine De Saint-Exupery.   My favorite quote comes after the author describes a book he read about the Jungle called True Stories.  He shows a picture of a boa constrictor swallowing a "wild beast". (Here's an online version of the book.)

By the way, I can't help but chuckle every single time I read this quote from the book...."Grown-ups never understand anything by themselves, and it is exhausting for children to have to provide explanations over and over again."

One of the most interesting points about this story is in the second chapter when the narrator meets The Little Prince in the Sahara desert after his emergency landing leaves him stranded with a pretty uncertain future.

The Prince asks the narrator to draw him a sheep and after repeated unsuccessful attempts to draw the sheep to the specific satisfaction of the Prince, the narrator draws a box and explains that "This is only his box. The sheep you asked for is inside."  (The Prince got very excited and was tickled about this. He imagined what the sheep might look or be like - and obviously the Prince liked his vision of the sheep in the box more than the narrator's drawings..)

I hear lots of talk about web 2.0, web 3.0, web 4.0, web x.x, cloud this, mobile that, etc., etc., etc....

Sure patterns of human behavior and the tools we use are changing - but the fundamentals are the same. 

By definition, scarcity is everywhere abundance isn't.

The idea behind Sofcoast is simply to focus on applying tech to target the abundant scarcity problem set as it pertains to information and communications.  Unfortunately with all of the stuff happening in the world today, it's getting easier for the average person to get a whiff of what might happen when "scarcity" hits and escalates. (some examples...)

• Scarcity of information.
• Scarcity of communications.
• Scarcity of safety.
• Scarcity of money.
• Scarcity of food.
• Scarcity of energy.
• Scarcity of freedom.

Now think about the technology we take for granted, like being able to pick up your mobile phone and dial a number and someone answers on the other end...or better yet, you pick up your iPhone which has a full battery and great cellular or wifi reception and download that app to entertain yourself - it just works. 

That's abundance.

Now...think about the time where you couldn't make that phone call or couldn't download that app. (your battery died, you couldn't get access to a network, your service was shut down because you didn't pay your bill...wait that was me....) all of these are examples of scarcity. 

Now...imagine that you needed to use your mobile device for something more than ordering takeout or playing a game - imagine that you were a first responder responding in a crisis such as a hurricane, a flood, an earthquake, a search and rescue event.

Scarcity happens quickly and when it does people can and do suddenly find themselves in "abundant scarcity" mode. Meaning those individuals (and organizations) must be able to effectively cope in order to survive. We consider groups of people who are responsible for responding during these types of situations to be "expeditionary enterprise users".

The military is great at organizing, synchronizing and operating in expeditionary mode or "abundant scarcity" mode.  They've spent eons and gazillions of dollars figuring out how to cope with scarcity.

Consumer tech is advancing at warp speed tantalizing us all with tech that allows us to exploit abundant network and bandwidth availability, processor power and energy. 

What about those folks in between magical consumer gizmo's that "just work" and are powered by "freemium" business models and the military tech that, if it isn't classified, is ridiculously pricey or hard to (acquire|operate|integrate|manage|support|maintain).

That's our box. 

LFI Update: ASAP XP Radio Repeater Integration

I wanted to send out a brief update on our land mobile radio repeater payload development and integration efforts for ASAP XP. 

The purpose is to extend the range of handheld and portable radio's for expeditionary enterprise users.

Our first land mobile radio repeater payload is a 2 watt UHF system that includes a portable power distribution system.

Check out the photostream here.

The power distribution delivers 18V at 2-20 amps to the top of the tether.

Power cables.

Repeater and Payload Packaging

Here's the range matrix...

We've done our ground tests and we'll be flying the LMR package for the first time on a Six Panel ASAP XP monday June 7th.

Cheers,

John