SBIR-STTR Award

The MK39 Expendable Mobile Anti-Submarine Training Target (EMATT) has become a vital tool in the Navy’s Anti- Submarine Warfare (ASW) tool kit by providing a low cost, expendable, open ocean, programmable, and modular training target, capable of simulating numerous types of submarine signatures and behaviors in the field for the training of submarine, aircraft, & ship crews in the search, detection & tracking of submarines. Since its initial development, the US Navy and other defense partners have utilized tens of thousands of units of the MK 39 EMATT vehicle for such testing and training of anti-submarine warfare platforms and personnel. Nearly 5,000 EMATT units were procured from Lockheed Martin by defense partners within the last 5 years alone, with production volumes continuing to increase each year. However, as new technologies and innovations are implemented into the EMATT platform’s acoustic systems, tail section propulsion, payloads, and sensors it has become increasingly complex to differentiate between the myriad of potential vehicle and section options, performance and endurance capabilities, battery status, and shelf life. Compounding this problem even further is the fact that the outer hulls and packaging of EMATT vehicles are visually indistinguishable from one another despite the wide variety of internal hardware configurations. To manage all of the potential variabilities in hardware, programmable software options within an EMATT vehicle, and ensure that each EMATT vehicle’s configuration conforms to the requisite training mission set, detailed system information for each unit must be readily accessible by the operators of the EMATT in the field. This will require a truly exceptional track and trace system chronicling each EMATT unit and its programmable settings over the entire history of production from component and subsystem integration to programming installation to final EMATT deployment, launch and recovery. HNu Photonics is proud to present its revolutionary XTG smart label track and trace technologies as a solution to these issues of tracking, monitoring, and authenticating of mission operations for unmanned underwater vehicle systems such as the EMATT throughout the production supply chain and field operations.

The XTG (pronounced “ex-tag”) smart tag system, provides individual device authentication, traceability, and a higher standard of security with an information rich system able to record, view, and analyze each tagged product’s full provenance production history. The XTG system serves as a holistic solution, capable of combining and incorporating device level traceability data across both microelectronic component and defense system production ecosystems to provide necessary component level and full assembled system level provenance and tracking solutions for key microelectronic devices in many defense systems and throughout the defense supply chain. In this Phase II, HNu seeks to demonstrate extended XTG traceability directly to the source OEM manufacturers of critical microelectronic components and their distributors. The effort aims to demonstrate how utilizing the XTG tracking system can ensure that OEM manufacturer customers receive authentic microelectronic components that meet the desired requirements and specifications while also demonstrating cradle-to-grave tracking capabilities of individual components and systems provided by the XTG system. OEM manufacturers of programmable microelectronics see benefits of incorporating individual device traceability. Traceability data with XTG enhances both their and their customer’s competitiveness in the market by ensuring delivery of products with enhanced quality. XTG product traceability provides a value-added service allowing customers to ensure authenticity upon product delivery and product integration. It also allows customers to maintain tighter device manufacturing controls with improved product tracking in their production operations. Working directly with manufacturers and their distributors will ensure broad XTG adoption.