Summary

About

Advancing Research through Rapid Capability Integration

George Mason’s Rapid Prototyping Research Center (RPRC) operates under Mason’s College of Engineering and Computing (CEC).  The center supports independent academic research for the DoD and other agencies with a focus on rapid prototyping & fielding of new and developing technologies into existing national infrastructure to solve intractable problems while minimizing cost and time, delivering enhanced capabilities and value within a framework for enabling our nation’s competitive advantage.

The RPRC focuses on providing its Department of Defense sponsors a unique perspective on rapid prototyping that aligns with Section 804 in the FY17 National Defense Authorization Act. Specifically, rather than developing a new system to satisfy intractable problems on the battlefield, the RPRC integrates new technology into existing infrastructure while maintaining overall mission resiliency . This unique approach reduces acquisition costs since the sustainment tail is in place. It also reduces the time to field intractable solutions to the battlefield from 10-14 to 1-3 years and provides assurance that the prototype involved is integrated with the latest technology, not dated technology due to lengthy acquisition delivery timelines.

Our Mission
Advance Research through Rapid Capability

Our Focus
Warfighter Operations Advancements that Improve Overall Mission Efficiency

Our Vision
Capabilities and Value within a Framework of Enabling our Nation’s Competitive Advantage

Our Strategy
Take New and Innovative Technologies, Contextualize for Mission Success

The RPRC Team

Bringing new and innovative technologies to defense operations takes leading industry experts and the RPRC proven process to transform those technologies that benefit homeland security and warfighter objectives.

Mason’s RPRC team consists of a recognized and unique blend of talent that spans several government and commercial market sectors with impressive depth of experience in their areas of expertise.

This mix of academic leaders, scientists, engineers, and industry experts enables RPRC to deliver technology to our sponsors that consistently exceed expectations and timelines

RPRC Contract Vehicles

Mason’s RPRC contract vehicles enable us to serve our sponsors through partnership with the following organizations to further address their needs through use of government-based services contracts and administrative services.  Mason has served as prime, and subcontractor on many contracts.

Air Force Research Laboratory

Contact

Email: Center

Locations

George Mason University
Rapid Prototyping Research Center
College of Engineering and Computing
4400 University Drive, Fairfax, Virginia 22030
Phone: (571) 396-0400

Web Links

• Website

Areas of Expertise

Areas of Expertise and Active Mission Research
Rapid Prototyping of Technologies that Bring Efficiency to Defense and Mission Objectives

Bringing new and innovative technologies to Defense Operations takes industry experts and the RPRC proven process to transform them that benefit homeland security and warfighter. The GMU RPRC team consists of recognized and unique blend of talent that spans several government and commercial entities, and have applied our expertise in the following areas of defense and mission objectives

Advanced Waveforms, Antennas, and Radios

New antenna technologies have major advances in protocols and efficient utilization of RF spectrums creating great opportunities for both commercial and military applications in wireless communications. Fully integrated direct radiating radio arrays can now include hundreds of transceiver and antenna elements.

RPRC has extensive expertise in both basic and applied research in the design and development of Phased Array Antennas emerging waveforms to include Ku-Band, Ka-Band, W-Band, 5G, and Free Space Optics frequencies. This includes research and development of both hardware and software systems for advanced and multiple communication protocols and systems. RPRC research has emphasized digital beamforming, null steering, and Mobile Ad Hoc Networks (MANETs) development for airborne and space-borne vehicular communication systems.

Aircraft Autonomy and Advanced Navigations

With the advancements in Radar and AI, aircraft manufacturers, autonomous applications developers, FAA, and RPRC sponsors have begun to recognize the reality of autonomy in aviation and pilot-less navigation.

RPRC brings extensive experience with aircraft autonomy through our integration of W-Band and Light Detection and Ranging (LIDAR) technologies that enables UAV helicopters to operate autonomously near obstacles, along with unassisted takeoff and landings

RPRC utilization of W-Band radar technology augments both Unmanned and Manned flights to provide detection of very small objects, like drones, or power lines. W-Band, when coupled with AI, and tracking capabilities, can save lives, through advanced collision avoidance, something current Radar technology is unable to provide.

RPRC’s intelligence of spatial awareness is provided through research with LIDAR in conjunction with AI, provides awareness of environmental conditions, giving you high resolution obstacle avoidance, and decision support during takeoff and landing, whether with manned or unmanned flights.

RPRC’s autonomy brings a world-class test team that ensures demonstration planning, execution, and success to aircraft manufacturers, commercial and military sponsors.

Cyber Resilience

Resilience is the “ability to respond, absorb and adapt to, as well as recover in a disruptive event.” An organization has cyber resilience if it can defend itself and limit the effects of a security incident while guaranteeing continuity of operation through management of risk. Thus cybersecurity and risk management have evolved into an essential element of any organization’s information assurance activity. The challenge is to realize and identify vulnerabilities, and develop processes for managing data privacy and security/operational risks that include information security categorization, control selection, assessment, and implementation.

RPRC, working closely with George Mason University’s award-winning Cyber Engineering Program, conducts basic and applied research in all areas of Defensive Cyber and development of secure wireless communications systems. Through our independent and academic partners programs, RPRC has extensive cyber resilience experience in designing systems with embedded cyber security and streamlining the cyber approval processes in, for example, the DoD Risk Management Framework (RMF) process.

Virtual Network Management and Cloud Services

Virtualization has redefined the cyber domain, particularly in the area of networking, facilitating the ability reach across and replicate physical architectures with ease. Albeit highly effective, this capability introduces new challenges to IT administrators to include ownership conflicts between network and server administrators, management/monitoring of virtual and cloud network traffic, and overall network control found with physical hardware such as switches, routers and firewalls. Virtual networking is the foundation for cloud architectures and applications, as it enables the ability to access, connect, secure, and modify cloud resources.

RPRC has proven basic and applied research in virtualization of all aspects of network management and edge cloud computing with specialization in airborne prototypes and 5G-like technologies. RPRC’s research also includes “all-cloud-to-the-edge” with emerging Cloud technologies and Internet of Things (IoT) solutions.

Cognitive Networking and Artificial Intelligence

Cognitive Networks and Artificial Intelligence (AI) allows users to empower their systems to make proactive decisions based on current and perceived future conditions. Proactive network management provides significant benefits to our sponsors in terms of security, assured uptime, and network management efficiency and costs. Autonomy improves automation to allow devices/platforms to assess a situation and based upon constraints take the best course of action.

RPRC’s research in Cognitive Networking and related algorithms crosses all areas of AI with emphasis on command and control communications and networking. RPRC has a proven track record of demonstrated capabilities through multiple airborne prototype efforts. In addition RPRC is working aircraft/drone autonomy for example in assessment of a landing area for obstacle avoidance and best are to land.

RF Engineering, Modeling and Simulation

RPRC’s basic and applied research and engineering in emerging RF technologies employs the latest RF Modeling and Simulation tools to ensure successful prototype demonstrations.

Our Engineering and Modeling creates a rapid virtual representation of real-world Radio Frequency (RF) systems that enables software and hardware development and analysis.

RPRC’s process creates instant value through our ability to create complete RF system simulation versus component level testing and prototypes alone. The result for our sponsors is  improved quality and expedited system design, thereby reducing post-design efforts.

Partners

Technology Partners

Mason’s RPRC has partnered with defense industry leaders along with emerging technology providers to create a consortium of expertise across a wide range of solution providers. This partnership allows to meet our sponsors demands for the rapid transformation of technology from concept to prototype innovations in the areas of advanced communications, command and control, cybersecurity, network/cloud management, and Artificial Intelligence.

Academic Partners

WORKING TOGETHER TO ADVANCE TECHNOLOGY
GMU’s RPRC is a member of a broad community of Mason’s research centers, each having a specific focus and expertise, the combination of which creates a homogenous entity for the advancement of technologies that address homeland security, global defense, and societal needs as a whole.