PANAMA CITY, Florida –
The LED Air Warning System (LAWS) team from Naval Surface Warfare Center Panama City Division (NSWC PCD), in collaboration with local academia and an industry partner, has been selected by the Federal Laboratory Consortium (FLC) to receive one of its highest honors – a 2019 Excellence in Technology Transfer (T2) Award.
First Responder Public Safety Divers (PSD) often conduct dive missions in environments characterized by zero visibility. These poor visibility conditions make it virtually impossible to read air pressure gauges, even with auxiliary illumination, resulting in divers being unable to effectively monitor their remaining air supply during missions.
LAWS has changed the game for PSD by providing a clear, visual display of a diver’s air pressure, even in zero visibility conditions, over the duration of a dive.
Dennis Gallagher, NSWC PCD LAWS project manager and office of research and technology applications T2 manager, said the LAWS project struck the T2 goldmine.
“Our partnerships with Florida State University Panama City, Interspiro AB, the cooperative research and development agreement, and education partnership agreements are collaborative, creative, and accelerate development,” said Gallagher. “As one team, we hit all of the T2 marks.”
Gallagher said the LAWS project directly supports NSWC PCD’s vision of “Ensuring Warfighting Dominance in the Littoral Battlespace” as the technology applies to military diving, public safety, first responder, police, and firefighters – all groups operating in the littoral battlespace.
NSWC PCD Commanding Officer Capt. Aaron Peters said he proud of the team for receiving this prestigious achievement.
"I am grateful to learn that the LAWS technology team was selected to receive a FLC award," said Peters. "The fact that this system can be used not only by the Warfighter, as well as first responder public safety divers, is a homerun for everyone involved."
NSWC PCD Mechanical Engineer Tien Le said he is gratified with the work he and his team have done through collaboration.
“It is a great feeling for our team to receive this award. The award recognizes the team's dedication to produce a great prototype. It is definitely a team effort and could not have been completed by one person,” said Le. “Everyone did a fantastic job on research and development, and the communication between engineers couldn't have been better.”
Brian Wentworth, NSWC PCD electronics engineer, said the best part of working on the LAWS project is fostering partnerships while rapidly delivering solutions to PSD.
“It is a privilege to work on this project because we are working cooperatively with an industry partner to ensure the LAWS design matches the requirements and needs of PSD,” said Wentworth. “I am honored to be recognized by the FLC as a team that is dedicated to designing technology that adds capability improvements for the first responder community.”
From among the 300 plus Federal laboratories supported by the FLC, the Excellence in T2 Awards are presented annually to laboratories that have accomplished outstanding work in the process of transferring federally developed technology.
The team will be recognized for their hard work and dedication in promoting T2 during an award ceremony at the FLC National Meeting at the end of April 2019.