DAHLGREN, Va. – A Naval Surface Warfare Center Dahlgren Division (NSWCDD) engineer was named a 2020 Warfare Centers Award winner, NSWCDD officials announced June 17.
Carl Hager will be presented the Innovation Award at a date to be announced for his contributions to a novel approach that characterizes the likelihood of radio frequency overexposure affecting personnel during helicopter landings on the USS Gerald R. Ford (CVN 78).
The development and implementation of this approach – known as the Hazards of Electromagnetic Radiation to Personnel characterization technique – led to a shipboard concept of operations to adequately minimize the risk of radio frequency radiation overexposure, while allowing the fleet to meet necessary missions.
The Innovation Award is given to Naval Surface Warfare Center civil servants who develop exceptional solutions that support the modern warfighter.
“I am very humbled to receive this award and would like to first thank my Lord Jesus Christ for the opportunities he has given me,” said Hager. “Additionally, this effort and approach development required significant technical expertise from a number of folks. Most specifically, I would graciously like to thank Richard Milburn for his electromagnetic modeling and spatial analysis work, Lt. Cmdr. Peter Sprenger, and Jason Payne for their thermal modeling and physiological analysis work, as well as the Tri-service Electromagnetic Radiation Protection Working Group Chairman Cmdr. Albert Riccardi for his advocacy and technical review.”
Navy Medical Research Unit San Antonio and the Air Force Research Laboratory supported the helicopter landing technique and concept of operations effort with computational electromagnetic modeling and thermal modeling to help determine the associated consequence of overexposure to specific radio frequency parameters.
The Warfare Centers Awards – established in 2005 to recognize cross-Warfare Center collaborative efforts – comprises six categories that include collaboration, innovation, knowledge sharing, technical support services, talent management, and information security.