Finmeccanica North America Inc. News

Podcast 36 - Port and Harbor Security System Innovation

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 Finmeccanica interviews the chief designer of the Archimede Harbor Protection System, Luca Izzotti.  The Archimede System has been deployed in three NATO trials ( two in Italy and one in Kiel, Germany) during 2007 and 2008. 

The Archimede system is unique in many respects including its architecture, the threats it can manage, and the means of identifying and handling threats.

During tests in Taranto, La Spezia and Kiel the system was confronted with multiple threats including under sea, sea borne and air threats.  It was able to provide a high level of protection, identify the threats, and provide different responses ranging from warnings, non-lethal force and lethal force as required depending on the severity of the attack.

Archimede is also rapidly deployable.  In fact, the system can be used by global navies deployed to unfamiliar locations.  Set up time is as little as a single day.

Archimede was developed by Selex Sistemi Integrati (Selex Systems Integration), which is a Finmeccanica company and the lead-company in the Finmeccanica group for homeland security.

Luca Izzoti is the head of the Defense Large System Department of Selex Sistemi Integrati.

Archimede can protect commercial and military ports and harbors, specialized installations such as oil and natural gas terminals and refineries, power plants including nulcear power plants, and ground installations requiring effective perimeter defense.

More information can be obtained for qualified parties by contacting Finmeccanica by email at: info@finmec.com

Podcast 35 –Setting a World Record in a Helicopter

The Grand Adventure

The Grand Adventure is about breaking a record.  Pilot Scott Kasprowicz and co-pilot Steve Sheik flew 20,000 nautical miles, crossing every meridian on the globe, breaking the current record for circumnavigating the globe in a helicopter. 

What's more, the helicopter is a factory-stock Agusta Grand with no mission-specific special equipment on-board.

AgustaWestland, a Finmeccanica company, is the manufacturer of the Agusta Grand helicopter.

The earlier record was set in 1996 when Ron Bower and co-pilot John Williams flew a Bell 430 around the world in 17 days, 6 hours, 14 minutes and 25 seconds. The team traveled 20,508 nm with 165.1 total flight hours.

The new record, set by Kasprowicz and his team, is 11 days, 7 hours and 5 minutes.

On this podcast you will hear directly from Scott Kasprowicz about the "Grand Adventure."  And perhaps you will, as you listen, recall Jules Verne's "Around the World in 80 Days"!

For Kasprowicz and Sheik, The Adventure is not just about setting a record, but about doing it without the aid of specialized equipment, chase planes, or other extraordinary assistance—it's about pushing themselves and the aircraft to the limit.

Finmeccanica and AgustaWestland were delighted on the selection of the Agusta Grand which has now set the world record for circumnavigating the globe and also the New York to London helicopter speed record.

Download finmeccanica_podcast_35_around_the_world_record_by_helicopter.mp3

Finmeccanica Podcast 34 - Interview with Peter Mannella, Executive Director New York Association for Pupil transportation

Peter Mannella led a project in Syracuse New York where a school bus had a license plate reader installed to record incidents where motorists illegally passed school buses while they were loading and unloading children.

The project used a specially adapted version of the Elsag North America Mobile Plate Hunter license plate reader.  The system is able to read license plates of vehicles coming from behind or going toward a school bus, register the plate and a photo of the vehicle, mark a GPS coordinate and time stamp, and provide sufficient information to prosecute those who violate the law.

The New York project was funded by the Governor's Traffic Safety Committee.

The project initially ran 41 school days and identified 68 persons who passed a single school bus equipped with the system which operated at different locations each day.  This means slightly more than 1.5 passes of an individual school bus each day. 

Initially, the NYAPT estimated there were approximately 50,000 violations each day in New York state.  Given the results with the Elsag Mobile Plate Hunter, the estimate now is 80,000 illegal school bus passings daily in New York State.  Multiplied across the United States, it is now estimated that there are about 750,000 violations every day across the country, endangering the lives of school children.  With the Elsag system, for the first time it is possible to prosecute violators.

Peter Mannella heads the 600 member New York Association for Public Transportation.  He has a long and distinguished career in public service with an early concentration on education, training and employment policy.  He was involved in many state and national commissions and task forces relating to education, employment, total quality system and workforce inprovement policies and program.

As NYAPT head, Peter helped to enact more than 30 pieces of legislation including those relating to training for school bus drivers, initiatives related to illegal passing of school buses and a variety of technology and school bus equipment laws.  He is both an advocate and an expert on school bus safety issues.

The NYAPT is a tax exempt organization.  There are about 50,000 school buses in New York state that transport 2.3 million children to and from school on every school day.

Download finmeccanica_podcast_34_peter_mannella.mp3

Finmeccanica Podcast 33 -- Giorgio Moreni and the ATR

Giorgio Moreni is responsible for directing and managing the business development activities of Alenia North America.

In this Podcast Giorgio talks about the latest member of the ATR family, of which 970 have been sold worldwide, the ATR 42 Surveyor MP is Alenia Aeronautica's response to the evolving needs of maritime surveillance.

Praised for its high reliability and low operational/maintenance costs, the ATR 42 MP is also notable for its ability to perform in tough environments and extreme weather conditions.

In addition, Giorgio discusses the versatile ATR-72 anti submarine warfare version of the ATR.

 

ATR 42 Maritime Patrol Surveyor

Based on the widely proven and optimized ATR family –to date, more than 670 ATR aircraft have been sold worldwide- the ATR 42 Surveyor MP is Alenia Aeronautica’s response to the evolving maritime surveillance needs.

The ATR 42 Surveyor builds on more than 10 million hours of in-service experience to provide high reliability, very low operational and maintenance costs and the capability to operate in tough environments, including unprepared strips, short and narrow fields, and extreme weather conditions.

The ATR 42 MP is fitted with the latest Advanced Tactical Observation System (ATOS), an open and modular integrated mission management system, to fulfill its primary roles of: Vessel Search, Identification and Surveillance, Maritime and Coastal Surveillance, Search and Rescue (SAR), Pollution Detection.

Moreover, thanks to an extremely flexible and modular design, the aircraft can be quickly and easily reconfigured to fulfill secondary roles such as: Troop/Paratroop transport, Medical evacuation, Passenger/VIP transport, Cargo transport.

The ATR-42 Surveyor is currently in service with Italian Customs Police and Italian Coast Guard.

• Power Plant:PW 127E engines (take-off power 2,160 shp)

• Propellers:568F 6-blade

Hamilton

• Max. cruise speed:280 KTAS

• Patrolling Time:up to 11 hrs.

• Ferry range:2,020 Nm (ISA – LRC)

For more details, please visit: http://www.atraircraft.com/

 

ATR 72 Anti-Submarine Warfare

Developed by Alenia Aeronautica, the ATR 72 ASW is the most affordable solution to fulfill the Anti-Submarine role in modern naval warfare.

Proven in revenue service under a wide range of operating conditions, the ATR 72 is well adapted to ASW missions as a result of its design and size which provide a solid airframe, the necessary support systems, and the cabin volume to accommodate the special equipment required to search for, detect, identify, track, and on command, attack both submarines and surface targets.

The ATR 72 ASW integrates the tactical patrol and surveillance mission system of the ATR 42 Surveyor with additional anti-submarine warfare capabilities such as a search radar, an acoustic system with sonobuoy launcher, an electro-optic system, a Magnetic Anomaly Detector (MAD), a self protection system including Electronic Support Measures (ESM), Missile Warning System (MWS), chaff and flare dispensers and an armament system with four underfuselage pylons for depth charges, torpedoes and antiship missiles.

The ATR 72 ASW has been recently selected by the Turkish Government to be operated by the Turkish Navy.

Download finmeccanica_podcast_33_giorgio_moreni_and_the_atr.mp3

Finmeccanica Podcast 32 --Marina Gioia and The Atomic Clock

  Interview with Marina Gioia, Selex-Galileo Program Manager for the Atomic Clock on Board Giove-B

Selex-Galileo, a Finmeccanica Company, supplies the remarkable Hydrogen Maser Atomic Clock for the Galileo satellite constellation of global positioning satellites.  Giove B (Jupiter) is the second verification satellite launched by the European Space Agency, and the first spacecraft equipped with a hydrogen maser Atomic Clock.  The Hydrogen Maser Atomic Clock has been developed and is being built in Italy. This is the first time that a highly accurate Hydrogen Maser Atomic Clock has been put into space orbit.

(photo left: Marina Gioria)

Galileo satellites will carry two types of clocks –rubidium atomic frequency standards as used in the U.S. GPS constellation, and passive Hydrogen Maser Atomic clocks (two per satellite).  A rubidium atomic frequency standard loses three seconds every million years, while the Maser clock will lose only one second in three million years. The result is a more accurate positioning satellite, with accuracy reaching about 30 centimeters (11.81 inches).

An atomic clock works like a conventional clock but the time-base of the clock, instead of being an oscillating mass as in a pendulum clock, is based on the properties of atoms where transitioning between different energy states.

The name Giove –Jupiter- was selected because Galileo Galilei discovered that Jupiter’s Moons could be used as a navigation system.

“In 1610, as one of the first to turn his telescope to the sky, Galileo discovered four of the moons of the planet Jupiter. These were later named Io, Europa, Ganymede and Callisto. Galileo realized that the movements of these four natural satellites, whose eclipses are frequent and visible, provided a clock whose face could be seen from every point on the Earth.

(photo right: Official Team)

“Tables describing the motion of the first four Jovian moons to be discovered were used to determine longitude both at sea and on land. Galileo's method of determining longitude by observing the eclipses of Jovian moons heralded a revolution in navigation, geodesy and cartography in the 17th and 18th centuries.

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Galileo's observations of Jupiter's moons

“GIOVE stands for 'Galileo In-Orbit Validation Element' and also refers to Jupiter, being the Italian name for the planet. Ms. Karla Peijs, then the Dutch Minister of Transport, Public Works & Water Management, announced the choice of name in November 2005, during a visit to ESA's European Space Research and Technology Centre (ESTEC) in Noordwijk (The Netherlands). The naming ceremony was part of a media event during which GIOVE-A, the first experimental Galileo satellite was presented to the press and television.” (Source: ESA)

The highly accurate Galileo system will be a new chapter in global positioning systems thanks to the Maser Atomic Clock technology.

The European General Directorate for Transport reports the following uses for the Galileo system:

Transport applications are the user category par excellence that will benefit greatly from the existence of the GALILEO system. GALILEO services will be used in every transport domain, namely aeronautical, maritime, road, rail, and pedestrian. Each user segment has its characteristic needs, and the GALILEO system is designed to satisfy all categories. GALILEO will provide an answer to current mobility and transport problems throughout the world and will make for improvements in safety and comfort.

On the roads

Road traffic ©European Commission's Audiovisual LibraryAt present, traffic congestion places enormous constraints on our day-to-day mobility with over 10% of the network blocked, representing enormous costs. Improving road transport systems calls for systematic recourse to information about vehicle position and speed. A driver using a GALILEO receiver will receive a constant supply of information to enable him or her to determine their location and find the best route. The system will therefore make for better vehicle fleet management (e.g. taxis, trucks, buses), optimum route finding and traffic optimization. Advanced Driver Assistance will include also functions for safety and mobility improvements in road traffic, such as collision warning, vision enhancement, low speed maneuvering aid, etc. Information services for road users can also be based on GALILEO.

GALILEO will also be a major impetus to the development of Intelligent Transport Systems (ITS) for the road sector.

In the air

Air Transport ©European Commission's Audiovisual LibraryAir traffic management is a major concern on account of the speed of air traffic growth and safety considerations. Systems modernization obliges Europe to introduce new aircraft monitoring applications. GALILEO will be instrumental in revolutionizing air traffic management!

Where aviation safety is concerned, a single source of information cannot be trusted, thus necessitating systems redundancy. GALILEO will be more reliable, interoperable and complementary in relation to the current systems. GALILEO could be used in the various phases of flight, i.e. in en route guidance, airport approach, landing (Cat I, II, and III), and for ground guidance, for which GALILEO could be highly beneficial where the needed infrastructure (i.e. surface movement radars) does not yet exist.

By using GALILEO, airport infrastructures could be adapted to increasing traffic while guaranteeing better traffic control and safety.

At sea

Sea Transport : Beached boat ©European Commission's Audiovisual LibraryGiven that 80% of accidents at sea are due to human error, GALILEO will provide an answer by providing constant and very precise information about a vessel's position and route, while increasing the efficiency of search and rescue facilities, whether for commercial shipping or recreational craft. GALILEO will be used as an on-board navigation means for all forms of marine transport, including ocean and coastal navigation, port approach, and port maneuvers.
On the railways

Rail Transport ©European Commission's Audiovisual LibraryGALILEO will be able to offer numerous rail transport applications, ranging from traffic, wagon and cargo control and monitoring to train signaling, track survey and passenger information services. In particular, GALILEO will make it possible to reduce distances between trains and therefore increase train frequency. In addition, it will make it easier to locate the entire rail fleet.

For all the above-mentioned applications, the GALILEO system will have a primary role, due to its inner characteristics of certification, operation transparency, and service guarantee derived from its civil nature. In addition to that, the feature of the real time navigation performance integrity monitoring (the so-called "integrity flags") over the service area, makes the GALILEO system suitable for all safety-of-life requirements.
For the traveler:

Travelers would all like to make seamless journeys where they would be able to progress easily from one part of their trip to another - whether they're first on public transport or in their car and then expect to transfer to another transport means. Congestion (10% of the network can be blocked at any one time) and service delays mean that connections can easily be lost and the trip is far from seamless. A basis of an improvement of transport system service levels is the systematic provision of information about vehicle position and speed, together with an accurate time reference. A traveler using a GALILEO receiver (incorporated into a personal communicator) will receive a constant supply of information to enable him or her to determine their location and find the best route currently available to him. These 'best choices' are constantly varying for all travelers - on the road, in cars or public transport, or using any other form of transport. The regular data from GALILEO processed by value-added service providers such as those integrating available travel information - services, congestion, events, incidents etc. - can be instantly downloaded to travelers and has an equally positive value to business users as well, whether they are moving freight or people. Freight movers are already using location and route finding systems to optimize their operations, GALILEO will enhance the possibilities available to them leading to gains in efficiency - and marketing potential in both the European internal market and international trade.

Download finmeccanica_podcast_32_marina_gioia_and_the_atomic_clock.mp3

Finmeccanica Podcast 31 --ELSAG North America School Bus Saftey System

In this podcast Mark Windover, President and CEO of ELSAG North America, talks about a special license plate reader, mounted on school buses in Syracuse,NY.

The LPR caught more than 40 cars illegally passing the school bus. That is far above what they predicted for the two week period. The camera activates when the bus stops and extends its safety arm to drop off and pick up students. 

"In the first two weeks we had 46 passes which to us is 46 times that a child in the City of Syracuse was exposed to the possibility of serious injury or a fatality and never going home to their family again,” said NYAPT Director Peter Mannella.

The camera is connected to a Syracuse police database.

Download finmeccanica_podcast_31_elsag_north_america_school_bus_saftey_system.mp3

Finmeccanica Podcast 30 -- Port Security and Coastal Surveillance

Rear Admiral Norman Saunders is a veteran of 35 years of Coast Guard service. Norm is the

U.S. representative for Selex Sistemi Integrati (Selex Systems Integration), Finmeccanica’s lead homeland security group.

Before retiring in June 1999, Admiral Saunders served as Commander, 7^th Coast Guard District, where he exercised direct responsibility for the full spectrum of Coast Guard activities in the Southeast United States and the

Caribbean, to include lifesaving, law enforcement, and environmental missions.

In this podcast, Norm shares some of the exciting strides that SELEX is making in complete maritime protection and surveillance integration, as well as new concerns and threats that face our national coasts and ports.

Download finmeccanica_podcast_30_port_security_and_coastal_surveillance.mp3

Finmeccanica Podcast 29 -- Ret. Vice Admiral Amerault-New CEO of Oto Melara

This Podcast introduces Retired Vice Admiral James Amerault  as new CEO of OTO Melara North America. With more than twenty-five years of hands-on executive experience in military and security operations, fiscal management, strategic planning and legislative relations within the Department of Defense and the private defense industry, Vice Admiral Amerault brings expertise and a unique perspective to Oto Melara.

 

Vice Admiral Amerault’s most recent service position was Deputy Chief of Naval Operations, Fleet Readiness and Logistics. In that role he was responsible for all logistics of the United States Navy, managing a staff of 250 and resources exceeding $25 billion. He worked on developing environmental policy and compliance programs for extensive real property holdings, including airports, seaports, and three university campuses, in addition to assessing global transportation requirements.

Download finmeccanica_podcast_29_ret. Vice Admiral Amerault-New CEO of Oto Melara.mp3

Finmeccanica Chooses Winners of Premio Innovazione (Innovation Prize)

Grottaglie, 26 october 2007

The ceremony to present the winners of the Premio Innovazione Finmeccanica took place at Alenia Aeronautica's Grottaglie plant today. Now in their fourth year, the aim of the Innovation Prize awards is to enhance the value of research and innovation within the Group. Since the start of the initiative in 2004, more than 2,000 proposals have been submitted, involving 6,000 people. Of particular note has been the increase in the number of entries from employees based overseas: from 10 projects in 2004 to 203 in 2007, thus confirming the international nature of the initiative.

Premio Innovazione Finmeccanica - open to all Group companies - were created to promote value creation through research and development, that is fundamental to growth and competitiveness. This year, 750 proposals were submitted, from which 73 finalists were chosen. The selection of the three equal winner projects was made by a committee chaired by Professor Nick Lieven, Head of Aerospace Engineering at Bristol University (UK), and comprising professors and researchers from this University - a centre of academic excellence in the aerospace sector, with which Finmeccanica has a long history of fruitful collaboration.

One of the three prizes went to MBDA, which has developed a Linux-based operating system able to fully utilize the capacity offered by new multi-core microprocessors, that enable calculations to be made in real time using several CPUs on a single microchip. The many potential applications of this system range from graphics simulators to navigation, radar systems and video games. Research on this project was carried out in cooperation with the

University

of

Rome Tor Vergata

and benefited from the contribution of a number of Group companies: Alenia SIA, Ansaldo Breda, Elsag Datamat, SELEX Communications, SELEX Sistemi Integrati and Telespazio.

Oto Melara, a company whose activities are increasingly focused on protection and security, received one of the awards for the system it patented and produced to protect vehicles deployed in danger zones from pressure wave damage generated by improvised explosive devices. The system is a shield consisting of composite panels of foam, ceramics and metal that become flexible in the event of a collision, providing protection for the underlying vehicle structure and, above all, its occupants. Though devised to increase protection for armoured vehicles such as the Ariete, Dardo and Centauro, the system can be applied to any vehicle.

The third award went to Alenia Aermacchi, which produced hardware and software that optimizes the design and bending properties of tubing in hydraulic systems, generating substantial savings and making the manufacture of aeronautic and aerospace platforms more efficient. This technology has the potential to be used by all Finmeccanica Group companies that use hydraulic circuits, and may be licensed to third parties.

During the ceremony, Antonio Cetronio of SELEX Sistemi Integrati received the Patent of the Year award for patenting a special power transistor using PHEMT (Pseudomorphic High Electron Mobility) technology and the related production process. The electronic components used in PHEMT technology are essential to mobile phone manufacture and are of particular interest for satellite communications and advanced radar systems. The award was also made in consideration of Antonio Cetronio's expertise in the area of gallium arsenide and nitride technology, which are recognised all over the world.

There were also two special mentions. The first was for Luciano Armato of Oto Melara, who, together with design colleagues from the technical department at the

La Spezia

plant, and with the support of the entire management, patented an innovative system for motorizing a wheelchair. By making small modifications to a standard wheelchair and electric scooter, the team produced a new flexible, low-cost means of transport with a range of up to 20 km, which can be used indoors or outside.

The second special mention went to Davide Bonaffini of Ansaldo Breda for the development of an analytical tool to quantify the environmental impact of the production, use and decommissioning of a "typical product". This leads to Environmental Product Declaration certification, which summarizes the main technical, energy and environmental characteristics. The analysis enables simulations to be carried out that identify optimal solutions in terms of eco-design, materials, technologies and costs.

This award highlights the Group's commitment to environmental protection.

Pier Francesco Guarguaglini, Chairman and CEO, commented: "These awards demonstrate Finmeccanica's focus on process innovation and individual talent. We are convinced that to be successful in the high technology sector you need to give people free rein and enable them to work with tools and methods that can bring out the abilities of each person. Only in this way can we obtain important results in the context of finding additional applications in sectors other than Aerospace, Defence and Security".

The Grottaglie plant, the venue for the 2007 Innovation Awards, has a strong symbolic value as it is the production location for two of the main sections of the Boeing 787 Dreamliner, the world's first commercial aircraft to be made using carbon fibre rather than aluminum, based on a patent held by Alenia Aeronautica.

Premio Innovazione in numbers

Finmeccanica Podcast 28 –Crime Fighting Successes With LPR

Finmeccanica Inc. has released a new Podcast on its advanced license plate reader as a crime stopper and counter-terrorism tool.

Stephen Bryen, President of Finmeccanica North America interviews Mark Windover, CEO of Elsag America Law Enforcement Systems.

Elsag America Law Enforcement Systems was formerly known as Remington-Elsag Law Enforcement Systems. Elsag and Finmeccanica acquired the Remington shares in the company earlier this fall.

The Podcast describes how the Elsag advanced License Plate Reading system has helped catch major criminals and prevented car-jacking and sexual crimes.  It also describes a new “Geo-Fence^®” tool incorporated in the LPR which helps keep known sexual offenders away from schools, day care centers and other sensitive locations.

The Elsag LPR is deployed globally and consists of fixed and mobile readers that are networked together and report to command centers, also built by Elsag.

Elsag’s LPR is regarded as the standard setter in the field of LPR and is the world’s only fully networked integrated system.

Now in 26 states and over 260 law enforcement organizations, the Elsag LPR system and tools are changing the American face of law enforcement and helping make American communities safer.

Download finmeccanica_podcast_28_crime_fighting_succeses.mp3