March 29, 2019
Colloquium Topic: The Impact of APL's Ongoing Support to US Navy Commander, Task Force 70 (CTF-70)
In November 2015, the Force Projection Sector and Commander, US Navy Task Force 70 (CTF‑70) entered into a joint Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to establish a mutually-beneficial relationship through immersion of JHU/APL technical staff in CTF-70 patrols. This experience provides an excellent opportunity for JHU/APL staff to gain first-hand knowledge of Carrier Strike Group (CSG) operations in an operationally challenging environment, while participating in experiments designed to improve Fleet tactics, techniques, and procedures (TTPs). It also provides JHU/APL with a unique experience to demonstrate maturing technologies in an operationally-relevant environment and to gain operator insight for improving those technologies prior to fielding.
In this presentation, Dr. Travis Gault (FPS/KTZ) and Dr. Jeffrey Dunne (AOS/QNB) share their recent experiences as APL’s embedded scientists to CTF-70. During 2018, Travis spent May through July and Jeff spent August to December living aboard USS Ronald Reagan as members of the CTF-70 staff, conducting experimentation and analysis for Carrier Strike Group 5 across a broad spectrum of warfare areas. In addition to describing their many adventures, Travis and Jeff will talk about how they leveraged their strong backgrounds in data science to benefit CTF-70 operations in very practical ways. They will present the results of their efforts as well as an overall summary of CTF-70 patrols that took place in the Western Pacific Ocean during major international exercises and dual carrier operations.
This briefing will be held at the SECRET//NOFORN level.
Colloquium Speaker: Travis Gault and Jeffrey Dunne
Dr. Travis Gault is a member of the Senior Professional Staff at the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory (JHU/APL). He received his BS in Computer Engineering as well as a BS, MEng, and PhD in Electrical Engineering from the University of Louisville during 2004-2012. Travis joined APL in 2013 and is currently an assistant section supervisor in the GEOINT section of the Electromagnetic Systems Group (KTZ-3) within the Force Projection Sector (FPS). His expertise in remote sensing, algorithm development, and machine learning are being applied to national maritime defense and special operations. He is also currently applying deep learning to detect and characterize passive sonar and low peak power/high duty cycle radar signatures in support of the submarine fleet.
Dr. Jeffrey Dunne is a member of the Principal Professional Staff at the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory (JHU/APL). He has an undergraduate degree in Mechanical Engineering (1990) from Widener University, and M.S. (1995) and Ph.D. (1998) degrees in Physics from Purdue University. Jeff joined JHU/APL in 2003 as an acoustic modeler, and has since worked on a wide range of efforts that include signal processing, data fusion, data systems architecture and design, information standards development, data science and machine learning, nuclear command and control, biometrics, identity and access management, and augmented and virtual reality. He has been a project manager, section supervisor, and served as chief scientist at the group, branch, and sector levels. In addition to developing acoustic M&S and data management tools, he is a recognized expert within the Navy on data strategy and the author of several of the Navy’s most successful information exchange standards.