George Mason University

The Plugfest at AFCEA West in San Diego, 9-12 Feb, will feature mixed teams of government/industry/academic developers. Industry, academia, and government will have an opportunity to showcase their collaborate efforts to solve use cases in a competitive environment using the Rapid Integration Innovation Process (RI2P) approach.

The C4I Center sent graduate student Mike Bowen to compete, graduate student Nicholas Clark to serve as mentor to the competitors, and faculty member Dr. Mark Pullen, as judge coordinator.

Nicholas Clark served as mentor to all of the challenger teams and helped them to achieve the strong results. He was honored as a Plugfest Hero by the judges. (Above photo: Nick receiving the award)

The purpose of the West 2015 PlugFest was to have a positive impact on the acquisition process by demonstrating that solutions can be rapidly developed by industry to include the government and academia though the use of innovation, best practices, and teaming. The cost saving impact of these PlugFest events is being realized through initiatives such as Secretary of the Air Force, Deborah James’, Bending the Cost Curve.

At 8:00 AM Monday, challengers were given a problem of addressing key issues including cyber security, communications, and Electronic Warfare while supporting island based anti-drug, anti-piracy, and anti-smuggling operations. An esteemed panel of judges viewed their prototype applications two days later.

This years’ winners include:

3rd Place, PlugFest Artists: Team “Bring the Heat”

Aung Myat, Marine Corps Tactical Systems Support Activity (MCTSSA)
Alex Gladd, Lookout
They built a 3D visualization on a SimTable product to support the commander’s understanding of where threats are located and where the bases for operations might be located. The judges were impressed with their software solution that integrated a new interface, conceptual support of the warfighter, and utility of the visualization technique.

2nd Place, Expert PlugFest Artists: Team “Project Ghost”>

Alex Garrigan, Marine Corps Tactical Systems Support Activity (MCTSSA)
Mike Bowen, George Mason University
They came up with a highly innovative way to use self forming network of scatterable low cost sensor nodes, in order to deceive an enemy and create “security through confusion.” The judges were particularly impressed with their creative approach and presentation of an “out of the box” strategy.

1st Place, Master PlugFest Artists: Team “Project X”

Rowell Domondon, Marine Corps Tactical Systems Support Activity (MCTSSA)
Sandra Scheon, CA Technologies
They developed an approach to locating potential “enemy” positions based on combining map layers under control of a simple user interface, combined with an innovative soldier “points of the compass” paradigm. The judges were impressed by their effective teamwork, effort to deal with the cyber aspects of the problem, and resourcefulness in bringing in external assistance as their prototype evolved. Challengers were encouraged to recruit resources from the West 2015 exhibit floor, and Team Project X actively sought out the help of John Lee from Infoblox, and Jamie Wu of Samsung.

In addition to the team awards, the judges have identified two individuals who deserve special recognition as PlugFest Heroes:
These are:

Sandra Schoen of CA Technologies
Sandy not only was a dynamic contributor to the 1st Place Team, but also encouraged and assisted all of the participants to find creative solutions.

Nicholas Clark of George Mason University C4I Center
Nick served as mentor to all of the challenger teams and helped them to achieve the strong results seen by the judges.