How might we provide a secure and scalable hybrid data environment to pull, move and combine diverse sets of data from commercial, public, Allied and Government sources to allow users to find, fix, target, track, engage, and assess on faster timelines?
The US Space Force, Combatant Command operators, strategic decision makers, and tactical users need capabilities that can support hybrid data architectures to pull, store, move, analyze, correlate, display and push any kind of data to any user at any given time from any source in space or on earth. Although there exist numerous databases (e.g., the Unified Data Library) to store data and capabilities to push the data from these databases to command and control centers and tactical users (e.g. WarpCore), additional capabilities are needed. Critical to our nation’s space superiority is the tactical/operational operator’s ability to receive and send all-domain data in a consolidated, timely, secure manner in order for national decision makers to be able to confidently observe, orient, decide, and act on the data in real or near-real time. The disparate manner in which data is currently being delivered is not keeping pace with tactical timelines of the threat. Combatant Commands need a hybrid data environment to pull, move and combine commercial and public data with private US and Ally government data.
The USSF is seeking companies with innovative technologies that will accelerate development of this hybrid data architecture and ensure the movement of the data happens for USSF in real time, near-real time. Advances in technologies pertaining to how and where data is moved, processed, stored, and secured in a multi-level secure environment are some specific items that are relevant to the USSF future architecture. The Catalyst Accelerator team invites early-stage companies with innovative technologies pertaining to this call to apply to the Spring 2022 Catalyst Accelerator.
Topics of Interest
| November 29, 2021 | Applications Open |
| December 14, 2021 | Ask Me Anything Session |
| January 5, 2022 | Applications Close |
| January 18-20, 2022 | Applicant Pitch Days |
| March 1, 2022 | Kickoff |
| April 3, 2022 | Garden Party |
| April 28-29, 2022 | The Hybrid Data Journey |
| May 26, 2022 | Demo Day |
| May 27, 2022 | Final Day |
| November 29, 2021 | Applications Open | |
| December 14, 2021 | Ask Me Anything Session | Watch Recording HERE |
| January 5, 2022 | Applications Close | |
| January 18-20, 2022 | Applicant Pitch Days | |
| March 1, 2022 | Kickoff | |
| April 3, 2022 | Garden Party | |
| April 28-29, 2022 | The Hybrid Data Journey | |
| May 26, 2022 | Demo Day | |
| May 27, 2022 | Final Day |
Archangel Lightworks (Orlando, Florida) is developing laser technology for the next generation of satellite communication. Their technology enables satellite operators to download 100x more data from orbit more quickly and more securely than radio frequency-based approaches. Their laser technology will massively increase the amount of valuable data downloadable from orbit – bringing more data for climate monitoring, agriculture, and many other Earth Observation use cases down to the people who are using it to improve life on Earth. Their vision is a future where disparate networks across space, air, ground and sea are securely connected using wireless laser links creating truly ubiquitous connectivity.
krtkl (“critical”) (San Francisco, California) provides high-reliability hardware and software solutions for ‘hard’ real-time applications in the robotics, sensing, and space industries. krtkl’s mission is to build a smarter, more connected world by democratizing access to advanced technology. The company’s products have been deployed in thousands of mission-critical commercial and defense systems with demanding performance requirements and size, weight, and power (SWaP) constraints. krtkl’s high-bandwidth, radiation-tolerant space mesh router allows for rapid deployment of low-earth-orbit (LEO) satellite constellations. The hardware is front-end agnostic and ‘software reconfigurability’ enables on-orbit processing without additional SWaP or cost impacts.
Matchbook AI (Studio City, California) offers the only data solution that helps customers connect in real-time to fully mastered data that is trusted, enriched and always ready for business. This is where their transformational reference data as a service (RDaaS) platform creates incredible business value. RDaaS enables customers to connect on-demand, discover what matters most and manage third-party provider data, including Experian, Moodys and Dun & Bradstreet. By residing between a customer’s enterprise data systems and third-party data providers, RDaaS creates centralized data governance with distributed controls to empower companies with trusted data for impactful decision-making. Customers can connect in real-time to fully mastered data that is trusted, enriched and always ready for business.
Pixspan (Rockville, Maryland) provides the fastest and easiest data acceleration for moving large data files of any type and size on-premise and to, from, and within the Cloud, globally and on demand. Pixspan’s software products accelerate and enhance Cloud and On-Premise workflows, offering unprecedented savings in time, storage and infrastructure costs. Pixspan offers Bit Exact Round Trip™ lossless compression of full-resolution images for speeding up transfers over limited bandwidth.
QuSecure (San Mateo, California) is the global leader in quantum cybersecurity. They’re using the threat of quantum attacks as a catalyst to fix the foundation of digital infrastructure – by putting security first, they assure private and safe communication, anytime, anywhere, on any device. Their software-based solution combines zero-trust endpoint management, unbreakable quantum keys, ultra-fast transport protocols, and Legacy Protocol Switching to deliver unparalleled end-to-end security on earth and in space. QuSecure’s vision is to create an exceptionally secure world through post-quantum cryptography.
Spectronn (Holmdel, New Jersey) has a software platform that concurrently and in real-time optimizes heterogeneous data networking and computing for resilient and low-latency situational awareness. It virtually combines all available networking and computing assets in space and on earth to deliver smart data (satellite, UAV, SAR, RADAR, CCTV, RF, and IoT sensors) collection, storage, sharing, and analytics. AVA, their human-centered AI engine combines deep machine learning, computer vision, and natural language processing to analyze the collected data for visual storytelling and Q&A. These integrated capabilities deliver clear, real-time intelligence to first responders, warfighters, and commercial stakeholders, without cognitively overloading them – everything they need and nothing they do not.
Zenn starts with a re-imagined data storage platform with innovative Software & Hardware. The small form-factor and easy to use design can be utilized from Edge networks to massive scale up data centers, and the platform is 10X more energy efficient than existing data servers. Data also has a significant environmental impact due to the short lifespan of equipment and resulting electronic waste. Zenn is working to increase the life span of systems and to enhance modularity and durability to provide its customers with systems that are easy to use, cost effective and contribute to the circular economy. Zenn’s mission is to advance the innovation and production of state of the art, eco-friendly, secure data storage and management technologies, through engineering, research and development to meet the IT needs of our customers, in collaboration with interested organizations and stakeholders.
TurnRock Labs (Seattle, Washington) has a mission is to make autonomy affordable for everyone. TurnRock seeks to revolutionize the world of general-purpose robotics by leveraging human brainpower to create more adaptable, resilient, and future proofed systems. They believe that the next generation of coordinated autonomy will depend on faster and more effective real-time integration of software intelligent agents and the humans who operate them. TurnRock is developing the Dynamic Multi-Echelon Agent Control (DMAC) platform to provide real-time integration and simulation capabilities for digital twin models to inform decision making.
