• Group is involved in a combination of research and system engineering/application efforts focused on the goals of enhancing the capacity and the flexibility of future generations of communications satellites. A major focus of Group is to develop proof-of-concept test beds for the US Air Force to be used at government and contractor facilities within the United States..

The Group develops, builds, tests, and operates laser communications systems for a variety of applications and environments. Lasercom offers dramatically increased data rates and enhanced physical security relative to standard radio frequency-based communications systems. The Group has expertise in communications; optics; electro-optics; optical turbulence mitigation; precise pointing control systems; embedded systems; command, control, and telemetry; test set design and fabrication; data analysis; modeling; and simulation. The technology developed and the lessons learned from these activities are transferred to operational programs through participation in standard groups and through the operation of a gold-standard test infrastructure. Major efforts include demonstration of a low-cost, high performance, prototype airborne lasercom terminals, designed for the lasercom interoperability standards, development of a test capability to validate interoperability among various contractor-produced terminals, and investigation into techniques to enable multiple simultaneous lasercom links through a single aperture. Lasercom is a rapidly burgeoning field, and the candidate will have the opportunity to play an important role in this exciting and dynamic field.

• The group designs, builds, and tests systems that improve safety and efficiency in the National Airspace System. The development of these systems often involves extensive software writing, testing, and integration, requiring the services of contingency workers specializing in software development. • The Runway Incursion Prevention through Situational Awareness (RIPSA) is an ongoing program with the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) intended to reduce instances of runway incursions: incidents in which aircraft, vehicles, or people are incorrectly present on a protected part of the airport designated for takeoffs and landings. As part of RIPSA, the Laboratory is adapting, modifying, and extending software created for an earlier program, Runway Status Lights (RWSL). In RWSL, airport surveillance data is used to control red lights embedded in the airport pavement. These lights are activated to warn pilots when it is unsafe to enter or take off from a runway. The software that controls these lights requires adaptation to each new airport it is deployed to. A major element of RIPSA will be to perform this adaptation to a new airport, but also to modify and extend the software to accommodate new surveillance inputs and potentially other changing parameters.

• The Group specializes in advanced network and communications systems development, with a focus on tactical mobile, military airborne networks of the future. The Group uses a combination of technical analysis, modeling, simulation, emulation, prototype development, and flight evaluation to develop new communication systems and evaluate and predict their performance under expected conditions.

• Facility is a Federally Funded Research and Development Center (FFRDC) whose mission is research in support of National Security. The Security Services Department’s (SSD) overall mission is to enable research and development while keeping the Facility community safe and secure through the protection of information, network, facilities and personnel.

The Group supports the Missile Defense Agency in the development, deployment, testing, and enhancement of the nation’s missile defense system. This system is currently being developed, to defend the United States, deployed forces, and allies from missile attacks. This group performs detailed system and component engineering, flight and ground test analysis, and advanced capability development in collaboration with the contractors and government program offices that are building the missile defense elements and components. The group has a need for a Software Developer to support the analysis of radar sensor performance metrics and exploitation of signature data in order to understand the real world missile threat as well as to evaluate missile defense system performance following flight tests.