December 7, 2007 – Veteran audio simulator ASTi DACS passed this week following a prolonged life cycle at the age of 13 (which we all know is almost 198 in computer years).

Caregivers report the DACS succumbed to Acute Component Shortage after years of repeated component transplants and advanced software resuscitation.

Mourned across the globe by the 3000 plus customers that enjoyed his faithful service, he was shipped to his final resting place in one of the largest send-offs in recent memory. The wake was attended by a large crowd including close associates of the DACS: Dot Matrix, Fiven Onequarter Floppy, Hayes MODEM, and ISA Bus.

Though the DACS' wife, Mrs. Model Builder, unfortunately passed at the same time, their many progeny—the simulation models—have embraced a new life by joining the jet-setting ACE family by virtue of the new MB Model Translator.

Also in attendance were representatives of The Fraternal Order of the DIS, where the DACS had connections across the globe, and the HLA Lodge.

Rev. Molly presided over a closed-box service in the shipping department chapel as the DACS lay in an elegant enclosure of black cardboard and foam with shipping label and tape highlights. The shipping label was decorated with a colorful fall of Ethernet patch cords with hand-held terminal and RIU accents.

The service was accompanied by a selection of the DACS' favorite audio tracks including a medley of "Jet Engine Spooling Up", "Tires Screech in the Rain", and long-time favorite "ATIS Recites: Washington National Information Kilo".

Pallbearers in period uniforms of flannel shirts, cargo pants, and Doc Martens boots attended the DACS to the doors of the UPS truck for the ride to its final resting place.

A sterling and committed competitor, the DACS was somewhat lonely in the last decade of his life as the majority of other competitors died or retired after very brief, rather inglorious life spans. Never noted as the "flash and dash", the DACS was most renowned for being a solid, reliable competitor who always managed to rise to the most difficult challenges while others flamed out as the bar was raised.

DACS is survived by several successful children including: Telestra 3/MBV, Telestra 4/ACE, and PC'ver.

In lieu of flowers, the family requests well wishers send purchase orders to ASTi, who continue the DACS legacy of better audio simulation.

The above web article treats the demise of the DACS light-heartedly, but in all sincerity it is with a heavy heart—and only after major efforts at resuscitation—that we reluctantly conclude that the platform is no longer sustainable. In total, through its various instantiations, the DACS enjoyed a life-span of nearly 15 years (yes, that is a bit like saying, "The road-sweepers broom lasted 20 years; he only replaced the handle four times and the head seven times"). But we can think of no other platform that the manufacturer supported, maintained, and evolved along an affordable continuum to meet the latest state-of-the-art requirements for a fraction of that life-span. Can you? If so, we'd like to hear about it!

Now for those customers who are concerned with whether the Telestra 4/ACE product family will be obsolete in a few years, we can reassure you that we fully intend for it to be around for a long time, a really long time.

• ASTi has a very substantial investment in the development of the Gigabit Ethernet-like synchronous ACENet audio distribution, which allows us to incorporate platform-to-platform transfer latencies of less than 5 milliseconds. We anticipate that the bandwidth is more than adequate for all near-term applications, and the system should be upgradeable to even higher capacities in the future as technology evolves.
• The ASTi OS has met all of our design goals in providing a rock-solid, real-time performance.
• The migration to RHEL, while not without issues, now allows us to be part of the mainstream for all future security developments.
• The dual-core Telestra 4 is already providing higher model-processing capability than the triple 80 MHz DSP DACS, even though it has a base 48KHz sample rate (which represents eight times the load).
• In selecting the hardware, we utilized low-churn industrial components, as we did with the DACS, including a motherboard-chassis combination, which carries a production life commitment of at least seven years.
• The ACE-RIU was designed with component life and supplier availability into account. The manufacturers of the critical components are well established, and meet the latest ROHS compliance.
• We are in the process of obtaining CE certification for the system, which in itself is a large investment and an indication of how stable we regard the configuration.

In summary, we are very satisfied with all aspects of the Telestra 4 ACE system, and except for ongoing incremental evolutionary enhancements, we intend to standardize on this platform for the foreseeable future. We can see no reason why it shouldn't enjoy a total life span comparable to that of the DACS.

November 27, 2007 – The Air Force Research Lab (Mesa, AZ) is running several Joint Terminal Attack Control Virtual Trainer (JTAC VT) demonstrations featuring ASTi equipment during this year's I/ITSEC tradeshow. The demos are being conducted at booth #2129.

These live-virtual-constructive (LVC) demonstrations will include the JTAC VT trainer at I/ITSEC in Orlando, F-16 simulators and computer-generated threats at Luke AFB Networked Training Center (NTC), and airborne F-16s at the Barry M. Goldwater Air Force Range (BMGR) in southwestern Arizona. ASTi Synapse live-to-simulation communication bridging systems play a key role in the demonstrations by providing integrated voice inter-communications between the live F-16s, virtual F-16 simulators and constructive cells at the NTC, and the JTAC VT exhibit in Orlando.

Here's their demo schedule:

• Tuesday, Nov. 27, 2007
  • 1530 - Distributed Virtual DMO
  • 1700 - Distributed Virtual DMO
• Wednesday, Nov. 28, 2007
  • 1030 - Distributed Virtual DMO
  • 1400 - F-16 LVC Mission
  • 1600 - Distributed Virtual DMO
• Thursday, Nov. 29, 2007
  • 1030 - Distributed Virtual DMO
  • 1400 - Distributed Virtual DMO

You can read more about ASTi's JTAC VT deliveries in "ASTi Provides Integrated Comms for the JTAC Virtual Trainer".

November 5, 2007 – Visit ASTi at Booth #2639

Automatic Speech Recognition
ASTi incorporates the intelligent integration of ASR into the Telestra 4 product line…read more

Telestra 4 Product Suite
Until the advent of ASTi's T4/ACE technology, such low latency, scalable interconnectivity has been completely unattainable…read more

Seamless Interoperability & Exercise Planner
ASTi provided 78 operators to a pre-existing ASTi site, reaching a total of 98 operators with the interoperation of three generations of ASTi equipment…read more

Level D Package & Spectral Analysis
Capture live simulator audio for comparison against reference recordings in real-time…read more

Voisus – AST's VoIP Solution
Effective voice communications for single workstation installations…read more

Inline with Industry Security Standards
The Telestra 4 product suite is built around Red Hat Enterprise Linux, providing a communication solution that runs on a fully NIAP validated operating system.…read more

System Spotlight: AVCATT
The AVCATT training suite is a flagship program for ASTi, demonstrating the ability to translate complex, high fidelity DACS Model Builder based applications to our Telestra 4 ACE product suite…read more

System Spotlight: JTAC Virtual Trainer
ASTi deployed systems are networked to the DMO live-virtual-constructive (LVC) environment for use in Joint Close Air Support (JCAS) mission training and rehearsal exercises for JTAC teams.…read more

Record Year Highlight & Top Ten Programs
ASTi's engineers had a record support effort this year with 433.5 days (345.5 travel days and 88 in-house days) logged for on-site support and in-house training…read more

November 5, 2007 – Advanced Simulation Technology Inc., (ASTi) is providing seven Telestra 4 networked audio communication systems for "The Portal," a new decision support lab developed and operated by QinetiQ and Boeing Defence UK.

Located at QinetiQ's Cody Technology Park site in Farnborough, UK, The Portal is a state-of-the-art center for customers to explore implications of proposed network-enabled systems in a real time, dynamic environment using the latest in modeling, simulation, analysis and experimentation tools.

ASTi's Telestra 4 system will enable voice communications for man-in-the-loop simulation capability supporting command and control experiments and demonstrations.

"Our latest T4 architecture and the highly flexible network-based audio distribution infrastructure is an exceptionally good fit for The Portal, allowing rapid reconfiguration of assets as required for each exercise spiral," said ASTi's Neil Waterman.

The new ASTi installation at The Portal provides capability for 78 operators, which may be used along side pre-existing QinetiQ ASTi DACS equipment to support a total of 98 operators from the site.

The ASTi team was able to demonstrate seamless interoperation between three generations of ASTi equipment, the latest T4, the low-cost single-seat PC'ver Windows software radio, and the legacy DACS systems.

The Portal is linked via high-speed networks to other sites within the UK and to distributed locations in the United States and Australia, the majority of which have existing ASTi communication systems.

October 11, 2007 – ASTi recently delivered and installed large scale ASTi Synapse communications systems into Battle Command Training Centers (BCTC) at multiple US Army XVIII Airborne Corps sites, including:

• Fort Campbell, 101st Airborne Division
• Fort Stewart, 3rd Infantry Division
• Fort Drum, 10th Mountain Division

The ASTi systems provide the Army with the capability to route voice traffic between live combat net radios operating in the maneuver field and soldiers operating ASTi simulated radio workstations in the BCTCs. The ASTi system comprises a series of ASTi Synapse Radio-IP bridges and Synapse Workstations connected to an IP network.

The ASTi equipment installed at each site provides inter-communication bridging between as many as 16 live SINCGARS frequency-hopping radio nets and 64 battlestaff operators using simulated radio nets. ASTi communications stations connect to the BCTC IP network infrastructure, realizing elegant digital voice distribution to facilities including: constructive simulation workstations, after action review auditorium, live and virtual tactical operations centers, tech control center and the live radio comms room.

Additional simulated radio channels are available for battlestaff point-to-point or workgroup communications. If needed, more links can be established with Synapse nodes connected to the wide area network.

The Army also installed an ASTi Telestra Remote Management Systems (RMS) at the XVIII Airborne sites. With Telestra RMS and a standard web browser, system administrators can monitor and manage local and networked ASTi resources (equipment, software, and models), ranging from stand-alone to multi-site, exercise-wide configurations.

ASTi provided a complete customer support package to the Army including: on-site installation and testing services, on-site training courses for system administrators and battlestaff instructors, and a support contract for ongoing phone and email assistance.

ASTi has been delivering Synapse live-to-virtual communications systems since 1999.

September 12, 2007 – ASTi recently shipped 22 Secure DACS Upgrade Kits to Teledyne Brown Engineering, Inc. headquarters in Huntsville, AL. These kits will be distributed to various Teledyne Brown sites where they will enable ASTi's Digital Audio Communications Systems to comply with the stringent security standards required by many of today's government installations.

The Secure DACS Upgrade Kit requires minor hardware and software updates to existing 2U DACS systems, and provides a read-only compact flash drive with no operating system and a single boot process running ASTi's Model Builder software. During operation, Secure DACS platforms are indistinguishable from standard systems. Unlike the standard DACS, however, model development and file management are handled offline using the customer's PC platform.

The upgrade kit's most valuable benefit is that it allows TBE the continued use of their existing DACS platforms (some of which were shipped in 1999), while meeting the latest security requirements.

August 24, 2007 – Under contract with the Australian Defence Simulation Office (ADSO), ASTi Digital Audio Communications Systems provided the networked voice communications infrastructure for the multinational Talisman Sabre 2007 training event, which took place in June and July of this year. Networked Synapse Radio Bridge systems linked mission-critical voice communications between live military assets in Australia with simulators and simulation facilities across Australia and the United States.

The ASTi Synapse installation at the High Range Training Area (HRTA) near Townsville, Queensland connected voice communications from combat aircraft and PRC-117 field radios to wide-area IP networks—including the U.S. Joint Training and Experimentation Network (JTEN) and Australia's Defence Training and Experimentation Network (DTEN)—for distribution to virtual and constructive simulations equipped with ASTi communications systems. These simulation facilities include:

• F/A-18 Simulator, Hornet Aircrew Training System, Royal Australian Air Force, Williamtown, NSW
• AC-130U Simulator, Aircrew Maintenance Training Device and Testbed, 19th Special Operations Squadron, Hurlburt Field, FL
• Joint Semiautomated Forces, Virtual Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (V-UAV), Ralph Honner Simulation Center, Lavarack Barracks, Townsville, Queensland
• A-10 Virtual/Constructive Simulation, Joint Warfighting Center (JWFC), Suffolk, VA

The ADSO also purchased Australia-based Redsim's DIS Link Monitor software for use in the exercise. DIS Link Monitor is a powerful utility providing network communications monitoring, analysis and packet logging capabilities. In training events like Talisman Sabre, DIS Link Monitor's packet logger feature is used to record and replay ASTi radio traffic from live, virtual and constructive sources for after-action review.

ASTi provided a complete customer support package for the event, including: pre-event engineering consultation, on-site installation and testing services at HRTA, and remote phone/email help-desk services during the event.

According to the Australian Deparment of Defence, Talisman Sabre 2007 included approximately: 20 ships, 25 aircraft and 7,500 personnel from Australia and 10 ships, 100 aircraft and 20,000 personnel from the U.S.

May 29, 2007 – ASTi recently delivered a Synapse Radio-Data Network Bridge to the Battle Simulation Center located at the Marine Air-Ground Task Force (MAGTF) Training Command, 29 Palms MCB, CA. The ASTi Synapse system provides the MAGTF site with the capability to bridge live radio transmissions onto the wide area Joint Training & Experimentation Network (JTEN) for radio-over-IP intercommunications with remote sites.

The MAGTF initially borrowed an ASTi Synapse Radio Bridge system from the U.S. Joint Forces Command (USJFCOM) for participation in a series of Joint National Training Capabilities (JNTC) exercises. The Marines at MAGTF reported that the ASTi live radio over IP was a "wild success", and subsequently decided to procure their own ASTi system. Twenty-nine Palms MCB was the first Marine live-fire range to be instrumented for integration into live-virtual-constructive (LVC) training exercises, and has received validation to be a persistent JNTC site.

A MAGTF is a self-sustaining, mission-specific force comprised of elements including: command, ground combat, aviation combat and combat service support. The MAGTF is designed for extreme flexibility, and is able to respond quickly to a wide range of security, crisis response, disaster relief, and humanitarian assistance missions.

April 12, 2007 – On April 12, 2007, ASTi shipped the company's 4,000th system since its incorporation in 1989.

An order for one new Telestra system and software upgrade was shipped to Veraxx Engineering Corporation (Chantilly, VA) for use in their VH-3D/VH-60N cockpit upgrade program. This milestone 4,000th ASTi system will provide network HF and SATCOM radio simulation.

ASTi averaged of 1.25 systems per day (five systems every four days) including weekends and holidays since reaching the 3,000 count 799 days prior on February 2, 2005.

March 2, 2007 – ASTi's presence at premier U.S. Army training facilities continues to grow in 2007. The latest in a growing list of Battle Command Training Center (BCTC) installations took place in February at the XVIII Airborne Corps BCTC headquartered at Ft. Bragg, NC. The contract was awarded by General Dynamics Information Technology (GDIT), which manages the facility for the Army.

ASTi delivered a total of 14 Synapse platforms and one Telestra Remote Management System (RMS) to service the Brigade Command Team (BCT) Reconfigurable Tactical Operations Center (RTOC) and Battalion 1 & 2 RTOCs located in adjacent buildings.

Two Synapse Radio-to-Network bridges allow the BCTC to bring live voice traffic from up to 16 real SINCGARS radios onto the simulation network for interaction with multiple staff operators. Twelve (12) Synapse Workstation systems provide up to 84 virtual radio operator positions, as well as 12 simulated SINCGARS radio stations. The Telestra RMS platform allows system administrators to monitor, configure and control all the BCTC Synapse systems from any web browser on the network.

The XVIII Airborne Corps is the Army's largest warfighting organization, and its BCTC "conducts formal courses of instruction to enhance staff interoperability proficiency within a digital TOC."¹ ASTi provided on-site installation, testing and training over two weeks as part of a full customer support package.