Mr. A. Donald Steinman III

A. Donald Steinman, III- Planning Systems Incorporated

These Directors were elected at the NCMS annual meeting of members on November 17, 2006.

"Our group that developed [Ears/SWATS] has been doing acoustics for 35 years," said A. Donald Steinman III, director of transition programs for QinetiQ North America's technology solutions group. "We grew up cutting our teeth in antisubmarine warfare, so we worked in a much more complicated acoustic environment because the speed of sound in water is so much faster."

The underwater speed of sound may not approach that of a speeding bullet, but the technologies developed and honed in that environment have now been applied to helping U.S. warfighters locate the hostile origins of those speeding bullets in current combat environments.

"Ears man-wearable is what the Army has designated as SWATS [soldier-wearable acoustic targeting system]," Steinman explained. "While Ears refers to a family of capabilities built on QinetiQ's core Ears sensor puck, SWATS capitalizes on that sensor puck and miniature display mounted on soldiers' nonfiring shoulders to provide warfighters with a hostile fire/countersniper indicator."

"It sits passively and 'listens' for acoustic 'events,'" he said.
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"They can take advantage of terrain to provide cover while they can get weapons pointed and lead moving in the right direction almost immediately," Steinman said. Almost immediately equates to less than 1/10 second.

"SWATS is designed to, first, increase soldier survivability," he continued.
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They just wanted to know if we could tell them if they were being fired on," Steinman said.

An ensuing research project provided a solution that could tell not only whether someone was being fired on, but also applied algorithms from other company activities to reveal the firing quadrant solution and range.

"That was far beyond what the customer had asked for," Steinman said.
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"We have gone through two-and-a-half or three generations since that transition," Steinman said. "Each time, we have focused on improving the performance of the system-getting a better solution on the shooter's origin, making the system more rugged and improving the dynamics of the system."

The system dynamics reflect the fact that warfighters will quickly change orientation as they react to the shot and move into offensive posture. As a result, the system must adapt to provide revised information regarding the position of the shooter in relation to a new moment in time.

"If I break contact and change my distance and orientation to the shooter, the system will now tell me the new range and direction versus the information presented when that shot came in," Steinman said.

Asked about key discriminators between SWATS and some of the other available and fielded acoustic detection devices, Steinman noted that some of the other systems are much larger, requiring 25 watts of power or more.

"Even in their lightest configurations, they weigh 20 pounds or so without their power sources," he said.
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"Both kits-the man-wearable and the vehicle designs-use the exact same sensor," Steinman said. "So there is interoperability."

In terms of current fielding status, Steinman explained that there are "well beyond 1,000 systems now in theater, and we are filling task orders as they come in."

"They are in both primary theaters as well as what I will characterize as other 'tactical locations' around the globe," he added. "The feedback we are getting from the field is outstanding. When the systems first arrived in theater, there was some prejudice against acoustic detection. But we have received feedback from soldiers who have said, 'The kit arrived in our unit last night at 1800, and this morning at 0500, we were attacked. Because of the kit, we were able to push the enemy back faster and more effectively than we ever have before.' And that has become a recurring theme across both theaters."

Emphasizing that this kit is being put to use on a daily basis, Steinman said, "This is important to both the individual warfighter as well as the Army because, most importantly, it increases survivability.

A. Donald Steinman Director, Transition Programs Planning Systems Inc.

A. Donald Steinman Director, Transition Programs Planning Systems Inc.

A. Donald Steinman, III Director, Technology Marketing and Transition Planning Systems, Inc.

A. Donald Steinman currently serves as Director for Technology Marketing and Transition at Planning Systems Inc.Prior to joining Planning Systems Inc. he served as Managing Partner for Technology Development Associates, LLC (TDA) directing operations.Mr. Steinman was Vice President of Business Development and Government Programs for the Infinite Group where his primary efforts focused on capture and management of the company's military contract activities.An Executive Director of NASA's Northeast Regional Technology Transfer Center, The Center for Technology Commercialization, his responsibilities included technology transfer, technology scouting, license negotiation and partnership development.Mr. Steinman has a B.A. degree from Emory University and an M.B.A. from the University of Rhode Island.Mr. Steinman also serves on the Boards of Technology Research Corporation and the Metro Orlando Economic Development Technology Board.He has previously served as a member of NCMS' Strategic Technology Board.