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VVBY EDWARD LUNDQUIST ?TechSolutions allows individual warfighters to submit a request and get short-turnaround solutions from the sci-ence and technology community,? says Master Chief Electronics Technician Charles Ziervogel, the Command Master Chief at ONR and fleet liaison for Tech- Solutions.The process is simple: A Sailor or Ma- rine contacts TechSolutions via the web or email and shares a problem or situa-tion that needs attention. ?We want to hear from the Sailor handling the lines,or the Marine toting the rifle. They know what the pressing issues are,? Ziervogel says. ?All we need to know is: what is the problem; what needs to be done to fix the problem; and how should we contact you??TechSolutions aims to provide the fleet and force with prototypes that deliver 60- 80 percent solutions which address im-mediate needs and can be easilytransitioned by the acquisition commu-nity. In the world of acquisition, where re- quirements, resourcing, selection andprocurement can take a decade or more, the TechSolutions process turns it all around in about a year, sometimes less. ?We try put to the final product in the hands of the Sailor that made the request.Whoever generates the requirement may see direct results during his or her tour,? Ziervogel says. The idea is shared with the various re- search teams at ONR, covering all of the science and technology (S&T) disci-plines, ONR departments, and warfare domains and enterprises. ?We cross all the boundaries,? he says. For example: A Sonar Technician had a solution to the annoying buzzing hum caused by the fluorescent bunk lights in the berthing compartments. He suggested LightEmitting Diode (LED) lighting instead.In fact, it turns out that replacing all the incandescent and fluorescent lightingthroughout the ship with longer-lasting LED lighting is an even better idea. ?They last longer, and use much less energy, and energy savings translates to fuel savings,? says Stephanie Everett, program manager for TechSolutions. Instead of having watch standers go out on the weather deck to take periodic ob- servations and then send a formatted message to the Fleet Numerical Meteor- ological and Oceanographic Center(FNMOC) in Monterey, California, every six hours, a suggestion was made to have an automated system take constant ob- servations day and night and submit the data to FNMOC. The Automated Ship- board Weather Observation System re- moves guess work about sea state, wave height and cloud cover, removes the te- dious and error-prone task of writing and transmitting the message on time, andkeeps Sailors out of heavy weather, ?In addition to relieving the impact on the crew, one of the goals is to improve fidelity, consistency and frequency of the observations,? says Everett. ?The weather prediction models will be moreaccurate with consistent data taken by precision instruments.? Food service records have also gone ?high tech.? New Food Service Manage- ment Software works with menu plan- ning system to provide an accurate inventory of food on hand, and helps fig- ure out what to order. ?You can find out if you have enough pasta on board to serve spaghetti and meatballs three weeks later,? Everett says. FINDING THE RIGHT TOOL When Sailors in an aviation squadron maintenance department found paperrecords and log books hard to maintain,which made it difficult to ensure custody and accountability of the tools, TechSo- lutions helped develop an automated tool room software package and barcode in- ventory tracking system for all tools and equipment. TechSolutions also helped create a per- sonal digital assistant (PDA) that helps Landing Signal Officers (LSOs) on air- craft carriers record the details of all thelandings they observe?the same infor- mation that had to be hand written intothe pages of a logbook?and also trans-mit that data online to the LSO Schoolwhere it is automatically captured by acentral database.When Marines said the large custom batteries powering their EOD disposal ro- bots were heavy, costly, and required their own specialized charger, TechSolu- tions developed an adapter to allow the robot to run off standard military radio batteries instead. Responding to a request from the fleet,TechSolutions is helping catapult opera- tors on aircraft carrier flight decks ex- change their thick notebooks withhand-held devices. Instead of bulky binders with tables, charts, graphs andlists of every permutation of every con- figuration?from type of aircraft to rela- tive wind speed to weapons load to fuel state to barometric pressure?with ahand-held calculator to determine theproper settings for the catapult capacityselector valve (CSV) for that particular aircraft and configuration. Schuette says TechSolutions is looking for low hanging fruit, with a big payoff in quality of life. ?We want low-cost an- swers, with a high return on investment.? ?We?re looking for that sweet spot, where we have a Sailor doing something simply because we?ve always had a Sailor doing it,? Schuette says. ?If we can find a way to have an automated process or a new device to simplify, im- prove or eliminate that task, then we?re doing the right thing. We want to solve problems, not symptoms.? 38Maritime Reporter & Engineering News OFFICE OF NAVAL RESEARCH FEATURE TechSolutions Connects the S&T community with fleet, field, to solve real problems Shooters aboard the aircraft carrier USS Harry S. Truman (CVN 75) test a catapult capacity selector valve(CSV) calculator provided by the Of- fice of Naval Research during flight operations. The CSV calculator is apersonal digital assistant that wouldreplace paper lookup tables and allow flight deck personnel to com-pute the proper settings for an air- craft carrier steam catapult. Thedevice is being provided through the Tech Solutions program, a rapid-re- sponse technology development pro- gram that funds governmentlaboratories to produce prototype so- lutions for problems identified by Sailors and Marines. (U.S. Navy photo by John F. Williams/Released) Culinary Specialist 3rd Class John Smith uses the existing DOS-basedfood service management system aboard the aircraft carrier USS Harry S. Truman (CVN 75). The Office of Naval Research and Tech Solutions funded the creation of new modern- ized food service management soft- ware currently being piloted on several surface ships. The new modu- lar software design caters to each lo- cation's specific needs, provides menu planning tools, recipes and nu- tritional analysis, budget informationand inventory tracking.(U.S. Navy photo by John F. Williams/Released) MR Nov.11 # 5 (34-41):MR Template 10/27/2011 10:05 AM Page 38