Advanced Technology Systems wins contract to support BTSNet

The growing concentration on border security, and on using advanced technology to bolster that security, both show in DHS’s commitment to the Border and Transportation Security Network (BTSNet) project. McLean, Virginia-based Advanced Technology Systems has just been awarded a five-year $11.9 million contract from DHS to support the development of BTSNet within the Homeland Security Advanced Research Projects Agency (HSARPA). BTSNet is an information management network test bed aiming to give Border Patrol field personnel connectivity and situational awareness in their rugged outdoor environment. BTSNet’s goal is ambitious: It is not only to support Border Patrol operations in the field, but also to deliver information important to the missions of all of the network’s users — including field agents and officers, field stations, sector commands and control centers, and national level agencies. BTSNet will interface with local, state, and national data sources and provide connectivity between field agents within a sector and between agents and field stations.

The BTSNet project consists of four functional areas, including data access, communications, knowledge discovery, and field agent situational awareness. Initially, Advanced Technology will support the introduction of the original BTSNet pilot developed by DHS and apply the company’s industry expertise to design, develop, and integrate the second phase of the project. The company’s public safety practice will then use its existing wireless criminal justice products to help BTSNet develop additional product software for personal digital assistants (PDAs), mobile data terminals (MDTs), station operations, and sector operations. As importantly, Advanced Technology will keep an eye on emerging technologies as the BTSNet program evolves and integrates these solutions into the wireless communications capability undergirding the project.

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