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Print Edition StoriesMonday, March 16, 2009
Army gives BBN $1.2M to monitor foreign media
By Mass High Tech staff
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Cambridge-based research and development firm BBN Technologies Inc. reports it has won a $1.2 million contract from the U.S. Army systems to monitor foreign media broadcasts.
The new contract calls for BBN to deliver a pair of turn-key Multimedia Monitoring Systems to the Army, capable of monitoring broadcast news from television, satellite radio and the web. The system, dubbed the BBN Multimedia Monitoring System (M3S), integrates BBN’s broadcast and web monitoring capabilities with its translation technologies, according to company officials.
Last month, BBN landed $1.4 million from the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency to develop an acoustic gunshot detection system for helicopters. Under the deal, BBN is continuing development of the DARPA-funded project, which began in 2007. Last year, BBN developed a prototype for Blackhawk helicopters. In 2004, the Cambridge-based company developed a similar system, called Boomerang, for ground vehicles and stationary assets.
Last September, BBN landed $3.5 million from the U.S. Army for the continued development of a wearable gunshot detection system based on Boomerang in partnership with the Natick Soldier Systems Center. In June, the Army’s Communications and Electronics Command ordered more than 8,100 Boomerang systems, along with spares and training services, at a cost of $73 million.
Known widely for developing part of the forerunner network to the Internet, BBN is a 60 year-old firm with 700 employees in Cambridge, Middletown, R.I., and five U.S. facilities outside New England.
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