Atombeam, whose innovative technology redefines how data is used, moved, stored, and secured, announced it received an expanded contract from the U.S. Space Force’s Space Development Agency (SDA) to improve the data transmission capabilities of Link 16 and Joint Extension Applications Protocol C (JREAP C) over satellites with the company’s Neurpac solution.
The contract is an expansion of a phase 2 SBIR prototype and contract with the SDA in which Neurpac was shown to reduce Link 16 data streams over military satellites by 86% to 89% while simultaneously increasing available bandwidth by a factor of 7 to 9x. The original scoped phase 2 resulted in the additional effort to improve the backhaul capabilities and performance of Link 16 terminals with a software-only solution.
A command-and-control network, Link 16 is relied on by the U.S. military and NATO allies. Notably, the SDA demonstrated the ability to use existing Link 16 tactical data links in conjunction with the Proliferated Warfighter Space Architecture.
Atombeam’s Neurpac represents an entirely new approach to networking that draws on the inherent ability of computers to more efficiently exchange information above and beyond that associated with the letters and numerals typically included in code. The Data-as-Codewords technology within Neurpac combines advanced cryptology and mathematics with AI. An AI-powered “trainer” creates a codebook that matches very small “codewords,” typically 3-10 bits in length, to much larger patterns in the data. Codebooks are instantaneously installed on both ends of the communications link and a decoder restores the original data from the codewords it receives in real time.
“For years, our collective response to more data, the proliferation of connected devices with the Internet of Things, and now the heavy workloads associated with AI, was to build faster chips, more powerful processors, larger pipes and more power-hungry data centers,” said Charles Yeomans, founder and CEO of Atombeam and a former intelligence officer with the U.S. Navy. “At Atombeam, we created technology that enables organizations to radically increase the capacity of existing systems with software alone – a solution that also addresses the rapidly increasing demand for more electricity to power data centers, the need to secure lightweight sensors and other endpoints for which traditional encryption is problematic, and the importance of fast, ultra-low-latency command-and-control systems.”
The data resulting from Neurpac is completely usable, dramatically lighter, and configured for the optimal performance of chips, computers, and processors – something that makes true, near real-time communications and data exchanges possible while radically decreasing latency. And because Data-as-Codewords involves patterns that exceed the letters and numerals typically used in code and data transmissions, they are inherently more secure as a result of the deep data obfuscation codewords enable. Just as importantly, in the event of a breach, the data involved is unusable without the corresponding codebooks. Military-grade encryption can also be added as an additional safeguard.
To date, Atombeam has been issued nearly 400 patents for its technology. Additional patents are pending.
“The modern battlespace is centered around data. Just as we look to establish air or maritime superiority in time and space, so we need to enable our Warfighters to establish and maintain data superiority,” said Rear Admiral (Ret) C. D. “Boris” Becker, the former Commander of the Naval Information Warfare Command and Program Executive Officer for C4I. “Neurpac is a force multiplier for data superiority, literally multiplying data available across existing links and networks four times or more. Combined with the access that the ultimate high ground — space — provides, this is a game-changing capability.”
