OCR Text |
Show Hiiitop Times April 13, 1995 Ogden ALC hosts 7th annual Software X' f ff ? s - Technology Conference The Ogden Air Logistics Center played host this week for the seventh time to a gathering renowned as the U.S. government's premier computer software symposium and exhibit program. The Software Technology Conference orchestrated by the ALC's Software Support Center brought nearly 3,000 participants and more than 190 exhibifor presentators together April tions and tutorials at several Salt Lake City hotels, as well as the Salt Palace Convention Center and Abravanel Hall. The event has grown over the years to be Salt Lake City's third largest annual convention, contributing an estimated S 2. 5 million to the local economy in included the Depart1995. ments of the Army, Navy and Air 10-1- 4 rs Force. One of two Air Force-wid- e With "Architecting the Information Highway for the Warrior" as its theme, the conference provided a forum for key leaders and practitioners in computer software and related technologies from government, industry and academia to share latest knowledge and philosophies and to help chart a course for future applications and developments. Although the primary focus was on defense issues, there is potential for other areas of society to gain from conference outcomes. The military sendees have recently emphasized sharing technologies with the civilian sector through Technology Transfer programs and Cooperative Research and Development Agreements with industry and academia. Individual conference cluded Lloyd K. Mosemann in- II, deputy 4 J K Ml Photo by Chris Bojonow.r and Maj. Gen. Pat Condon, Ogden Air Logistics Sen. Orrin Hatch Center commander, were keynote speakers at opening ceremony for the conference. (R-Uta- assistant secretary. Office of the Assistant Secretary of the Air Force for Acquisition; Lt. Gen. Carl G. O'Berry. deputy chief of staff for Command. Control, Communications and Computers, U.S. Air Force: Lt. Gen. Otto J. Guenther, director of Information Systems for Command, Control. Communications and Computers, U.S. Army: and Rear Admiral John G. Hekman. commander of the Naval Information Systems Management Center. to qualify Hill's Software Engineering Division now rated Level Technology and Industrial Support Directorate A official assessment makes it Hill's Software Engineering Division (TIS) is now ranked in the top 5 percent of all Air Force software units just-complet- worldwide. In March an assessment team gave the division a Level 3 rating not only for its expertise in planning, managing and LADS percent of the chemical method cost. The savings are mostly due to time. With the chemicals it would take an employee 8 to 12 hours to finish a radome, and that was if all the paint would come off. With LADS, a radome can be stripped in less than two hours. Another benefit of the new method is that it eliminate the use of methylene chloride, which just happens to be on the Environmental Protection Agency's hit list of dangerous chemicals. "The chemical method just didn't do a very good job," said Keranen. "I felt we were putting out an inferior product, so I looked into alternative methods." Keranen said he looked at the best techniques available, including another Ogden ALC initiative, plastic media blast. He also looked at technology that used water jets, weed starch (a dry powder blast) and a Xenon flash lamp (which emits a focused pulse of light). After considering all aspects of the process and the economics. LADS seemed to be the best choice. Armed with his idea. Keranen lobbied g paint-removin- tracking software, but for being a process-orienteorganization. TIS is the second Air Force organization to receive the Level 3 rating. Sacramento's McClelland AFB was rated Level 3 in October 1994. To reach this goal, TIS was judged using the Software Engineering Institute's Capability Maturity Model. The model assesses organizations on five levels, with Level 5 being the highest. The achievement is also significant be well-traine- by Paul C. Oestreich d, d for support and eventually received the go ahead to research his idea and bring it to fruition. However, Keranen said the idea is not original; it had been tried before unsuccessfully. Along with Jim Meyer, an engineering technician in the directorate, Keranen was determined to work out the bugs. They have worked the project for the last four years with two companies in Albuquerque, who designed and built LADS. The system was delivered to Hill in early January and with assistance from workers from the Albuquerque companies, Keranen and Meyer got the system up and running within the past few weeks. They have used the system on seven radomes to test it out and fine tune any settings and say they have had great success. The two engineers say the technology could be used on numerous types of aircraft, and does not have to be limited to radomes. It can be used to strip paint from other aircraft components as well. "We're excited to get this laser up and running," Meyer said. "It's work- F-1- There are many cost savings that result from using processes for developing and maintaining software. The division proved that by gathering metrics, defects can be found well-tune- d i ! HilkoD Times Published by MorMedia. inc.. a private tirm in no way connected wit h the t.'.rv Air Force, unocr exclusive written contract with lliii A Kit This commercial enterprise Air newspaper ts ar: authorized publication !, of t he t'. memo'-military services. ( outer.! s of tn .,'..' i'i 7' ".'( ar" no; n" es,iriiy th" official view s :. cr endorsed by the I S. government, the I Jepnrt men! of Dei-u- se a- of the Air Force he r ! -- ; 6 Photo by Gory. Whotton Maj. Gen. Richard N. Goddard (second from right), director of Logistics, Headquarters Air Combat Command, toured the new laser facility and was impressed that the equipment can clean corroded radomes like these so they can be quickly put back into service. ing excellent, with minimal failures. We u0'r Bill Chif OO-AI- C Director, Public Artairi of ,n,rBol ,,tormofion Editor Start writ.r, bor. "' tt. - 532-777- Orndorff Command.r, Urb,n D.odlin.,. Idi.o.iol and "Around h. Hill" lt.m a o n, Tu.toav, mn. publ.co.ioni tportt Of- to.m. Monday ioyt of publication; tlai.ifi.d od w..k "m' Publ.cofion. For mora Inlofmo-'on- , I,""00' .i F.ditorial content is edited, prepared and provided bv Ogden Air Logistics ("enter Public Affairs Office si.!:' Hldg lio::, KiK.n- lin F.xt. 7";i':; t'nless otherwise indicated, all photos are V S Air f orce photo-- i (OGDEN) OR P' "k J Editorial Staff: Con6" francts Koakowkv Joy Jorti, So. BfK t 5 6 Hili AFB patron. 394-965- F-1- - Global Power and Reach for America. The appearance of advertisements in this publication, including insert or supplements, does not constitute ciorsement by the Department of the Air Force or Mor Media, Inc. of the products or services advertised Everything advertised in this publication shall be made available lor purchase, use or patronage without regard to race, color, religion, sex. national origin, ag. marital status, physical handicap, political affiliation or any other nonmerit factor of the purchaser, user or TO PLACE AN ADVERTISEMENT, CALL the and then look to use it on other of aircraft." types just need to prove that this works on "Air Force people building the world's most respected Air and Space Force job and fixed in the software development a process that improves the stage quality of the end product and results in satisfied customers. The philosophy that the earlier the bug can be found, the less costly it will be to fix is one of the reasons TIS achieved the Ievel 3 rating. There are two more levels to reach in the Capability Maturity Mode and TIS is committed "to continue with imprwing its software processes in order to reach the highest level. cause all Air Force software activities must be at Level 3 by 1998 as directed in a policy letter issued by Lloyd K. Mosemann. deputy assistant secretary of the Air Force (communications, computers and support systems). Si 3 .ditor, 4 (SALT LAKE CITY)" " |