In August of 2012, CAW participated in the Naval Postgraduate School's Earthquake Response Exercise, which was hosted by Research and Experimentation for Local and International Emergency and First Responders (RELIEF) in collaborative partnership with the NPS Remote Sensing Center (RSC). Since 2009, RELIEF has brought first responders, humanitarian practitioners, technology developers, federal civilians, and active duty military personnel together for hands-on collaboration. The multi-institutional field setting provides a semi-structured learning environment promoting collaboration and relationship building across an increasingly diverse response network. The earthquake response exercise focused on the emergency management and disaster response issues surrounding a simulated major earthquake and aftershock damage scenario. The event utilized a number of different methods of interaction, all of which focus on end-user input in disaster response operations. The field environment also provided an opportunity to explore new solutions for crisis responders, through hands-on interaction and experimentation. CAW supported the Earthquake Response Exercise by integrating multi-source sensor data and imagery through the use of its Sensor Island technology.

CAW is currently collaborating on the research and development of a Sensor Server “Island” concept that offers that capability for teams and organizations to deploy sensor resources and collect, disseminate, visualize, and automate the application of those sensors to homeland security and defense missions. The Sensor Island offers collaborators the ability to integrate real and near-real time sensors and other dynamics objects, such as unmanned vehicles, into their geospatial operational pictures using web service concepts and capabilities hosted and operated from a shared facility. The strength of CAW’s implementation builds on the technical geospatial systems capabilities of Technology Service Corporation in support of CAW, the Defense Threat Reduction Agency, and other sponsors and the robust information systems, networking capabilities resident at CAW and the modeling and simulations strengths of the Naval Postgraduate School (NPS). CAW’s unique position at NPS allows for a technological infrastructure that is connected to the educational research network via a non-military domain, accessible to public safety and private sector partners anywhere in the world.

In September of 2010, CAW partnered with the Association for Unmanned Vehicle Systems International (AUVSI) to explore the application of unmanned vehicles in firefighting and other emergency response scenarios. On the first two days of the exercise, experts in unmanned systems provided participants with an overview of capabilities and applications of unmanned systems. These classroom sessions were followed by a series of field demonstrations of unmanned aerial and ground vehicles, where operational specialists demonstrated a variety of systems against several structural, grass, and light brush fire scenarios. After the educational portion of the exercise, a tabletop exercise was conducted to examine a wildland fire case study and consider the application of unmanned systems to the operational response. The discussions produced an array of considerations for employment of unmanned systems, recommendations for improvement or integration of technology packages, and discussion about the potential benefits these systems could have had on the management and operational response to the incident.

In June and July of 2010, CAW conducted a series of training and exercise events for the Department of Homeland Security’s Science and Technology Directorate to develop and evaluate the performance of its Integrated Chemical, Biological, Radiological, Nuclear, and High Explosives (ICBRNE) Detection Demonstration Program. Training and exercise events were designed to integrate the ICBRNE system into the operational and strategic level of decision-making and allow response organizations in the Los Angeles Operational Area to evaluate its effectiveness in distributing real-time environmental monitoring data from field sensors to enhance situational awareness and decision-making. Operation Golden Phoenix (OGP) 2010 was organized into a series of training and exercise events to enhance participants’ understanding of the effects of a nuclear detonation in their area of responsibility, reinforce appropriate response actions and critical information requirements and, ultimately, assess the regional response capability of regional response organizations and the integration of the ICBRNE system. OGP events included participation by almost 800 participants from 133 separate agencies during a policy-level tabletop exercise, a focused training event for Los Angeles County Department Emergency Coordinators, four training seminars for local governments, an Executive Workshop for Los Angeles County officials, a live demonstration of the ICBRNE system, an integrated functional exercise, and an Area Command advanced tabletop exercise.

From 2007 through 2009, CAW partnered with Aptima and Perceptronics Solutions to research, evaluate, and demonstrate the Collaborative Assistance and Rapid Team Optimization System (CARTOS), a Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) Phase II Small Business Technology Transfer project to optimize rapid formation of mission-oriented teams and identify collaborative connections within organizations. CAW's partnership with Aptima and Perceptronics took place in three phases, during the Asymmetric Warfare Initiative 2007-North, Kaimalu O' Hawaii 2009, and Coastal Trident 2009 exercises, respectively. During these exercise activities, integration into complex scenarios and among diverse participating agencies facilitated the evaluation of distinct product modules. CARTOS will also be added as a component of the Coastal Trident 2011 exercise.

In 2009, CAW partnered with HazTech Systems, Inc. and the Bradbury Institute to conduct research and development of standardized processes and algorithms to be used in the identification and characterization of hazardous materials. Using the HazCat Hazardous Materials Biological and Chemical Identification System, a Standardized First Response Sequence was developed with the objective of implementation into a requirements-driven and metrics-based training, education, and evaluation program for the Department of Homeland Security.

From 2004 through 2007, CAW partnered with Perceptronics Solutions to perform proof-of-concept studies for a developmental software product that could form optimal teams from a personnel roster characterized by variables such as position and rank, experience and knowledge, and social and interest network connections. The Adaptive Rapid Team Formation System (ARTFS) was a Phase I Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) project for the Defense Advanced Projects Research Agency (DARPA), developed under a partnership between Perceptronics Solutions and the University of Southern California. During CAW's Asymmetric Warfare Initiative (AWI) 2004-South (04S) and AWI 2007-North (07N) exercises, the ARTFS combination of mission and role modeling, social network analysis, and multiagent system methodology was able to form locally optimal teams that had strong face validity in terms of assignment of candidates to team roles. In AWI-04S, this was performed with the aim of forming a special-purpose Intelligence Branch team within the Joint Investigative Operations Center JIOC while, in AWI-07N, it was used to for locally-optimized 6-person Command Teams for managing multi-agency response and recovery efforts. Phase I of the ARTFS project was successfully demonstrated and was integrated into the Collaborative Assistance and Rapid Team Optimization System program, in partnership with Aptima and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, for Phase II demonstration.

During the Asymmetric Warfare Initiative 2007-North (AWI-07N) exercise, CAW supported The Boeing Company, NVision Solutions, and NAVTEQ to conduct field experimentation of a web-based software application linked to portable field units that provided a real-time common operating picture for emergency management operations. The HazNet system has the ability to create a nationwide, scalable common operating picture for information sharing from the city to the federal level, which can be used during crisis planning, response, and recovery. The HazNet system was utilized successfully from personal digital assistant (PDA) devices during the exercise to shadow and augment the situational awareness of exercise control staff.

In May of 2007, CAW supported The Boeing Company with maritime systems integration and test of a high-capacity Tier 2 IP-based mobile ad-hoc mesh network system in development. The Directional Network Waveform (DNW) System was envisioned as an enabler for reliable, secure, interoperable communications in unsupported areas or following a major disaster. CAW's 85-foot Guardian Fast Patrol Craft, "CAW-1," was used as the maritime test platform for the DNW, from which a Boeing test team was able to validate the system's satisfactory performance in a maritime environment. The system was installed aboard CAW-1 and its performance over water and connectivity with two land-based network nodes was demonstrated near the radio horizon. This partnership allowed Boeing to successfully verify system performance at sea and reduce risk in the development of ad hoc network systems.

In 2005, CAW partnered with the U.S. Navy and the U.S. Coast Guard to develop, plan, and execute an end-to-end demonstration of Maritime Domain Awareness (MDA). The objective of the Gulf Coast MDA Initiative was to examine the use of national-level command, control, communications, computers, intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (C4ISR) architecture – including a swimmer detection system, a mobile remote sensor vehicle equipped with electro-optical and infrared video cameras, and a remotely controlled unmanned surface vessel – fused with local port sensors for Homeland Security and Homeland Defense application. Culminating in a multi-agency response exercise, the Gulf Coast MDA Initiative demonstrated the initial detection and tracking of suspicious activities well outside the Continental United States, followed by the persistent surveillance of likely maritime threats as they transited the approaches to U.S. ports.