Facilities

APL has range of laboratories and facilities that support program work in Infocentric Operations. The Information Operations (IO) Laboratory supports APL’s information assurance (IA) activities. The work includes advanced prototype engineering, new concept development, IA analysis (including model development and validation and verification), basic research, and test and evaluation. The IO Laboratory has a flexible network infrastructure, a variety of computer platforms, network infrastructure equipment, analysis software, and IA-related software. The Experimental Communications Laboratory (ECL) supports both IO and Intelligence Systems efforts. It has a long history in research, development, testing, and evaluation of government radio frequency communications systems. Emphasis is on anti-jam (AJ), low–probability of intercept (LPI), and strategic low frequency (LF), and very low frequency (VLF) systems with an emphasis on novel signal processing techniques to enhance the detectability of weak signals. The Image Research and Interpretation Systems (IRIS) laboratory is used to develop concepts and build prototypes of intelligence data exploitation systems. Typical activities involve the development and test of prototype imagery exploitation tools, electronic intelligence packages, and pattern discovery methods. The APL Video Exploitation Laboratory supports research projects for computer vision, video processing, video compression, and multimedia visualization, including 3D stereo-graphics. It enables the development of tools and techniques to capture, analyze, and develop key information from analog and digital video source material. The Satellite Communications Systems Laboratory (SCSL) hosts a UHF satellite communications earth terminal and a systems and software development facility. The SCSL has supported the analysis, development, testing, and integration of numerous satellite communications and control subsystems since 1987. In addition, the SCSL includes a complement of communications subsystem components, general-purpose electronic test equipment, general and special-purpose computing systems, and associated workspaces. The Communications Systems Assessment Facility (CSAF) houses computer hardware and custom simulation software used to assess the performance of strategic communications systems and of networks used to deliver emergency action messages to deployed fleet ballistic missile submarines and Minuteman Launch Control Centers. The Communications Engineering Laboratory (CEL) is a facility for the assessment, evaluation, and development of a broad class of communications systems and networks, primarily DoD tactical communication systems engineering. The CEL’s primary components are (1) a wireless communications and networking laboratory, (2) a modeling/simulation laboratory, and (3) a secure computing facility.