Smart C2 software used for IPS Mobile Command Center

Smart C2’s VirtualAirBoss software will help coordinate communications with unmanned aerial systems (UAS) and other equipment on the Mobile Command Center (MCC) offered by Information Processing Systems (IPS) of San Carlos, California.

According to IPS, MCC provides emergency communications solutions to the first responder community across the country. Using VirtualAirBoss on the MCC enables personnel to stay up to date on events as they happen, helping to fill the communications gap between different agencies and organizations during emergencies.

The VirtualAirBoss software helps light commercial aviation businesses serve a variety of industries with manned aircraft and UAS for hire. The software is designed to manage all types of data related to aircraft crew, equipment and payload. Headquartered in Grand Forks, North Dakota, SmartC2 draws on graduates of the University of North Dakota School of Aerospace Sciences and personnel associated with the nearby Grand Forks Air Force Base.

Stuart Rudolph, SmartC2 President and CEO, said, "We invented the VirtualAirBoss to help aviation business owners manage their business end to end. Emergency management has all the components of a small aviation business, and complex business processes spanning the beginning to the end of the mission, right through to invoicing for services provided.”

IPS has a 44-year history of providing solutions in the global sensor fusion and mapping industry, partnering with the U.S. Department of Defense, the Department of Homeland Security and other international commercial companies. IPS offers the MCC to provide a central data-gathering point for subsurface, ground, UAS and manned aviation at disaster sites.

“The VirtualAirBoss software will significantly enhance the ability of our MCC to achieve interoperability with the multiple government and industry organizations who coordinate response to disasters across the country," said Clarence Boice, IPS CEO.

"There is a tremendous amount of data that needs to be managed to enable different groups to effectively respond together to emergencies, and VirtualAirBoss provides an easy way to create a common operating picture from all that critical data,” Boice added. “And even more important, it can help retrieve that information after the fact for lessons learned, after-action reporting, and reimbursement.”

The MCC includes a fully interoperable communication system, a GIS mapping platform, as well as multiple high-speed data networks and back-haul satellite network capability. Rotary-wing and fixed-wing unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) can be deployed with high-resolution cameras, CBRN (chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear) sensors, LiDAR, and geospatial capabilities to wirelessly transmit images and data back to the MCC.

IPS said the MCC can also carry the Smart Tactical Advanced Communications System (STACS), a portable light weight, interoperability communications system, that can operate worldwide, regardless of existing infrastructure.