Information and Communication Systems (ICS)

The Information and Communication Systems (ICS) Section provides investigation, evaluation, testing, and independent verification and validation (IV&V) for all aspects of information and communication systems employed on ships and submarines, as well as those employed on shore directly or indirectly supporting the ships/submarines. Similar work can be performed in support of central and common systems.

The increasing prevalence of Internet Protocol (IP) communications in all forms of equipment and systems continues to broaden the potential scope of projects where the ICS Section can be of assistance to the Navy and DND, sometimes in collaboration with the NETE Marine Systems or Combat Systems Sections when marine/combat equipment includes information or communication sub-systems.

Expertise by Technology and Services

The ICS Section has expertise and experience with the following technologies and services:

Network Engineering, Systems Engineering and IT Security:

  • Local and Wide Area Networks (LANs and WANs);
  • Traffic management systems, Quality of Service (QoS), compression/acceleration, web caching;
  • Servers, clustered servers, blade servers, virtual servers;
  • Routers, switches, firewalls;
  • Storage and back-up technologies and related software;
  • Windows, Novell, Solaris, Linux operating systems;
  • Exchange, SMS, Domino, Sametime;
  • Workstations, laptops;
  • IP data communications over satellite (INMARSAT, SHF) and over radio (UHF, HF);
  • Hardware and software encryption, including Type 1 and PKI;
  • Integration, interoperability, performance, functional and bandwidth testing;
  • Certification and accreditation.

Software Engineering:

  • Process modeling;
  • SAP and SAP Business Warehouse;
  • SQL Server and Access client-server database applications;
  • Visual Basic, Visual C++;
  • Web development, ASP, HTML, Javascript;
  • Real-time software; 
  • Software testing.

Expertise by Project Phase

The ICS Section can provide the following services, grouped by project phase:

Pre-definition/Definition:

  • Requirements investigation;
  • Business process modeling;
  • Conceptual design;
  • Options analysis;
  • Technology investigations and assessments;
  • Proof of concept; 
  • Development of specifications.

Design/Implementation:

  • Development of engineering guidance packages for shipboard installation of information and communication systems;
  • Review of Engineering Changes (ECs);
  • Equipment qualification (shock, vibration, temperature);
  • System configuration, integration and testing;
  • Software design and development;
  • Verification and validation of contract deliverables;
  • Set-to-work and post-installation testing.

In-Service:

  • Shipboard surveys and audits;
  • Impact assessment for proposed changes;
  • Testing and/or IV&V of proposed changes;
  • Planning of in-service trials;
  • Data analysis and trend monitoring;
  • Investigation of in-service issues and problems;
  • Investigation of optimization or performance tuning;
  • Review and validation of system configurations;
  • Review and validation of ERP data;
  • Investigation and documentation of standard procedures;
  • Verification and validation of processes and documentation; 
  • Policy investigations.