A brief history of the NPS Field Experimentation program: Spanning STAN, TNT and JIFX

Abstract

The NPS Field Experimentation Program was initiated in FY02 to provide an opportunity for NPS faculty and students to evaluate new technologies from their research in a field environment. These efforts were continued and integrated to create a formal decade long cooperative field experimental effort with USSOCOM (S&T /J9 and SORDAC) that began in FY03 as STAN (Surveillance and Targeting Acquisition Network) and culminated as TNT (Tactical Network Topology) in 2013. After TNT, sponsorship of NPS FX transitioned to OSD (AT&L) and the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). The NPS Joint Interagency Field Experimentation (JIFX) program exists today to support the S&T needs of all of the COCOMs, interagency, and first responders. This technical report serves to briefly document the history of the NPS FX program from STAN through current day JIFX. This document reflects the opinions of the author and does not represent the official policy or position of the Naval Postgraduate School, the United States Navy, or any other government organization.