Home › News & Publications › Featured Stories › APL Backpack-Sized Mini-mapper Captures Intel in Tight Spots APL in the News APL Backpack-Sized Mini-mapper Captures Intel in Tight Spots Engineers at APL have developed a portable mapping system—carried in a backpack—that can be used to automatically create annotated physical maps of locations where GPS is not available, such as in underground areas and on ships. Produced for the Defense Threat Reduction Agency (DTRA), the Enhanced Mapping and Positioning System (EMAPS) captures a floor-plan-style map of the area traversed, as well as 360-degree photos and sensor readings of that area using a combination of lasers and sensors. The system improves upon algorithms once developed for robots—which are not practical for all environments—and has a built-in allowance for normal human movement, like walking. Using light, detection, and ranging (LIDAR) sensors, EMAPS works while operators walk through an area carrying the unit in a backpack.

Designed mainly to detect and map environmental threats on ships and in other tough-to-get-to locations, EMAPS' novel algorithms also associate critical environmental data, such as radiation or radio frequency signal levels, with map locations. The basic EMAPS unit is an approximately six-inch cube that weighs less than four pounds (smaller than a brick), and includes a 270-degree laser scanner that measures the distances to walls and features in the environment. "EMAPS virtually takes pictures with every step," says Jason Stipes, of the Force Projection Department. "Using this technology, we can map almost every nook and cranny of targeted locations, capture that intelligence, and store it. Sensors can also detect threats, such as radiation or chemicals, and include them in our map." A second laser scanner is available to allow 3-D data collection, while an inertial sensor measures the roll, pitch, and yaw of the system to compensate for steps taken by the user. In addition, a removable camera system can be used to capture omnidirectional images along the walker's path.

A GPS receiver can be connected to EMAPS to allow for georegistration of the data, and an onboard computer stores and processes data in real time. Stipes says EMAPS has collected more than 100 hours of mapping data from a wide array of GPS-denied environments, including ships, underground storage facilities, Army training areas, and buildings such as the Smithsonian Natural History Museum. atlas checkpoint friendly laptop backpackThe maps include paths that are several miles long, in environments ranging from office buildings to complex engine rooms of ships at sea.targus ascend backpack laptop case "The EMAPS software addresses a number of challenges using specially developed algorithms," says Stipes. aeropostale floral graphic buckle backpack for sale

"Working with DTRA, APL engineers have created software to efficiently map data without boundaries while using a fixed amount of computer memory. And, while previous algorithms fail in open areas and long, smooth hallways, we have been able to design algorithms to map these challenging environments."icarly backpack target7-Eleven clerk dies after attempted robbery in Prince George’s Co.kata sling backpack dl-3n1-10 Md. 4-year-old girl dropped off at wrong bus stop all alonefreight baggage backpack for saleSomerset, KentuckyVocals, guitar, & dulcimer for The Dixie Bee-Liners. nfinity sparkle backpack on sale/!FavouritesWhole Foods Market, Sons Ministries, Pro Plan, The Falcon Ridge Folk Festival, Sticker Guy!, Chase, Big City Pizza, Bella J, 3 LOCAL B's, Cedar and Sage Colorado, 4 State Challenge to Raise Awareness of PTSD and Suicide, Todd Ayers Audio, Current-a seven part series, Trae Crowder, Machaela Neslerand more

Good News Clubs Reopen After Three-Year Ordeal CLEVELAND, OH – Good News Club® will reopen in the Cleveland Metropolitan School District (CMSD) elementary schools on February 2 now that the school district has changed its policy to ensure that religious groups, such as Child Evangelism Fellowship® (CEF®), receive the same access and benefits to public facilities as non-religious groups. The school district was previously providing free after-school access to non-religious community groups, such as the Boy Scouts, but imposed facility fees on CEF, resulting in the shutdown of its after-school, Christian character-education Good News Clubs. In 2013, Liberty Counsel filed a federal lawsuit on behalf of CEF, seeking equal access to the public school facilities for Good News Clubs. Child Evangelism Fellowship won the three-year lawsuit, and an Ohio federal district court found that CMSD violated the constitutional rights of CEF and required the school district to change its facility use policies and pay $150,000 in damages and attorney’s fees.

Liberty Counsel represents Child Evangelism Fellowship nationally and has never lost a case regarding the Good News Clubs. Mat Staver, Founder and Chairman of Liberty Counsel, said, “We celebrate the reopening of the Good News Clubs in the Cleveland Metropolitan School District. It’s been a three-year ordeal but this victory for equal access, our Constitution and Child Evangelism Fellowship is worth it. Public schools must learn they cannot discriminate against Christian viewpoints. Besides, it’s a win-win situation for the students and the schools. Studies show that 85 percent of all people who accept Christ do so before the age of 18. Child Evangelism Fellowship gives children a spiritual education, and more than 87 percent of school administrators say the Good News Clubs are a positive experience for their school,” said Tant. Child Evangelism Fellowship is an international, nonprofit, Christian ministry that has been teaching the Bible to children since 1937. CEF has 400 offices in the USA and is organized in most nations of the world, with over 3,200 paid staff and hundreds of thousands of volunteers.