| | 19CIOReviewDECEMBER 2021initiatives. In order to gain mutual benefit in a limited market space, MAI also teams up with its market competition to buy crucial branding power for its respective sponsors in the process. Key to these relationships is understanding and being a part of sponsor-led working groups that serve as a conduit for the industry as well as a mechanism for collaboration of small businesses with government, academic research centers, and each other. Also, Marine Acoustics' select MAI locations at the key "centers of gravity" for the Navy acoustic communities, to include proximity to the Navy Undersea Warfare Center (NUWC) in Middletown, RI, the Office of Navy Research (ONR) in Arlington, VA, as well as new locations near Naval Submarine Base New London, CT, help serve customers more efficiently.With an inherent capability to apply its operational acumen to creative solutions for its clients, MAI has significantly accelerated its Small Business Innovative Research (SBIR) initiatives. "The solutions answer key questions and needs for the Navy in Phase I, and leverage MAI's operational understanding of the problem, use cases, and key Navy protocols that must be taken into consideration in formulating the solution," mentions Psaras. Some of these concepts range from ways to network collaborative sensors in a cooperative, coordinated Concept of Operation (CONOPs) to visualizing and representing Commander's Risk to future undersea warfare operations for Navy planners. "Many of these initiatives having been chosen to transition to Phase II and even Phase III of the SBIR lifecycle," Psaras asserts.MAI sees itself posturing for capabilities in exciting new areas such as Unmanned Underwater Vehicles (UUVs) and distributed, automated sensors for data collection capability. As AI and ML become an increasingly important realm for a Navy's ability, the company will also be investing in these technologies to assess large volumes of data for optimized tactical performance of sensor systems. Lastly, MAI has been positioning capability for exporting tried and true methodologies to foreign partners; to include Foreign Military Sales (FMS) initiatives for Navy training and assistance, test and evaluation, and modeling and simulation to the U.S. Allies, as well as Direct Commercial Sales (DCS) service support of acoustic Environmental Compliance (EC) projects for upcoming overseas markets. "We feel we are particularly well positioned for these types of markets with both existing and growing company capability and are excited for the possibilities," concludes Psaras. We invest heavily in Acoustic Analysts, Ocean Engineers, Navy Trainers, and Test Coordinators as well as Marine Biologists; all respected professionals in their relative field of expertise
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