Fairmount Automation Awarded DoD SBIR Grant to Develop a Distributed Data Acquisition and Signal Processing Platform

PHOENIXVILLE, PA-NOVEMBER 17, 2003- Fairmount Automation announced today that the Naval Sea Systems Command (NAVSEA) has awarded the Company with a Phase I Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) grant to develop an affordable, flexible, and distributed data acquisition and signal processing system. The system is expected to achieve meaningful reductions in sailor workload, shipboard personnel levels, and total ownership costs by automatically handling tasks traditionally carried out by people. The system is also anticipated to reduce equipment maintenance costs by providing a platform to execute advanced diagnostic and prognostic algorithms.

To meet Navy objectives, Fairmount Automation will expand its compact and rugged Chameleon® product line to include support for wireless communications, emerging IEEE-1541 compliant transducers, and various de-facto industrial networking protocols. The Company believes that the modular architecture of the Chameleon multi-processor platform is ideally suited to serve as a network-neutral data acquisition system.

"When we set out to develop our Chameleon product line two years ago, we had the same vision for future Navy platforms that NAVSEA expressed in the recent SBIR solicitation-that of decentralized and highly-sensorized automation systems that bridge disparate technologies, machinery and networks into a fully integrated system" said Gary Cane, co-Founder and Chief Technical Officer of Fairmount Automation. He added: "We are thrilled that the selection committee recognized Chameleon's potential to realize that common vision."

Fairmount Automation's Chameleon-based system will be programmable and will expand upon its use of open standards and open systems architectures. It will be designed to process large volumes of data collected from thousands of wired and wireless sensors installed on hundreds of ship systems. And it will have the capability to communicate via wireless (e.g., IEEE 802.11b) LANs as well as ubiquitous wired LANs.

Fairmount Automation will use Phase I funds totaling approximately $100,000 to create a detailed development plan, research design concepts, and build a demonstration platform based on existing Chameleon modules. If the Company's technology and fresh ideas impress U.S. Navy engineers, it could receive up to $750,000 in additional Phase II funding.

About Fairmount Automation, Inc. 

Fairmount Automation is a leading provider of high-performance distributed control solutions for extreme environments. The Company is an original equipment manufacturer of rugged programmable automation controllers used to monitor and regulate industrial processes and machinery. It also provides advanced engineering services to investigate and develop automated damage control systems for U.S. Navy surface combatants, including the Navy's next generation land attack destroyer. The Company is developing distributed intelligent systems that automatically detect and isolate equipment failures and reconfigure themselves to sustain the ship's mission. The Company is based in Phoenixville, Pennsylvania. For more information, please visit www.FairmountAutomation.com.

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