Born out of tragedy, Dayton-based STAN Solutions believes the work it's doing will lessen the chances of similar incidents in the future.
"Stan Harriman was a friend of my brother's," explains J. Tony Manuel, president of the Dayton company that now bears Harriman's name. "He was on patrol in Afghanistan with my brother. There was an insurgency in the area, and an air strike was called in to provide assistance. They saw my brother, but they didn't see Stan."
Manuel said the loss spurred Chris Manuel to ask Tony if something could be done to prevent friendly-fire casualties in the future.
Manuel, a former engineering instructor at Sinclair Community College, launched STAN Solutions in 2002 to do just that, starting with three questions that have dogged militaries for centuries: Where am I? Where are my buddies? And where is the enemy?
Today, the answers are coming for the first time using a real-time network using video, data and text -- a system that now allows military personnel in places like Afghanistan and Iraq lessen friendly-fire casualties and civilian deaths.
Meanwhile, the company has continued to branch out into new network capabilities and sensor technologies that show promise in both military and civilian applications. STAN currently has the sole licensing rights to a super-camera developed by Israel-based Adaptive Imaging Technologies. STAN is making refinements to the instrument's capabilities to provide 360-degree giga-pixel resolution from 6.5 miles away, Manuel says. The camera has potential not just for the military uses, he says, but for such things as spotting the cause of smoke in a forest or allowing a rural doctor to transmit crucial medical images to a specialist.
The company currently employs about 50, Manuel says, but continues to grow.
Source: J. Tony Manuel, STAN Solutions
Writer: Gene Monteith