JOINT BASE PEARL HARBOR-HICKAM, Hawaii -- -- The TRON team began in January of 2019 as an after-work coding club with the intent to resolve small issues.
The first project involved building a takeoff and landing data calculator for local pilots called Puckboard.
After speaking with the current professionals in the field at Kessel Run and at the 497th ISR Wing located at Joint Base Langley-Eustis, Virginia, they learned that software development involves significantly more than just pushing code, especially when that code is critical to mission success.
“They brought up a lot of risks that we didn’t know about,” said Maj. Eric Robinson, TRON founder. “While the math seemed simple enough, we realized that there was a big difference between a prototype and a proven product able to return accurate results. When dealing with data that is used to make decisions affecting airworthiness of multi-million dollar aircraft, that professional validation, combined with an extreme focus on the needs and pain points of the intended users, is essential.”
Working With Organizations
Using the Small Business Innovation Research program, TRON started working with a Hawaiian small business in August of 2019. The following month, the TRON Software Development Lab opened in downtown Honolulu as a shared space for the SBIR business and Airmen.
The lab helped bridge the gap between servicemembers and technology, empowering them to work through the problems they were facing. The lab helps Airmen learn from industry experts, while also making it easier for the Department of Defense to work with commercial industries.
“I’ve been fortunate enough to be with TRON as it grew from the original team to the integrated team that we have today,” said Staff Sgt. Nathan Atkin, TRON project manager. “We were fortunate enough to hit roadblocks early on and learn how to persevere through them, and everyone that has joined the team has been equally adaptable while still learning and teaching everyone around them.”
Working Through Challenges
In October of 2019, TRON presented their application and progress to squadron commanders across the 15th Wing. The goal was to have a controlled unclassified environment accessible to Airmen no matter their physical location - an obstacle as such an authentication service didn’t exist for what TRON was trying to accomplish.
Another obstacle was the security controls. In the long run, the TRON team knew the Puckboard application needed a higher level of security measures. To address this problem, TRON hired Capt. Anthony Kallhoff, 690th Cyber Operations Squadron, as a cyber expert.
“It was the process of taking what we have locally and doing all the manipulations to get it available in CloudOne Production,” said Kallhoff. “You could have what you wanted down here, then it appears in CloudOne in 30 minutes - sometimes an hour, after a button is pressed. It’s available to you live.”
Puckboard was nearing completion in February 2020 and after some help from the Unified Platform team from San Antonio, the application was running on Air Force networks in March.
Expanding beyond Puckboard, TRON created a residency program Airmen to participate in coding courses.
The team is currently seeking like-minded squadrons that want to create applications they need for their mission.