About Us

ABOUT

The JSTRE Groups mission is to assist Governments and private organizations having a clear scientific mission. Our experience resides in leveraging technology to support that mission. While not scientists ourselves The JTRE Group has been working with scientists since 2008 primarily in Meteorology, Astrophysics and Aerospace. In short, our mission is to support scientific efforts.

The JSTRE Groups vision is reduce our footprint on engagements in support of the United States Federal Government as we attempt to build International, State and Local engagements. While the current United States Federal Government administration has shown a clear intent to reduce scientific initiatives, we have seen Europe, Asia, Canada and Australia appear to share common goals concerning scientific initiatives and the value of using science to create a better more sustainable world for the future.

About Us

DATA ANALYTICS

Data Analytics experience was obtained during engagements across multiple organizations. While each organization had differing missions our focus on data analytics and supporting activities blossomed when we engaged exclusively with organizations having a core scientific mission.

While data analytic efforts are necessary, having a strong background in software architecture, design and implementation, technical / scientific writing and presentation experience facilitate the success of the efforts.

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METEOROLOGY & ASTROPHYSICS

Meteorology and Astrophysics experience was obtained on engagements at the National Oceanic Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA) National Weather Service (NWS) and NOAA Environmental Satellite Data and Information Systems (NESDIS) divisions.

Engagements involved data analytics of space weather phenomena, technical / scientific writing, presentations to senior and executive management, software analysis, design, modeling, development and project management. Additional activities included providing assistance during efforts to transition legacy software from on-premise to the Amazon cloud infrastructure.

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Aircraft jet engine turbine

AEROSPACE

Aerospace experience was obtained on engagements at The MITRE Corporation’s Center for Advanced Aviation Systems Development (CAASD) and at Rockwell Collins Aerospace.

Engagements involved engineering, technical / scientific writing, data analysis and presentation skills. I became a Solutions Architect / Multidisciplinary Systems Engineer. Engagements supported The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). Additional experience was obtained at Rockwell Collins Aerospace where I was afforded an opportunity to learn about Human Resource activities including Human-Factors as it pertains to the manufacturing of advanced avionics equipment.

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LOGISTICS COMPLIANCE

Logistics Compliance experience was obtained during engagements with the United States Department of Homeland Security (DHS) in the Customs and Border (CBP) agency.

Engagements involved software architectural design, engineering and data modeling. The engagements supported the CPB Cargo Systems Program Office (CSPO).

An additional engagement supported Border Enforcement Management Systems (BEMS) and Immigration Customs Enforcement (ICE).

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TELECOMMUNICATIONS

Telecommunications experience was obtained while employed at XO Communications, NextLink Communications and Pervigil.

Engagements involved software engineering and customer local number portability (LNP). Software engineering involved creating a mandated Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Enhanced 911 (E911) product and integration into the Telecom Business Solutions (TBS) software. Development of a network performance analysis software product was also performed. LNP activities included client consultation and issuing number portability requests into existing LNP software.

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CONTACT

The JSTRE Group

c/o Jason Travis
6920-B Braddock Road
Suite 233
Annandale, Virginia 22003
Email: info@jstre.com

Meteorology and Astrophysics

Technology Stack

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Java / Java Enterprise Edition (JEE)

An object-oriented programming language developed by Sun Microsystems.
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Python

A dynamically type-checked programming language.
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Unix Shell

A command-line interpreter providing multiple procedural programming languages including Korn (KSH), Bourne (SH), C-Shell (CSH) and Bourne Again (BASH) shells.
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Extensible Markup Language (XML)

A file format for storing, transmitting and reconstructing data.
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JavaScript Object Notation (JSON)

Is an open standard file and data interchange format using text to store and transmit data objects.  It is a commonly used data format with diverse uses in electronic data interchange (EDI), including web and server-side applications.
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MATrix LABoratory (MATLAB)

A proprietary multi-paradigm programming language and numeric computing environment that is considered the “gold standard” within the scientific research community.
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PostgreSQL

An open-source relational database management system.
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Enterprise Architect

Sparx Systems Enterprise Architect is a software platform for visual modeling and design , particularly for software systems, business processes, and industry domains. It’s a multi-user tool based on the Object Management Group’s (OMG) UML 2.5 specification. Enterprise Architect is used to model system architectures and process implementations throughout the application development lifecycle.
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Eclipse

An Integrated Development Environment (IDE) for primarily for the Java programming Language but provides strong support for other programming languages like Python, C and C++.

Milestone Accomplishments:

Received the Outstanding Team Members of the Month award for the work performed to during the Suomi National Polar-orbiting Partnership (SNPP) satellite instrument recovery effort. The recovery effort involved numerous members of the NPP Data Exploitation (NDE) team to update production rules for multiple atmospheric products and frequent communication with multiple teams and government officials in a coordinated effort to get SNPP satellite data operational.  The award was received by the Director of the Office of Satellite and Product Operations.
Lead author for three research documents titled “Validation of AWIPS2 Implementation of The SWPC IDL K-Index Calculation” (May 2014), “Validation of AWIPS2 Implementation of The SWPC IDL K-Index Calculation Supplemental” (May 2015) and “Validation of AWIPS II Implementation of The SWPC IDL Ks and Kp Calculation” (May 2015). It was an effort by NOAA’s National Center for Operations (NCO) on behalf of the Space Weather Prediction Center (SWPC) to validate that the metrics produced by the Advanced Weather Interactive Processing System version 2 (AWIPS2) Java implementation of the Geomagnetic models were accurate.  The aviation, telecommunications and space exploration industries rely on accurate predictions of fluctuations in the earths geomagnetic field to safeguard critical infrastructure.  The validation effort led to the discovery of deficiencies in the production model.  I received a SWPC team award for discovering the software bug in the production model.
Lead author on a software systems engineering document titled: “Space Weather Prediction Center Applications Overview and Inventory Validation” (August 2017). It was an effort by NOAA’s National Center for Operations (NCO) on behalf of the Space Weather Prediction Center (SWPC) to ascertain all Space Weather Operations Center (SWOC) software scheduled for modernization and inclusion in the AWIPS-II weather forecasting and analysis system.  This master document was the result of an exhaustive six-month effort involving directing numerous onsite meetings and teleconferences with Space Weather executive management, chief scientists, and forecast center subject matter experts.  The effort consolidated over sixty (60) software utilities into a set of thirteen (13) robust software applications based on common functionality.  The effort reduced forecaster workload and simplified project management.
As the lead software architect, I designed the framework used to allow the software development team to transmit, receive perform data analytic computations across all SWPC software components. I was presented with a new opportunity to lead all data analytic efforts, conduct presentations with senior and executive management and ultimately become the decision maker for all SWPC modernization related activities.  This was an achievement rarely granted to government contract staff.
As the lead software architect, I was tasked to provide the department with situational awareness concerning the current state of existing software applications being transitioned to our department during an organizational restructuring mandate. Providing senior and executive management with the information needed to predict staff re-alignments and define level of efforts to maintain and enhance these applications involved:

  1. modeling the existing state of two python applications using Sparx Systems Enterprise Architect
  2. authoring a system design document
  3. conducting multiple technical presentations focusing on:
      • i. Software structural integrity
      • ii. Information exchange between heterogenous systems
      • iii. Task required to reduce the level of effort to maintain the applications

The efforts were initiated promptly at my request due to the lack of situational awareness and brief two-month advanced notice of the organizational change in responsibilities.  My involvement reduced uncertainty to a minimum allowing management to focus on hiring staff with skillsets lacking in our current development team.

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