George S. (Steve) Carson
GSC Associates
Denver: 2727 Xanthia Court, Denver, Colorado 80238-2611, +1-303-388-6355
Keystone: 0084 Oro Grande Drive, #123D, Keystone, Colorado 80435, +1-970-262-1429
carson@gscassociates.com (e-mail)
http://www.gscassociates.com (web site)

Major areas of Professional Interest

Mathematics, statistics, and operations research; education and training; systems engineering; distributed systems; digital multimedia and digital libraries; object technology; computer graphics, virtual reality, image processing, and environmental representation; human-computer interaction; collaboration; computational linguistics; knowledge acquisition and knowledge management; data base systems; real-time systems; digital signal processing; performance analysis; simulation and modeling; document processing and document architectures, publishing; computer communications; wireless; technical and general management; strategic planning; organizational development; litigation support; and standardization.

Education

Ph.D., Mathematics; University of California, Riverside; 1975
B.S., Mathematics; University of Tennessee, Knoxville; 1970

Computer Experience Summary

Systems, languages and technologies: mainframes, minicomputers, and microprocessors; PCs running Windows XP, Windows Server, Vista, Linux; Macintosh; UNIX workstations including Sun, HP and IBM; VxWorks. Languages - PL/I; FORTRAN; Pascal, Concurrent Pascal; Modula, C, C++; C#, J#, Java, Visual Basic; Smalltalk, Modula-2; Algol; COBOL; many assembly languages; microcode; SQL; SGML; XML; HTML; VRML and Web3D; UML, CORBA; CEBus; X-10, UPnP; SharePoint 2007; .NET.

Experience

President, GSC Associates Inc., Redondo Beach, CA and Owner, GSC Associates, Las Cruces, NM and Denver, CO

• Supporting the litigation and intellectual property practices at Simpson Thacher in a complex intellectual property case where I am using my background and experience in Computer Science -- especially computer networks in this instance -- to search for prior art in a patent infringement case. I have also supported other law firms such as Gibson Dunn in the past by applying mathematics, statistics, and operations research to analyze and  model personnel systems to investigate various types of employment discrimination. 
• Served as the Systems Engineer and System Architect for the Strategic Mobility 21 (SM 21) program, a study funded by the Office of Naval Research and managed by the Center for the Commercial Deployment of Transportation Technologies (CCDOTT). SM 21 is developing a regional planning capability for the Southern California region focused on logistics and transportation. One goal is to enable re-opening the San Pedro Bay (SPB) ports of  Long Beach and Los Angeles for use in surge deployment and sustainment by the US military. A second goal is to plan an Inland Port facility near Victorville, California that will work in conjunction with the SPB ports to at least double the throughput of the ports by implementing advanced agile and efficient port concepts. Our duties have included interacting with stakeholders, developing system concepts and requirements and documenting them in UML, directing study efforts in modeling and simulation and optimization, and working with associated contractors in planning and conducting advance technology demonstrations. 
• Conceptualized, designed, and developed the web portal interfaces for the Strategic Mobility 21 research program conducted for the Office of Naval Research. We implemented these interfaces using SharePoint 2007 along with standard Microsoft Office file formats such as Excel. The web portal provides a collection of web based interfaces for human users and operators of a transportation and logistics management system for Southern California. The functionality includes: a collaborative interface that allows military transportation planners and ship stowage planners to cooperate in optimizing the transportation of unit equipment to ports and the loading of that equipment on board ships; a logistics common operating picture that analyzes information for many different sources including EDI messages, RFID tag reads, and rail tracking data to present actionable information to the operators of costal and inland ports; and a regional planning interface that includes a wikipedia and database of regional logistics and transportation information, geo-spatial visualizations, and modeling, simulation, and analysis tools organized around set of common data files based on a formal ontology. A paper about this work was presented at the 12th ICCRTS: Collaboration in Regional Civilian and Military Transportation Planning.
• Served as the systems architect for the Consolidation Processor (CONPRO) and the Depot Consolidation Processor (DCP) subsystems of the Strategic Munitions Distribution Network (SMDN) operated by the Joint Munitions Command (JMC). These subsystems enable the planning of munitions shipments to reduce the risk inherent in shipping hazardous and sensitive munitions by consolidating cargo onto the fewest possible shipments over the shortest possible distances, thereby reducing transportation risk. Developed the system concepts, wrote the requirements documents for both of these subsystems, designed and proved the concepts for the mathematical algorithms used in each system, designed the software and managed its development, accomplished the test planning and managed the integration and test work. The technologies involved include: setup and solution of very large mixed integer and linear programming (MILP) problems, algorithms to determine optimal routes for multi-stop shipments, optimal segregation of cargo based on the rules in US and international shipping regulations, and "container packing" algorithms that determine how best to arrange loads on conveyances.
• Participated in the Rolling Start for DARPA's Integrated Battle Command program. Designed and developed a Coalition Collaboration Aid groupware product to support planning at a Joint Forces headquarters. This groupware tool instrumented electronic exchanges using chat, e-mail, and web-based (wiki) interactions among members of ad-hoc and other groups involved in planning and collected all interchanges in a common format in a database. The Coalition Collaboration Aid analyzed the progress of collaborative interchanges in real-time using a variety of measures of effectiveness based both on message externals and internals (linguistic content) and alerted leaders to groups whose members were not interacting effectively. Participated in a demonstration of this technology at USJFCOM in November 2004. A paper about this work presented at the 10th ICCRTS: A Measurement and Monitoring System for Tracking and Visualizing Collaboration Metrics in Real-time and for Later Analysis.
• Participated in the "Seedling" for DARPA's Integrated Battle Command program. Conducted the base research and development needed to identify technologies that DARPA needed to fund under a future Collaboration part to the Integrated Battle Command program. The end result was the definition of a Universal Collaboration Environment that consisted of present technologies supplemented by future ones to address multi-organizational and multi-cultural collaborative efforts, especially those addressing the class of problems known as wicked problems.
• Investigated the use of UML to support the specification of information needed in human performance modeling. Developed an innovative methodology for using UML to design task organizations and capture information needed by Army Research Labs's IMPRINT human performance modeling tool.
• Editor of two International Standards: Environmental Data Coding Specification (EDCS - ISO 18026) and the Spatial Reference Model (SRM - ISO 18025).  Conducted research and development in spatial information processing and integrated concepts from a diverse set of information communities including the US DoD, International Hydrographic Organization (IHO), World Meteorological Organization (WMO), International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), OpenGIS Consortium (OGC), ISO TC 211 (Geographic Information - Geomatics), the SEDRIS Organization, and the Simulation Interoperability Standard Organization (SISO) into a cohesive framework. Participated in the ISO Joint Steering Group on Spatial Standard and Related Interoperability and conducted liaison with many standards organizations worldwide.  Also was a key contributor to data representation model and transmittal format standards for spatial information.
• Served as Manager of Integration and Test for the certification tracking system of a major semiconductor manufacturing firm. Wrote test plans and documentation; performed integration and test of a distributed application involving many databases, web-based elements, client server elements; managed the work of others.
• System Engineer for several development projects for a major semiconductor manufacturing firm. Developed concepts and prototypes and wrote the specification for a web based system provided consolidated world-wide access to operational indicators of the performance of manufacturing operations throughout the world to upper management. Developed concepts and wrote the specification for information systems to support a new model for semiconductor manufacturing.
• Developed concepts, specifications and prototype hardware and software for location-based services, including interfaces with GPS and automotive data buses as well as image understanding applied to transportation system monitoring.
• Developed product concepts for wireless Internet appliances, wrote Product Specifications, designed and developed hardware and software. Conducted studies of markets and developed advanced product concepts related to future digital television products. This included research and development work in data broadcasting. Conducted research and development, including hardware, software and firmware development for product prototypes in home networks and home gateways, including ones that conform to the UPnP (Universal Plug and Play) specification. Conducted research and developed advanced product concepts and prototypes for Intelligent Transportation System (ITS) and Automotive Telematics products.
• Developed concepts, specifications and prototype hardware and software for a line of home networking products, including integration of home management, media and home computers.  The concept included several versions of an Information Portal that provided interconnection of network media within a home and shared connections to outside services.  Prepared competitive market studies and technology forecasts.
• Served as Director of Research and Development for a line of home automation products developed for a Fortune 50 Corporation in the US market. This product line includes various controllers (security, HVAC, appliance and general home products) and a System Manager that provides a homeowner with automated control of home automation components through IR and CEBus protocols. Developed product concepts, requirements, and functional specifications; planned the company's next generation of products; participated in strategic planning. Managed HW, SW, HF and FW development teams and took the initial product line from concept to initial release in controlled introduction.
• As Chairman of Subcommittee 24 (Computer Graphics and Image Processing) of Joint Technical Committee 1 (JTC 1) of the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) and of the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC), responsible for many innovations in the development and processing of International Standards. Among these was the concept of processing International Standards under written Cooperative Agreements between specification owners (such as Consortia) and ISO and IEC. This strategy minimized processing time and unnecessary change while still adding value to the original specifications. Managed the work that finalized and republished the CGM, PHIGS and GKS standards. Initiated ISO work on Virtual Reality Modeling Language (VRML - ISO 14772-1), Portable Network Graphics (PNG), the Basic Image Interchange Format (BIIF - ISO 12087-5), Synthetic Environment Data Representation and Interchange Specification (SEDRIS - ISO 18023, Environmental Data Coding Specification (EDCS - ISO 18026) and the Spatial Reference Model (SRM - ISO 18025) standards and managed the development of these International Standards.
• Under contract to the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), developed techniques for formally specifying the Virtual Reality Modeling Language Version 2.0 specification. Developed automated techniques for generating test cases from the formal specifications.
• Selected by the US DoD to organize and moderate a Symposium to bring together international renown experts to address the US Government's requirements for distribution of information in electronic formats. Government participation included the DoD, Library of Congress, the National Archives and Records Administration and the US Courts. The Symposium produced a set of scenarios defining government requirements, a set of properties of potential solutions and made recommendations about the best solutions for particular applications.
• Developed techniques for transition and interoperation among network management strategies, including SNMP, CMIP and CORBA-based strategies for a major NASA program. Defined reusable managed object definition strategies and identified needed object definitions.
• Developed a strategy for transitioning to the use of object technology (object request brokers, object services, interface definition languages, etc.) in a major NASA program. Wrote the project standards document for the same program. Reviewed and critiqued design specifications and systems concepts.
• Successfully completed many assignments as a consultant to the Defense Information Systems Agency (DISA) Center for Standards including: organized and led a symposium to define DoD requirements for document interchange standards; prepared DoD comments on the ISO Forms Interface Management Standard (FIMS); developed FIMS multimedia extensions; studied DoD wide requirements for graphics interchange in the office and publishing environments and planned DoD activities to develop enabling standards, profiles and testing/certification activities.
• Developed the testing and certification procedures and the test cases for validating implementations of the Computer Graphics Metafile (CGM) standard (ISO 8632:1992) as a consultant to the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST). These tests are used both in the US and internationally for conformance testing of CGM products.
• Designed and managed the development of an Apple Macintosh product that provides a lost-cost solution for small firms that must deliver documents in CALS-standard (MIL-STD 1840) format on 9-track tape to the government. Did a substantial amount of the programming, including developing the user interface, and integration and test of the entire product.
• Prepared the proposal for and won a Phase I SBIR for FY90. It was based on topic N90-297 entitled 'Voice Messaging and Response for Naval Ashore and Afloat Traffic'. Analyzed and categorized uses of voice communications in tactical naval operations. Described voice processing technologies and products and selected a representative set of applications into which voice processing technology could be injected. Developed several innovative new voice processing application ideas, including a Voice Processing Workstation to enable an individual to utilize more simultaneous channels of voice information. Submitted a Phase II proposal to continue this work.
• Prepared the proposal for and won a Phase I SBIR for FY90. It was based on topic N90-079 entitled 'Automation of Digital Data Review and Verification'. Analyzed how the government accepts and verifies contractor data in current repositories and developed process and data flows. Extrapolated these processes to the digital CALS environment and, using the results of a technology survey of verification technologies that we prepared, defined a digital review, verification and acceptance process for each class of CALS data deliverable.
• Prepared the proposal for and won a Phase I SBIR for FY89. It was based on topic N89-037 entitled 'Addressing Techniques for Naval Traffic in a Multi-Media Environment.' Performed systems engineering analysis to study data traffic on Navy RF links and proposed ways of solving various technical problems that arise when attempting to use standard communication protocols based on the ISO/OSI model in these circumstances. Submitted a Phase II proposal to continue this work.
• Studied and evaluated the PDES/STEP standard draft of November 1988 for NIST. Focused on improving the compatibility among PDES/STEP and standards in the areas of Codes and Character Sets, Office Systems, and Computer Graphics. Drafted a revision of the Presentation Entities that became a formal US position. Prepared recommended changes to PDES/STEP for NIST and attended IGES/PDES/STEP meetings to present my results.
• Developed text and raster extensions to computer graphics standards to support Department of Defense Computer Aided Logistic Support (CALS) requirements. Prepared registration proposals and sponsored them for approval through the ANSI and ISO standards process.
• Investigated DoD requirements in the areas of automated technical and office publishing and engineering documentation and determined requirements for data exchange in the CALS program. Developed recommended extensions to standards for graphics, office systems, and product data exchange to meet CALS requirements. Defined extensions to computer graphics standards in the form of additional registered items (line styles, marker symbols, generalized drawing primitives - such as splines, etc.). Prepared registration proposals and sponsored them for approval through the ANSI and ISO standards process. Designed and developed a software system for maintaining the International Register of Graphical Items. This work was done under contract to National Bureau of Standards to support the DoD CALS program.
• Evaluated the graphics validation tests developed by the European Community to determine their suitability for use by the DoD in verifying the suitability of graphics systems implementations that claim conformance to various international graphics standards. Executed the tests on two commercial implementations of the GKS standard and determined the source of problems that were encountered. This work was done under contract to National Bureau of Standards (now NIST) to support the DoD CALS program.
• Evaluated the graphics validation tests developed by the European Community to determine their suitability for use by the DoD in verifying the suitability of graphics systems implementations that claim conformance to various international graphics standards. Executed the tests on two commercial implementations of the GKS standard and determined the source of problems that were encountered. This work was done under contract to National Bureau of Standards (now NIST) to support the DoD CALS program.
• Conceptualized, designed and managed the development of three computer graphics products for the Apple Macintosh computer. These products are sold commercially by GSC Associates today and OEM versions are licensed to firms such as Apple Computer and Microsoft.
• Reviewed specifications and design of an all-source intelligence analysis system and suggested improvements to correct deficiencies and make it more usable.
• Key contributor to studies to define sensor data processing requirements for the 1995-2005 timeframe. This involved understanding the capabilities and limitations of a variety of current collection systems, identifying key technologies for R&D funding, and developing alternative candidate architectures to satisfy projected requirements. My involvement focused on digital signal processing algorithms definition, conceptualization of digital hardware and computer architectures, and performance evaluation of alternative architectural concepts.
• Participated in systems engineering and acquisition planning for a distributed system to support tactical intelligence collection and analysis for an Army division. Developed system functional specifications and a baseline system architecture. Conducted research and development in intelligence data processing, including the correlation techniques for sensor reports from diverse sources; investigated the processing of ELINT systems; developed generic ELINT sensor model to allow comparison of alternative processing strategies.
• Responsible for developing the protocol architecture, security and management concepts for a large local computer network (110 hosts and over 1200 workstations). Participated in other aspects of network design including architecture selection, operational concept definition, and multi-level security concepts. Responsible for major portions of Design Specifications, ICDs and performance allocation and modeling.
• Defined the communication architecture for a distributed, fault-tolerant process control system for Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory.
• Responsible for the definition and specification of the nodal operating system for a local network using a token passing global bus.
• Responsible for the specification of system software for nodes in the above system including tape servers, line printer servers, communications, adapters, and gateways to other networks.
• Responsible for integrating a SEL 32/77 minicomputer and a CSPI MAP 6400 array processor to create a system to support the simulation and analysis of spacecraft control and sensor systems. Provided systems and applications programming support; analyzed numerical algorithms and designed array processor routines to accelerate their execution.
• Responsible for the design and implementation of a large (35,000 lines of FORTRAN) simulation program which verified control and sensor subsystem performance requirements for a spacecraft system. Wrote specifications and managed the work package for this project, including having cost and schedule responsibility and managing the work of other engineers and programmers.
• Participated in the implementation of a multiprocessor real-time process control system using a network of VAX's and interactive graphical displays. Performed integration and test; wrote System Acceptance Test procedures.. Participated in installation of this system at the operational site and sell-off to the government.
• Responsible for studies relating to space borne processing of IR sensor data. Conducted trade studies of alternative architectures and implementation strategies.
• Developed concepts for distributed, fault-tolerant operating systems. This assignment studied the feasibility of migrating signal processing (threat identification and classification) from ground stations to the spacecraft to increase survivability.

Harris Corporation, Electronic Systems Division, Melbourne, Florida

As a member of the Systems Software Section, duties included the following:

• Group leader (supervisor) of the Microprocessor Group, a ten person group involved in the design and implementation of microprocessor and small mini-computer based systems.
• Chairman of the Division Microprocessor Technology committee which was responsible for planning microprocessor development facilities and the selection of personnel to staff microprocessor jobs.
• Principle investigator for the two Internal Research and Development programs; the first (Digital Signal Processing Computer Architecture) involved investigating real-time digital processing techniques applicable to SIGINT collection systems, and developing a high level language and designing computer architectures for their implementation. The second (Distributed Processing) involved the investigation of high level languages and operating systems to support the multi-processor multi-LSI peripheral environment. Duties included total responsibility for these programs including conceptualization, planning, budgets and schedules.
• Key contributor to pre-proposal, proposal and study efforts. Responsible for the computer subsystem portions of several proposal efforts in the 30-40 million dollar range.
• Key contributor to many design and implementation efforts in the areas of SIGINT collection systems, COMSEC systems and spacecraft systems. Some contributions included the design of a data base and flexible digital demodulator (V.26, V.27, V.29, etc.); computer architecture and algorithm development for navigation and optical control electronics of the Space Telescope.
• Established a microprocessor development facility which integrated a mini-computer, a microprocessor development system, and a collection of single board computers into a comprehensive software development facility. This facility supports the development, debug, integration and test of software/firmware in both assembly language and high level languages for the 8086, 69000, 2900, and Z8000 microcomputers.

GTE Automatic Electric Labs, Northlake, Illinois

As a member of the Circuit Analysis and Simulation Group, duties included:

• Studies of the circuit design process at AE Labs, leading to the writing of specifications for a mini-computer based circuit entry and analysis system using interactive graphics.
• Evaluation and study of digital logic simulators (including CC-TEGAS, LOGCAP, and FANSIM) and digital test pattern generation techniques.
• Evaluation of computer graphics terminals and graphics software packages.
• Participated in the design and implementation of an interactive graphics interface for the SPICE circuit analysis program.
• Design of a data management system (including an IDMS data base) to support circuit analysis programs.
• Research and development in various areas of analog circuit design, including tolerance optimization, design centering, and statistical circuit analysis.

Rockwell International, B-1 Division, Los Angeles, California

As a member of the Computing Technology Group, duties included:

• 'Open-Shop' consulting in mathematics, statistics, operations research, and computer science.
• Solved several operations research problems relating to the design of subsystems of the B-1 bomber.
• Teaching programming languages (PL/I. FORTRAN) and holding advanced seminars in programming techniques for engineering programmers.
• Consulting with Rockwell's corporate attorneys regarding the Equal Opportunity Affirmative Action program at Rockwell's aerospace divisions. This work included modeling the aerospace personnel system, doing numerous statistical analyses for comparisons with the model, designing a salary prediction model, designing and producing reports for management.
• Acted as principal investigator for all data processing requirements for a minicomputer based system to support conceptual design of military aircraft. This work included doing project planning (budgets and schedules); writing a System Concepts and Requirements Document; collecting, modifying and integrating computer programs that became part of the system.
• Supervised the work of computer programmers.

California State College, San Bernardino, California

As a lecturer in the mathematics department, taught courses in calculus, probability and statistics, operations research, algebra and mathematics education.

United States Army Infantry School, Fort Benning, Georgia

Attended Infantry Officer Basic Course.

University of California, Riverside, California

During graduate school, served as a teaching assistant and a teaching fellow.

Professional Activities

Senior Member of IEEE, member of INFORMS, IEEE Computer Society, IEEE Communications Society, ACM, AMS, MAA, AAAS, Sigma XI, AFCEA; Member of ANSI X3H3 Computer Graphics and Image Processing committee and chair of Open Graphical Environments Subcommittee; member of X3T5 Open Systems Interconnection Standards Committees; reviewer of the IEEE Standards including 802 Local Networks Standards; US delegate to JTC1/SC24 Computer Graphics and Imaging committee, Rapporteur for Formal Description; Editor of International Standard 11072, Information Processing - Computer Graphics - Computer Graphics Reference Model, International Standard 18026, the Spatial Reference Model (SRM), and International Standard 18025, the Environmental Data Coding Specification (EDCS); principal contributor to a new generation of computer graphics standards, including advanced graphical metafiles and object-oriented multimedia systems.

Author of many technical publications in digital signal processing, programming language design, computer graphics, user interfaces, and formal specification methodology.

Associate Editor of IEEE Micro, 1985 - 1988

Member of ACM Technical Standard Committee, 1992 - present

Member of IFIP WG 5.10, Computer Graphics and Virtual Worlds

Member of the Editorial Board of the ACM SIGGRAPH Book Series

Technical consultant to the Interactive Multimedia Association (IMA) and editor of the Recommended Practice in Multimedia System Services (MSS)

Chair of ISO/IEC JTC 1/SC 24 (Computer Graphics and Image Processing), 1994 - 2000

Member of ANSI ISSB (Information Systems Standards Board)

Editor of Computing Reviews for Computer Graphics (2009 - present)

Miscellaneous

Extensive teaching experience at college level and in industrial short courses. Have taught courses in human-computer interaction, distributed processing, local computer networks, object technology, human-computer interaction, and computer graphics for UCLA Extension and various professional education organizations. Adjunct faculty at Colorado Mountain College, teaching Statistics and Calculus.

Army Reserve Officer (Strategic Intelligence, SIGINT Operations, Tactical EW/Crypto Operations).

GSC Associates Denver: 2727 Xanthia Court, Denver, CO 80238-2611, +1-303-388-6355 (phone) Keystone: 0084 Oro Grande Drive, #123D, Keystone, Colorado 80435-7914, +1-970-262-1429 (phone) E-mail: info@gscassociates.com

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