From an Army research program to a responder's tablet

Who we are

Diamond B Technology Solutions, LLC is the technology arm of Diamond B Companies Inc., which has business ventures throughout the United States and Canada. Our offices are in West Fargo, North Dakota and Billings, Montana.

In 2017, DBTS obtained exclusive worldwide rights from the U.S. Army Research Laboratory (ARL) in White Sands, New Mexico to develop the system ARL called L-REAC™ (Local-Rapid Evaluation of Atmospheric Conditions). We renamed it LR-x®. The license includes an ongoing collaborative working relationship with ARL. Since then we have focused on upgrades and on expanding the system beyond its original design.

Why ARL built it

ARL's mission is to give America's soldiers a technology edge through scientific research, technology development and analysis. The laboratory is headquartered in Adelphi, Maryland, with two elements at White Sands Missile Range, New Mexico, where its atmospheric researchers work on Army-scale weather problems.

"The U.S. Army Research Laboratory (ARL) has been studying urban environments in response to the increased urban warfare scenarios facing U.S. Armed Forces. Within the first decade of 2000, three progressively more complex urban atmospheric field studies were conducted at White Sands Missile Range (WSMR), NM. These studies examined airflow and stability around urban buildings. Concurrent with the final study, emergency first response drills were executed. Based on ARL collaboration with the local emergency response professionals, the need for first responders to have real-time atmospheric data at their finger-tips was witnessed. ARL responded to the civilian/military emergency responder need by designing the Local-Rapid Evaluation of Atmospheric conditions (L-REAC™) System."

What the name means

The rebrand honors the ARL meteorologists, scientists and technicians who spent years researching and testing the system.

L

Localized (weather) incident response

R

Rapid deployment

x

Variable capabilities of the application

Patent

LR-x® is based on technology covered by U.S. Patent 9,911,303, "System to Evaluate Airborne Hazards," issued to the U.S. Army Research Laboratory on March 6, 2018 and licensed exclusively to DBTS.

Milestones

• 2000s: Three ARL urban atmospheric field studies at White Sands Missile Range lead to the L-REAC™ System.
• 2011: L-REAC™ supports authorities during the Abrams Fire near Las Cruces, NM.
• 2017: DBTS licenses the system from ARL; Fargo, ND Fire Department becomes an early adopter; one of twelve finalists at the TEEX Defense to Response (D2R) Technology Showcase.
• 2018: U.S. Patent 9,911,303 issued; Billings, MT Fire Department joins as an early adopter; Tier II database, advanced model settings, ARL's latest 3D wind field model, address search and share links added; reseller agreement with Coastal Environmental Systems; D2R finalist for a second year.
• 2019: Co-presentation with ARL at the American Meteorological Society Annual Meeting; IBM / The Weather Company becomes the standard weather service.

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