Atlanta-based Zylinium Research announces move to West Virginia

MORGANTOWN, W.Va. (WV News) — Zylinium Research LLC, an Atlanta-based company creating robust battlefield communications technology, has announced its intention to relocate to Morgantown.

The company develops its Spectrum Exchange technology as specialized communications tools to support engagement efforts as commercial-off-the-shelf radio frequency devices and protocols become more widely used, according to a press release from the company.

This move will base the company’s business operations and further technology development activities at the Civil-Military Innovation Institute business incubator, which is headquartered in Morgantown.

“Spectrum demand continues to grow, and increasing interconnectedness of radio frequency devices means that there is a new opportunity to leverage this connectivity for real-time, super-granular RF spectrum sharing,” said Bob Baxley of Zylinium. “Moving our base of operations to Morgantown allows Zylinium to take advantage of specialized resources that are germane to our mission, including partnership with CMI2 and residence within the CMI2 business incubator.”

Military deployments in complex radio frequency environments are subject to interference that can deny or degrade network/sensing/jamming performance.

Spectrum Exchange is a system that intelligently processes the commander's intent and available RF sensing data to deconflict information about friendly and hostile military forces, avoiding enemy jamming while providing operators spectrum situational awareness, according to the release.

The critical function is creating robust battlefield communication by determining where to operate in time/spectrum/space and continuously deconflict with other spectrum-based systems, according to the release.

Founded in 2018, Zylinium Research in 2019 won the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency Spectrum Collaboration Challenge for its innovative spectrum sharing technology.

In 2022, the company was selected for the Department of Defense’s Innovate Beyond 5G Program and started the Spectrum Exchange Security and Scalability project.

As wireless networks face increasing user demand and spectrum-sharing technologies become more critical, Zylinium responded to this need by developing a network service appliance that receives, schedules, and allocates spectrum resources, according to the release.

“Near-peer adversaries see spectrum as the new ‘high ground,’ and we already know based on what we have observed in the conflict in Syria, and more recently in Ukraine that combatants will seek to deny or disrupt the use of the spectrum,” Baxley said. “Military forces able to exploit the spectrum ahead of their adversaries will gain a decisive competitive advantage, and Spectrum Exchange is a key enabler for achieving spectrum maneuver across the wide variety of electromagnetic spectrum devices.”

Based upon the demonstrated prior DoD successes of the Spectrum Exchange development activity, Zylinium Research was scouted and selected to participate in the Army Accelerator Program known as the Accelerating Future Operational Requirements, Capabilities, and Experimentation — or FORCE — program.

The FORCE program is an effort championed by Sen. Shelley Moore Capito, R-W.Va., that seeks to rapidly transition promising innovations from industry to scalable Army products. Since its inception in June 2022, the Zylinium Research technology is the second effort selected for the FORCE program.

“Innovative companies like Zylinium can play crucial roles in developing much-needed technologies for the Department of Defense,” Capito said. “It speaks volumes about West Virginia’s and, more specifically, CMI2’s capabilities that Zylinium will relocate to Morgantown, West Virginia, to continue development of emerging technologies.

"Initiatives like the CMI2 business incubator are proving invaluable in accelerating the delivery of cutting edge technology to our warfighters, and I’m pleased that West Virginia is at the forefront of these innovative approaches.”

In addition to a presence at the CMI2 business incubator campus in Morgantown, Zylinium Research will collaborate with CMI2 to develop additional spectrum infrastructure at CMI2’s Adaptive Experimentation Facility in Fola, West Virginia, in Clay County.

"The outcome of scouting Zylinium to come to West Virginia is truly a win for CMI2 and the FORCE program," said Paul Coffy, FORCE program manager. "Our ultimate goal is to support the varying DoD requirements for technology development and ensure expedited transition execution for critical technology like the Spectrum Exchange. The added opportunity to further impact West Virginia's economy by welcoming Zylinium Research to the Mountain State is a win-win for defense innovation and our region."