Where ATOS Comes From

The Android Tactical Object Surveillance system or ATOS is a GPS tracking system that operates exclusively inside the Android Team Awareness Kit situational awareness program. The standout feature of ATOS is that can be used in environments were no connectivity exists, no Wi-Fi, no cellular and no satellite. It transmits using an organic radio frequency (RF) package. Warzone….tracking, natural disaster….tracking, subterranean….tracking. The concept of ATOS is a soup of three main ingredients: Hardware, Operating System, and the loss of hero! 

The Hardware

The original tag was built in the mid 2000’s for a means to track Falcons. Marshall Radio Telemetry out of Salt Lake City, Utah, built miniature GPS receivers that transmit their location through RF to a receiver that would read the Radio Signal Strength and guide the user to the location of the tag. As technology advanced the Falcon Tracker coded the receiver data to operate in IOS/Apple devices. The lightweight simple design was only seen as short distance tracking for sport. The military started to use this system in late 2000’s to track their Unmanned Aerial Systems (UAS). 

The Operating System

In the late 2000’s smart devices were popular on the civilian market but not fully adapted in the military community. To find a solution a solicitation was put out to industry to create a smart device enabled program to increase situational awareness, safety, endless map data and malleable to allow the user to customize a program to their needs. The Android Tactical Assault Kit came from government funded research institutions. ATAK was widely used by the Special Operations community in the late 2010’s till present day. Now TAK (Team Awareness Kit) is available to world. This system can host a slew of programs from tracking other devices, operating robotics and importing 3D models. ATAK is meant for mission focused people and organizations and is widely adopted by nearly all Federal agencies and is being socialized with state and local agencies. This is where ATOS will find its home. 

ATOS the K9 Hero!

The name ATOS represents more than just an impressive acronym; it honors an extraordinary Military Working Dog. Atos, a Belgian Malinois, served with the elite USASOC unit. During a deployment to Iraq in the winter of 2007, Atos and his team encountered a group of terrorists hidden in a thicket, poised to launch an attack on American soldiers. As Atos approached the threat, one of the terrorists detonated an explosive device, tragically taking Atos’s life but saving the soldiers in the process. His selfless act of sacrifice embodies the highest ideals of loyalty and bravery. In tribute to this courageous canine, Jarrett “Fish” Heavenston, CEO of Tough Stump Technologies, named the ATAK-enabled tracking tag system ATOS, ensuring his legacy lives on.

More Resources:

• For the full story on the K9 hero: ATOS a Heroic K9
• For more about Marshall Radio Telemetry: marshallradio.com/ww
• To learn more about Tough Stump products and solutions to include ATAK training and ATOS: Visit us at toughstump.com , or check out Tough Stump University’s TAK U Basic course.