Primordial’s Ground Guidance is patented, fielded software developed under contracts with Army Geospatial Center (AGC), Communications-Electronics Research Development and Engineering Center (CERDEC), Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), Natick Soldier Research Development and Engineering Center (NSRDEC). In the defense market, Ground Guidance plans fast and concealed routes for dismounted and mounted soldiers. Primordial’s defense customers include the DARPA, United States Army, USAF, USMC, General Dynamics, Lockheed Martin, and Rockwell Collins. In the consumer market, Ground Guidance is the leader in pedestrian routing. Primordial’s consumer partners include Magellan, GPS Tuner, and View Ranger.

Primordial’s SBIR phase III successes include:
Winning an Army Commercialization Pilot Program (CPP) contract in 2010 (Primordial was one of 25 winners out of more than 400 companies with active SBIR phase II contracts that applied) to integrate Ground Guidance with Land Warrior; Integrating Ground Guidance with Land Warrior, Falcon View (used by Special Forces soldiers for mission planning), and MTS (used by more than 30,000logistics vehicles in Iraq and Afghanistan); Fielding with Land Warrior in 2011;

Primordial’s Ground Guidance software provides the following benefits: To soldiers: Ground Guidance accelerates mission planning by 10X;increases operational tempo (OPTEMPO);provides safer and more efficient routes; enables rapid mission re-planning; enables what-if analysis regarding distance, duration, endurance, and energy expenditure; enables soldiers to avoid likely/historic IED locations and chokepoints; recommends equipment required for a mission (e.g. bridging gear or warm clothing);suggests optimal cross loading among soldiers in a unit; estimates the water and food required for a mission; and increases survivability. To civilians: Ground Guidance enables pedestrian route planning, saves time and energy, enables civilians to plan routes with a specified duration or energy expenditure (e.g. find a 400 calorie run), promotes fitness and outdoor exploration, provides life-saving routes if one gets lost, increases route safety (e.g. by avoiding cliffs), and facilitates search and rescue by narrowing the search area.

When Primordial received its first SBIR contract 2005, we had secured $34,600 in contracts since the company’s inception in 2002. At the time, the Primordial had two employees. Since then, the company has secured $10.3 million in SBIR, BAA, and commercial contracts and has grown to 12 employees (with four more expected by year end). The SBIR program was essential to Primordial’s success. Over seven years, we secured six phase I and two phase II SBIR contracts.

Primordial has cultivated an elite workforce of software engineers—most of whom have computer engineering or computer science degrees from the local University of Minnesota. Primordial also frequently interfaces with the University of Minnesota’s research groups—for example teaming with Professor Nikolaos Papanikolopoulos on an Army SBIR topic related to persistent surveillance by UGVs.