Sullivan provided satellite image processing support for the high visibility DARPA Grand Challenge, an autonomous vehicle race between Barstow and Las Vegas. Sullivan and the San Diego State University Center for Information Technology and Infrastructure provided spatial intelligence for DoD-funded Operation Desert Bloom, local law enforcement and fire first responders, to make rapid and effective decisions during the event to protect sensitive habitat, provide terrain visualization and planning of staging areas.

Sullivan acquired Landsat 7 ETM+ imagery and compiled several mosaics and applied special processing techniques to help discern elevation for telecommunication nodes, vegetation communities to predict desert tortoise habitat, and staging areas for first responders and law enforcement. Sullivan-processed imagery was draped on topography with GeoFusion and served as a flythrough capability for whole region for pseudo-3D visualization and dynamic GIS.

Sullivan spatial intelligence was used by agencies interested in deploying new tools for defense and reconnaissance to determine terrain navigability using spectral imaging tied to geomorphological landforms and rock types to discern intelligence of use to both the DARPA event, local first responders, and environmental groups managing the region.