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DARPA Works Toward DoD Energy Independence

DARPA Works Toward DoD Energy Independence
Fri, 09 Oct 2009 15:47:00 -0500

DARPA Works Toward DoD Energy Independence

By Ian Graham
Special to American Forces Press Service

WASHINGTON, Oct. 9, 2009 - Scientists are working to create energy self-sufficiency for the Defense Department, the nation's largest single consumer of energy, a defense expert said.

"Energy has always been an important point in the military. You can go back into history and look at fodder to feed the horses in the Napoleonic Wars, and you can look at today in Afghanistan where energy is a key enabler, or in some cases, a key limitation," said Barbara McQuiston, special assistant for energy at the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency.

McQuiston discussed the agency's research and development efforts aimed at tactical energy independence during an Oct. 6 webcast of "Armed with Science: Research and Applications for the Modern Military" on Pentagon Web radio.

DARPA's goal is to generate cost-effective, alternative energy technologies for the military by addressing energy generation, conversion, control and conservation from sustainable sources, she said.

The military consumes an average of 60 to 75 million barrels per year in jet fuel alone, she said. DARPA is looking at creating new opportunities that could be "game changers" in the field of sustainable energy sources to help satisfy the military's critical need for fuel.

"I think Peter Drucker always said it well ... 'If you want to control the future, you need to create it,'" McQuiston said. "So DARPA invests in science and technology to make these changes.

"When we looked at energy, what we were looking at was the diversification of energy sources and moving away from a reliance on fossil fuel to create better energy security for ourselves now and in the future," she added.

While many agencies –- particularly the Department of Energy and Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy -- are researching alternative fuels and working toward energy independence on a broad civilian level, DARPA focuses purely on military applications, McQuiston said.

For instance, DARPA is exploring the possibility of creating bio jet fuel from sources -- including a variety of nonfood crops -- using rich oils such as camelina sativa and algae, and cellulose and hemicelluloses, which are biomass and biowaste materials. Two companies working for DARPA are looking into converting algae directly into jet fuel in a scalable and cost-effective way for military applications.

"Biofuel is a huge area [of DARPA's research]," McQuiston said. "Again, jet fuel is 60 to 75 million barrels per year of JP8 [jet fuel] that powers both the jets and the generators. Being able to get JP8 from a renewable source means you can generate JP8 anywhere in the world independently."

As in its previous endeavors -- including projects that brought the Internet and GPS to life -- DARPA wants its fuel research to drastically change the landscape of military fuel consumption, she said.

McQuiston said advancing technology in conversion is key to that goal. Algae conversion is showing efficiency that potentially could lead to renewable jet fuel that costs less than $1 per gallon. The current efficiency of jet fuel converted from cellulose and rich oils likely will dictate a cost below $3 per gallon, she added.

"At DARPA we're looking at things that are high risk but have high benefits for the future," she said. "What are some of these aspects we can push out to really enable a different future? In the area of energy, the hard part is to identify and demonstrate ways to efficiently harness and convert the flow of energy.

"There's energy all around us in abundance," she added. "Can we convert what's around us into a form of energy that can be used for the military to create tactical energy independence?"

Related Sites:
Armed With Science #37: Tactical Energy Independence
Armed With Science Archived Episodes
Armed with Science on Twitter
Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency

DARPA Program Brings Sci-fi Capability to Warfighters

DARPA Program Brings Sci-fi Capability to Warfighters
Fri, 16 Oct 2009 16:33:00 -0500

DARPA Program Brings Sci-fi Capability to Warfighters

By Donna Miles
American Forces Press Service

WASHINGTON, Oct. 16, 2009 - Moviegoers were captivated as they watched a metallic assassin morph before their eyes in "Terminator 2." The villain turned to liquid before assuming new forms capable of squeezing through narrow openings and transforming its arms into bladed weapons and solid metal tools.

Scientists at the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency were wowed too. Now they're working to deliver that same kind of technology to support the good guys: warfighters on the battlefield.

Mitchell R. Zakin, program manager for DARPA's Programmable Matter division, said he's convinced the concept depicted for decades in blockbuster movies and comic books has real-life applications.

He's leading up the effort to develop "programmable matter," which he calls "the ultimate adaptable material." It will be capable of changing size and shape and taking on new properties for one use, he explained, then adapting to a whole different form for another use.

Zakin clarified that he's not out to change warfighters themselves, just the equipment they use, the clothing they wear and the loads they carry.

"Warfighters carry an incredible amount of stuff and they don't have any more room to carry more," he said. "Yet they are facing much more complicated battle spaces. They're going into caves and working in cities. They need more sophisticated tools to deal with these environments, yet they can't carry them."

The logistical challenge of getting equipment to remote areas such as Afghanistan exacerbates the problem, he said.

Enter the concept of programmable matter, a convergence of the fields of chemistry, information, mathematical theory and engineering.

Zakin envisions a day when warfighters will be able to reach into their kit, pull out a lump of programmable matter and form it into whatever they need.

Think of it as carrying a paint can with a bunch of particles inside, he advises anyone struggling to understand how it all would work. The particles could be different shapes and sizes, be made up of different materials and have different functions.

Depending on the requirement, the warfighter would instruct the particles to become whatever was needed at the moment -- a wrench, a hammer, a spare part. The particles would then organize themselves to form it. After using the device, the warfighter would return it to the bucket, where it once again would become a bunch of particles until instructed to become something else.

The same principle would work for uniforms, which could change their thermal insulating properties according to the climate: the deep freeze of the Afghan mountains, the blast furnace of summertime in the Middle East.

Fantastic as this all sounds, it's on its way to becoming a reality.

Five university-led teams are participating in DARPA's Programmable Matter program, and by the middle of next year, at least one is expected to emerge with a demonstration project. Halfway through the program's second and final phase, all five teams are making convincing progress that it's all possible.

The teams began the first phase of the program doing computer modeling, but got so excited by the project that they jumped headfirst into the second phase and began building actual prototypes, Zakin said.

By the end of the second phase, they're expected to demonstrate that they can take a single set of building blocks and create five different geometric shapes with the strength of engineering plastic.

"Everyone is making progress toward meeting these goals in a very meaningful way," Zakin said. "I'm confident that most, if not all the teams, will succeed."

The ultimate benefit to warfighters would be mind-boggling. "Imagine the possibilities: an entire toolbox originating from a single material form, or flexible clothing or equipment that can adapt to the immediate and changing needs of the warfighter, perhaps even 'smart' bandages embedded with diagnostic sensing capabilities," Zakin said. "The possibilities are endless."

In the simplest terms, programmable matter would bring warfighters "maximum capabilities with minimum carry weight," he said. "It would give them the ability to carry a little amount of stuff and do a lot with it. It creates a whole new paradigm in flexibility for the warfighter."

But the implications go far beyond warfighting, Zakin said. Aircraft wings built of programmable matter could change in flight to provide the best aerodynamic properties. Everything from computers to televisions to cars could be programmed to automatically update themselves with the newest features and configurations. Clothing could morph into the latest fashion styles.

In a nutshell, nothing would ever have to become obsolete.

"This is not fantasy, actually," Zakin said. "Aspects of this already are being done in this project."

Programmable matter also has the potential of turning the entire manufacturing process on its head. No longer would one design and one manufacturing process be needed for every single consumer product.

"Personal manufacturing" could take over. Consumers could go online, buy a blueprint for whatever they need, download the instructions, then feed them into a personal assembler that makes the product before their eyes, he said.

In some ways, Zakin said he's been preparing for the Programmable Matter program since he first saw as a young boy the concept depicted in the 1950s sci-fi movie, "The Blob."

"Most of my programs come out of the movies or comic books," he said. "It's what I do for a living."

Decades later, he said, it's gratifying to be at DARPA, where he's on the leading edge of helping bring fantasy to life.

"It allows us to do something very, very important, and something no one else has ever done before," he said. "It's very DARPA-like."

Related Sites:
Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency

Boeing A160T Unmanned Helicopter Flies With Foliage-Penetrating Radar

The A160T is a turbine-powered unmanned helicopter that can perform numerous missions, including intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance, communications, and precision resupply. It holds the world record for endurance for its class (more than 18 hours unrefueled), can hover at 20,000 feet and can carry up to 2,500 pounds of cargo.
by Staff Writers
Irvine CA (SPX) Oct 19, 2009
Boeing's A160T Hummingbird unmanned helicopter successfully completed 20 test flights from Aug. 31 to Oct. 8 with the Foliage Penetration Reconnaissance, Surveillance, Tracking and Engagement Radar (FORESTER). The tests, conducted at Fort Stewart, Ga., validated the radar-carrying A160T's flight characteristics with more than 50 hours of flying time.

FORESTER is being developed by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) and the U.S. Army to provide enhanced coverage of moving vehicles and dismounted troops under foliage, filling the current surveillance gap. The Fort Stewart tests were conducted under a contract with DARPA.

"The success of these test flights points to the operational readiness of this important capability," said Vic Sweberg, director of Unmanned Airborne Systems (UAS) for Boeing.

"The FORESTER is a unique radar, and the A160T is a unique helicopter. Together, they make a formidable system."

The 53 flight hours at Fort Stewart pushed the total flight hours for the A160T past the 220-hour mark. The helicopter's longest flight at Fort Stewart was 5.8 hours and its average flight time was 4.2 hours.

The A160T is a turbine-powered unmanned helicopter that can perform numerous missions, including intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance, communications, and precision resupply. It holds the world record for endurance for its class (more than 18 hours unrefueled), can hover at 20,000 feet and can carry up to 2,500 pounds of cargo.

The Hummingbird recently was selected to participate in the U.S. Marine Corps Warfighting Laboratory's Immediate Cargo Unmanned Aerial System Demonstration Program. Boeing will demonstrate that the A160T can deliver at least 2,500 pounds of cargo from one simulated forward-operating base to another in fewer than six hours per day for three consecutive days.

The goal of Boeing's UAS division is to provide access to a breadth of unmanned capabilities in a way that best meets customers' needs. Boeing currently offers a wide variety of unmanned aircraft systems, including the A160 Hummingbird, ScanEagle, Unmanned Little Bird and SolarEagle.

DARPA Launches Network Challenge Competition

DARPA Launches Network Challenge Competition
Mon, 30 Nov 2009 14:08:00 -0600

DARPA Launches Network Challenge Competition

By Donna Miles
American Forces Press Service

WASHINGTON, Nov. 30, 2009 - The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency will take the Internet technology it helped create 40 years ago a step farther this weekend with a contest aimed at bringing people together to solve tough problems.

And the agency has sweetened the "DARPA Network Challenge" with a $40,000 cash prize.

The competition kicks off Dec. 5 at 10 a.m. Eastern Standard Time, when DARPA will display 10 8-foot, red weather balloons at undisclosed, publicly accessible sites around the continental United States. The balloons will remain at their locations throughout the day, until sunset.

The first person to identify the precise latitudes and longitudes of all 10 balloons will win the kitty.

Norman Whitaker, deputy director of DARPA's transformational convergence technology office, conceded that it would be nearly impossible for any one person to pinpoint every balloon within the designated timeframe. But if the competitors worked together as teams – using social networking forums made possible through the Internet – it is possible, he said.

"Nobody knows where the balloons are," Whitaker said. "But we will give people a little more than a week to contact their friends and talk to other people and scheme and plan and wheedle and deedle and figure out how they can get the information for the balloons they did not see themselves, and be the first to send the answers in to DARPA."

Whitaker admits that the challenge is "tough, really tough," but said he's optimistic that at least one contestant will be able to solve it.

How long that will take is anyone's guess. "If someone does it in the first five minutes, we are prepared to announce it right then," he said.

On the other hand, if no one has yet identified all 10 weather balloons after a week, DARPA is prepared to reward any contestant who pinpoints at least half of them. "If the most anybody got was five, we would consider that a win and award the prize," Whitaker said.

That's because DARPA's Network Challenge isn't out to identify the answers, but rather, how competitors arrive at them. "We are not interested in the balloons. We already know where those are," Whitaker said. "It's the techniques people use to solve the challenge we're focused on. We have people who are going to be actively watching from the sidelines to see how this plays out."

Contestants could employ several methods to entice supporters, Whitaker said. For example, he said, they could use a Web site to offer a portion of the prize money to anyone who contributes information about the balloons' locations. Contestants also could work with a charity, he continued, and donate winnings to its cause. Asking for help through Facebook, I-phone or other Web-based applications might also be feasible, he said.

The effort, he said, will give insight into the role the Internet and social networking can play in promoting team-building, collaboration and communication needed to solve broad, time-critical, real-life problems.

It's not yet known exactly how that information might be used, Whitaker said, but that's never been a roadblock for the Defense Department's high-tech research agency. "We're DARPA," he said. "We like to do things that are really out of the box."

That's how DARPA researchers approached their work 40 years ago, Whitaker said, by scratching their heads and wondering what benefit might come from hooking computers together to form the "ARPANet" – today's Internet.

Curiosity and imagination still serves to drive DARPA efforts, he said.

For example, DARPA started the Grand Challenge in 2004 to promote the development of autonomous robotic vehicle technology. Participating teams – many representing nontraditional sources of ideas and talent -- designed, built and remotely piloted unmanned ground vehicles that raced the clock while traversing rugged desert terrain.

Whitaker, who led the most recent Grand Challenge, said the DARPA Network Challenge will tap into the same fresh thinking that led to the Internet revolution.

"Future innovation depends on the upcoming generation of technologists who are discovering new, collaborative ways to approach problems that were not dreamt of 40 years ago," he said.

Registration for the DARPA Network Challenge opened last week, and details and application procedures are posted on the DARPA Web site.

Related Articles:
Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency
DARPA Network Challenge Web Site

Pentagon floats social media scavenger hunt

Lesley Ciarula Taylor Staff Reporter
Published On Wed Dec 02 2009
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Gamers of all ages have started clicking away as part of a Pentagon-sponsored scavenger hunt in which they must find 10 red weather balloons set up in various locations around the United States.

At stake is $40,000 in prize money that goes to the person or team that correctly identifies the location of the 10 balloons.

The contest is being run by the Pentagon's Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) to mark the 40th anniversary of the Internet. DARPA hopes its "network challenge" will help it figure out how people use social media and online resources to communicate quickly and accurately to solve a problem.

Competitors can form teams – and hundreds already have on the Red Balloon wiki site – and live anywhere.

To kick off the social media scavenger hunt, DARPA will be placing the balloons on Saturday, Dec. 5, when they will be clearly on display to the public for six hours – from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. ET.

One group taking part in the hunt says it has already used software technology to find some of the balloon locations, even though they haven't been placed yet. Their mathematical projections are on www.10redballoons.com.

"Future innovation depends on the upcoming generation of technologists who are discovering new, collaborative ways to approach problems that were not dreamt of 40 years ago," says Dr. Norman Whitaker of DARPA.

The Pentagon researchers are using Twitter as part of the challenge and expect competitors to use it, as well as Facebook and other social media sites in addition to satellite feeds and shared data – not to mention planes, cars and cellphones – to compile the full list.

Teams are already discussing online their strategies to scout for signs of fake balloon coordinates set up by competitors to throw off the scent.

To win the $40,000 prize, a person must be the first by Dec. 14 to submit the latitude and longitude of the 10 balloons, all of which will be visible from a road, DARPA says. Anyone can register and registration on the DARPA site (www.networkchallenge.darpa.mil) stays open until the competition begins.

Pentagon floats social media scavenger hunt

Lesley Ciarula Taylor Staff Reporter
Published On Wed Dec 02 2009
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Gamers of all ages have started clicking away as part of a Pentagon-sponsored scavenger hunt in which they must find 10 red weather balloons set up in various locations around the United States.

At stake is $40,000 in prize money that goes to the person or team that correctly identifies the location of the 10 balloons.

The contest is being run by the Pentagon's Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) to mark the 40th anniversary of the Internet. DARPA hopes its "network challenge" will help it figure out how people use social media and online resources to communicate quickly and accurately to solve a problem.

Competitors can form teams – and hundreds already have on the Red Balloon wiki site – and live anywhere.

To kick off the social media scavenger hunt, DARPA will be placing the balloons on Saturday, Dec. 5, when they will be clearly on display to the public for six hours – from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. ET.

One group taking part in the hunt says it has already used software technology to find some of the balloon locations, even though they haven't been placed yet. Their mathematical projections are on www.10redballoons.com.

"Future innovation depends on the upcoming generation of technologists who are discovering new, collaborative ways to approach problems that were not dreamt of 40 years ago," says Dr. Norman Whitaker of DARPA.

The Pentagon researchers are using Twitter as part of the challenge and expect competitors to use it, as well as Facebook and other social media sites in addition to satellite feeds and shared data – not to mention planes, cars and cellphones – to compile the full list.

Teams are already discussing online their strategies to scout for signs of fake balloon coordinates set up by competitors to throw off the scent.

To win the $40,000 prize, a person must be the first by Dec. 14 to submit the latitude and longitude of the 10 balloons, all of which will be visible from a road, DARPA says. Anyone can register and registration on the DARPA site (www.networkchallenge.darpa.mil) stays open until the competition begins.

New laser weapon can safely destroy IEDs

When deployed in wartime conditions, the laser weapon would rule out or take over some of the functions that endanger soldiers' lives. Soldiers traveling with Laser Avenger would not have to get out of their armored vehicles or wait for an explosive ordnance disposal team to destroy an IED and continue their mission.
by Staff Writers
Huntsville, Ala. (UPI) Dec 1, 2009
A new laser weapon mounted on an Avenger combat vehicle has gone through successful tests to enable the armed forces to destroy improvised explosive devices from a safe distance.

The Boeing Co., which is developing the weapon, said Tuesday Boeing and the U.S. Army successfully completed a test in which the mounted laser system destroyed 50 IEDs similar to the makeshift bombs used by adversaries in war zones.

IEDs have been responsible for a rising number of allied casualties in Afghanistan and Iraq. In Afghanistan, U.S. forces took the brunt of recent attacks involving IEDs -- often crudely made bombs with deadly killing capability.

It was not immediately known how soon after the tests the new laser weapon would be deployed in the military. A Boeing spokesman told United Press International that, when funded, a system similar to the one being tested could be fielded within one year.

During the laser firings Sept. 22-24 at Redstone Arsenal in Huntsville, Ala., Laser Avenger neutralized different types of IEDs, including large-caliber artillery munitions and smaller bomblets and mortar rounds.

The laser weapon operated at safe distances from the targets and under a variety of conditions, including different angles and ranges, Boeing said.

When deployed in wartime conditions, the laser weapon would rule out or take over some of the functions that endanger soldiers' lives. Soldiers traveling with Laser Avenger would not have to get out of their armored vehicles or wait for an explosive ordnance disposal team to destroy an IED and continue their mission.

Developments in anti-IED technologies coincide with the likelihood of a greater number of troops being deployed in the Afghan war zone to deal with the armed groups.

"Improvised explosive devices continue to threaten U.S. troops deployed in war zones, and Laser Avenger provides the ultra-precision, stand-off capability our warfighters need today to safely neutralize those threats," said Gary Fitzmire, vice president and program director of Boeing Missile Defense Systems' Directed Energy Systems unit. "In addition, Laser Avenger's versatility makes it useful in a wide range of battlefield conditions."

The U.S. Defense Department's Joint IED Defeat Organization sponsored the test, which was conducted by Boeing and the Army Program Executive Office for Missiles and Space.

Recent technological research has focused on laser technologies as a way of dealing with complex battle situations and minimizing human loss among the allied forces. The test follows work on other laser weapons earlier this year and last year. In an earlier demonstration, Laser Avenger shot down a small unmanned aerial vehicle, raising the possibility that the laser would take over other conventional weapons used to perform similar tasks today.

Laser Avenger integrates a laser weapon together with the existing kinetic weapons that form part of Avenger air defense system. Boeing has been pursuing research into developing military laser technologies and argues that laser weapons are increasingly relevant to today's battlefield.

Boeing is developing laser systems for a variety of U.S. Air Force, Army and Navy military applications, including the airborne variety. Boeing Integrated Defense Systems has headquarters in St. Louis and last reported global business worth $32 billion. The company employs 70,000 people worldwide.

Device can track people without sensors

disclaimer: image is for illustration purposes only
by Staff Writers
Orlando, Fla. (UPI) Nov 30, 2009
The world's first device capable of tracking multiple people without attached sensors is here, and scientists see in the invention opportunities for more efficient military training and warfare readiness.

Orlando-based Organic Motion computer vision company unveiled the tracking platform at the Interservice Industry Training, Simulation and Education Conference, the world's largest of its kind that opened Monday at Orlando's Orange County Convention Center.

Tracking devices have different uses, none more challenging than in a modern warfare scenario where soldiers can end up in dangerous, unpredictable situations and lose contact with their commanders, often with disastrous results.

The new motion tracking platform, OpenSTAGE, does not require participants to wear any attached devices, tags or sensors. The technology enhances the operations of a wide range of simulated training environments and is apparently effective in tracking multiple people at the same time, without special backgrounds or controlled environments.

Analysts said the OpenSTAGE multi-track platform would improve the way armed forces prepare personnel for military operations. Organic Motion said the device would work for dismounted soldier training programs, military operations on urban terrain, better known in the industry as MOUT, and "Close Combat Tactical Training Dismounted Soldier" simulations.

The tracking platform eliminates the need for any additional attire, enabling multiple fighters to step into a virtual world with no prep time and be instantly tracked.

As a result of the new platform being in place, multiple teams can now participate in simulated maneuvers, including live interaction with friends or foes, continued tracking of soldiers after they dismount in Combat Vehicle Simulators, or tracking of shooters in a shoot house.

Organic Motion CEO Andrew Tschesnok said OpenSTAGE "is a major leap for simulated training and the applications are immense."

He said the company had developed OpenSTAGE to meet the rigorous demands of the defense industry.

"By eliminating sensors, an entire squad can now achieve instant entry into a far more realistic training environment and have their movements tracked and displayed in real-time, all at a lower operating cost and with maximum throughput."

To deliver a training-ready system, Organic Motion has integrated MAK's VR-Link networking toolkit and VR-Vantage 3D visualization solution into the product. VT MAK, a company of VT Systems Inc., develops software to link, simulate and visualize the virtual world.

The integration of MAK's products means trainees can actively participate in the most realistic simulations, with minimal negative training, all in real time. Organic Motion's image-processing software will analyze the video feeds to capture position, orientation, posture and motion of subjects in the scanning space.

OpenSTAGE will then communicate the resulting information in real time to VR-Vantage, where an animated 3-D model mimics the motions of the live person within a simulated scene.

VT MAK CEO Warren Katz said the new technology would "usher in a new era of immersive training" for dismounted infantry and their units. He said it will also greatly reduce the cost of operating such systems.

OpenSTAGE supports integration with existing military equipment and increases the speed and efficiency of training readiness for a wide range of simulations.

Team Celebrates 60 Years of Advancing Technology

Team Celebrates 60 Years of Advancing Technology
Mon, 07 Dec 2009 09:41:00 -0600

Team Celebrates 60 Years of Advancing Technology

By Ian Graham
Special to American Forces Press Service

WASHINGTON, Dec. 7, 2009 - The technology that lets you listen to CDs, the GPS that got you around a traffic jam this morning, and even the mouse you just used to click on this story all are direct results of research conducted or sponsored by the Air Force Office of Scientific Research.

For nearly 60 years, AFOSR has pushed the limits of technological research. The resulting accomplishments have led to the creation of numerous revolutionary capabilities -- breakthroughs that have been the cornerstones in critical areas that directly support the Air Force mission -- from lasers and stealth to space weather and self-healing materials.

Brendan B. Godfrey, director of AFOSR, spoke during a Dec. 2 interview on the Pentagon Channel podcast "Armed with Science: Research and Applications for the Modern Military" about the office's plans for continued success and the development of the next generation of outstanding scientists and engineers.

"We strive to identify and support revolutionary and far-reaching research that has a diversity of applications, attacking things that, frankly, we have no idea how to do," said Godfrey, who holds a doctorate in physics. "If we know how to do them, we let somebody else worry about them."

Fifty-seven of the scientists the office has sponsored in the past 60 years have gone on to win Nobel Prizes for their accomplishments. Godfrey said it's something AFOSR's people are proud of, but they aren't out looking to win awards.

"We don't set out to fund Nobel laureates," he said. "It's easy to fund somebody after they're famous, but we're quite skilled, I think, at picking out people that are going to make an impact before they've made it."

The group has a long history of contributing to major advances in technology. Its funding and networking played a role in the creation of the laser, the transistor, global positioning systems, the computer mouse, stealth technology and high-pressure flight suits.

More recently, the office has worked to create three-dimensional holograms that can be changed in real time.

"We're not far away from 3-D holographic movies – movies where you can actually step inside the action," Godfrey said.

AFOSR looks in the long-term to keep the military ahead of its adversaries technologically. It stays on the cutting edge by networking with and funding the world's leading researchers and trying to move their research from the laboratory to the commercial and military sectors. Currently, for example, there's research being done in cooperation with Purdue University to create rocket fuel using aluminum nanoparticles and ice.

Godfrey said it can be particularly difficult, because by the time the public hears of a scientific breakthrough, the innovation could be years old. "We want to know where science is going, not where it's been," he said.

The group now is focused on three major research areas, Godfrey said. The first is working to improve aircraft and spacecraft, seeking better fuel and propulsion systems, and studying bats to learn about aerodynamics and maneuverability in close quarters.

"We know more about how bats fly than anybody else in the world," Godfrey said. "They're very good at maneuvering at high speeds in tight quarters, and this is what you're going to have to do with micro-aerial vehicles as they fly around inside cities."

AFOSR's scientists also want to create a more complete picture of the battlefield for warfighters – "ubiquitous battlefield knowledge," Godfrey called it. Improved microwave and laser technology can improve battlefield communications, and potentially could be used as a weapon. New sensors are being developed that can read and display multiple bands of the frequency spectrum, and studies are being done to better understand phenomena in the ionosphere and in space to improve satellite communication and longevity.

The third main research area focuses on computers, cybersecurity and decision-making – everything from creating algorithms to control large numbers of small, remotely piloted aircraft to researching human cognition to better understand how humans and computers can interact.

AFOSR has undertaken many successful ventures, but many others have not turned out as planned or have resulted in accidental discoveries with limited relevance for the Air Force. Technical risk is an accepted part of all AFOSR basic research, Godfrey said.

"[The research we do] isn't easy – you don't know if it's going to work," he said. "But you've got to try."

He referred to Thomas Edison's response when asked about the thousands of failed attempts at creating the light bulb: "Every one of them worked," Edison said. "Every one showed me how not to make an electric light."

"If AFOSR succeeded in every piece of research that it funded, I should be fired," Godfrey joked, "because it would mean that we're not reaching forward far enough -- that we're not taking enough risks."

(Ian Graham works in the Defense Media Activity's emerging media directorate.)

Biographies:
Brendan B. Godfrey

Related Sites:
Air Force Office of Scientific Research
"Armed with Science: Research and Applications for the Modern Military" on Pentagon Web Radio

Orbital Awarded Phase 2 Contract For "System F6" Satellite Program By DARPA

System F6 incorporates most key technology development in an "open source" format, a new and radical concept in spacecraft systems. All software source code, interfaces, standards and operating systems will be available to everyone, including the public.
by Staff Writers
Dulles VA (SPX) Dec 21, 2009
Orbital Sciences been awarded a Phase 2 contract by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) to develop the final design for "System F6" (Future Fast, Flexible, Fractionated, Free-Flying Spacecraft).

The Phase 2 award to Orbital came as a result of a down-select by DARPA from among several companies that participated in the program's Phase 1 study contracts in 2008 and 2009. The Phase 2 contract is valued at $74.6 million over a one-year period of performance.

The objective of the System F6 program is to develop and demonstrate the basic building blocks of a radically new space architecture in which traditional large, multi-functional "monolithic" spacecraft are replaced by clusters of wirelessly interconnected spacecraft modules.

Each of these modules performs a subset of the tasks performed by a large classical spacecraft and works together in a cluster to provide the same overall effective mission capability.

By allowing the various functions of a spacecraft to be developed and launched separately, this type of "fractionated" system provides benefits such as reduced overall risk, budgetary and planning flexibility, faster initial deployment, and ultimately greater survivability, including selective replacement of damaged or obsolete elements of a complex spacecraft.

"System F6 has the potential to be a game-changing innovation in the way space systems are designed, built and operated in much the same way as the DARPA-developed Internet has changed many aspects of our daily lives," stated Mr. Gregg Burgess, Orbital's Vice President for National Security Systems in the company's Advanced Programs Group.

"System F6 is not just an incremental improvement in technology, but rather a fundamental transformation of the entire space community. Fractionated and networked architectures could be the answer to recurring problems that debilitate the space sector, including significant cost increases, late deliveries, launch mishaps and on-orbit failures."

In the next phase of the System F6 program, Orbital will be responsible for the detailed design and ground testing of the new technologies, architectures and programmatic concepts required to successfully fractionate a space system. These include wireless data communications, cluster flight operations, distributed spacecraft computing systems, rapidly relocatable ground systems, and value-centric design methodologies.

Orbital was selected by DARPA out of four Phase 1 contractors to continue work on Phase 2 of the program, leading to a planned flight demonstration in 2013.

The company's program partners include IBM and NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory. Phase 2 will include development of the detailed design of the spacecraft modules, ground elements and launch options; a hardware-in-the-loop test-bed ground demonstration with new technology prototypes; and release of an F6 Developer's Kit, which will allow third-parties to design compatible fractionated modules.

System F6 incorporates most key technology development in an "open source" format, a new and radical concept in spacecraft systems. All software source code, interfaces, standards and operating systems will be available to everyone, including the public.

This will allow any interested third parties to develop modules compatible with the existing spacecraft network. These modules can launch and connect to the already deployed cluster, allowing them to leverage resources available in the network.

The eventual goal is to provide an open source compatibility platform where any new satellite launched into space can access and reap the benefits of a worldwide interconnected system, similar to how the Internet functions on Earth.

DARPA seeks deep-learning AI to cope with flood of information

Published 16 April 2009

The growing use of UAVs to loiter over enemy territory and send images and streaming videos back to HQ has created a glut of information; DARPA seeks a better, deeper, and more layered artificial intelligence to help the intelligence community cope with the avalanche of information coming in

For an intelligence officer, the only thing worse than having too little information is having too much of it. What with the increasing capabilities for collecting raw information — just think of the sheer quantity of images and video streams sent back by satellites and UAVs loitering the skies — there is a need to find a way to sift through this growing information hay stack in order to find the needles. DARPA — who else? —has a new plan to create powerful artificial intelligences. Lewis Page writes that the Deep Learning machines will be used to sift through petabytes of video from UAVs (we note the appeal of the animal kingdom for explanatory purposes: teachers in Junior High, explaining the facts of life to their students, talk about the birds and the bees; DARPA, explaining the differences between shallow and deep learning, talk about horses, cows, sheep, and goats).

According to DARPA, explaining the purpose behind the Deep Learning technology, the U.S. military and intelligence communities are drowning in surveillance and intelligence data. Hence the need for artificial intelligence to help them cope with the information flood:

A rapidly increasing volume of intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (ISR) information is available to the Department of Defense (DOD) as a result of the increasing numbers, sophistication, and resolution of ISR resources and capabilities. The amount of video data produced annually by Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) alone is in the petabyte range, and growing rapidly. Full exploitation of this information is a major challenge. Human observation and analysis of ISR assets is essential, but the training of humans is both expensive and time-consuming. Human performance also varies due to individuals’ capabilities and training, fatigue, boredom, and human attentional capacity.

One response to this situation is to employ machines …

There are already basic “shallow learning” AIs in use, including “Support Vector Machines (SVMs), two-layer Neural Networks (NNs), and Hidden Markov Models (HMMs).” These, however, are not much better than a human with poor “attentional capacity.” The trouble with the shallow learners is that they can learn only at a shallow level:

Shallow methods may be effective in creating simple internal representations … A classification task such as recognizing a horse in an image will use these simple representations in many different configurations to recognize horses in various poses, orientations and sizes. Such a task requires large amounts of labeled images of horses and non-horses. This means that if the task were to change to recognizing cows, one would have to start nearly from scratch with a new, large set of labeled data.

Page correctly points out that a specialized horse-spotter machine unable to recognize a cow is not much use for sorting the sheep from the goats. This is why DARPA wants “deeply layered” learning machines, able to identify horses, cows, sheep, and goats.

Deeply layered methods should create richer representations that may include furry, four-legged mammals at higher levels, resulting in a head start for learning cows and thereby requiring much less labeled data when compared to a shallow method. A Deep Learning system exposed to unlabeled natural images will automatically create high-level concepts of four-legged mammals on its own, even without labels.

U..S faces critical shortage of computer scientists

Published 13 January 2010

DARPA says the United States is facing a critical shortage of computer scientists; “While computers and internet connectivity become daily fixtures in the lives of Americans, we are steadily losing the engineering talent to [develop and maintain] these systems”

DARPA, the Pentagon’s research arm, issued a stark message the other day. According to the agency, the United States faces a crippling shortage of computer scientists in the near future, and only drastic action in the U.S. educational system can rectify this.

According to a DARPA solicitation:

The downward trend in college graduates with STEM [science, technology, engineering and maths] majors is particularly pronounced in Computer Science (CS). While computers and internet connectivity become daily fixtures in the lives of Americans, we are steadily losing the engineering talent to project these systems.

Lewis Page writes that far from gloomy employment prospects, DARPA reckons that IT types — especially computer scientists, particularly ones suited to military/DARPA style projects — are going to be increasingly in demand.

Our systems are becoming more complex, requiring more people with the software engineering talent to manage and maintain them. Finding the right people with increasingly specialized talent is becoming more difficult and will continue to add risk to a wide range of [military] systems that include software development.

Recent studies conducted by DARPA revealed that public perception is a critical issue. Study participants believed that the “dot-com bust” and “international outsourcing” have led to fewer computer science jobs. In fact, the opposite is true: the US Department of Labor lists “Computer & Software Engineers, Applications” as the fourth fastest growing occupation in the country in November 2007. Verbal reports from industry partners, as well as the presence of constant job openings, indicate industry is having difficulty finding software engineering talent to develop and maintain their software systems.

DARPA is in the habit of considering innovative, even radical new technology. A shortage of top-end, radical scientists, especially computing ones, is detrimental for the agency. Page notes that DARPA is not taking this lying down.

DARPA is interested in proposals with innovative new ideas to encourage students to major in CS-STEM and pursue careers as engineers and scientists. Increasing the number of graduates in Computer Science is a key goal, but the project will also be considered a success if the number of graduates in the broader STEM community is increased.

DARPA envisages this being done by reaching out to American kids as early as middle school and getting them interested in technology in the hope that they would finish college with a qualification useful for DARPA’s purposes. “In order to compel students to graduate with a CS-STEM related degree, it is important to maintain a positive, long term presence in a student’s education,” notes the agency.

DARPA Begins Legged Squad Support System Program

Following this initial LS3 design and build phase, DARPA and the Marine Corps will review the results and determine future program phases that may lead to full LS3 integration and experimentation with operational platforms.
by Staff Writers
Arlington VA (AFNS) Feb 09, 2010
The program is a joint effort between DARPA's Tactical Technology Office (TTO) and the U.S. Marine Corps Warfighting Lab (MCWL). The program goal is to develop a walking quadruped platform that will augment squads by carrying traditional and new equipment autonomously.

These platforms will be capable of managing complex terrain where tactical vehicles are not able to go-lightening the load of Marines and Soldiers and increasing their combat capability.

LS3 will carry 400 pounds or more of payload, and provide 24 hours of self-sustained capability over as much as 20 miles of maneuver. LS3 will weigh no more than 1,250 pounds (including its base weight, fuel and payload of 400 pounds).

Key LS3 program themes are:

(i) Quadruped platform development: design of a deployable walking platform with sufficient payload capacity, range, endurance, and low noise signature for dismounted squad support, while keeping weight and volume scaled to the squad level.

(ii) Walking control: develop control techniques that allow walking, trotting, and running/ bounding and capabilities to jump obstacles, cross ditches, recover from disturbances, and other discrete mobility features.

(iii) User Interface (to include perception technologies): the ability for the vehicle to perceive and traverse its immediate terrain environment autonomously with simple methods of Marine/Soldier control.

Boston Dynamics' partners on the LS3 program include Bell Helicopter, AAI Corporation, Carnegie Mellon University, the Jet Propulsion Laboratory and Woodward HRT.

Following this initial LS3 design and build phase, DARPA and the Marine Corps will review the results and determine future program phases that may lead to full LS3 integration and experimentation with operational platforms.

BAE Systems completes first flight test of persistent surveillance

Published 10 February 2010

The ARGUS-IS offer a new real-time persistent surveillance capability for U.S. combat forces to detect, locate, track, and monitor events on battlefields and in urban areas -- providing significantly greater video coverage over current airborne capabilities

BAE Systems has completed the initial flight test of a new real-time persistent surveillance capability for U.S. combat forces to detect, locate, track, and monitor events on battlefields and in urban areas — providing significantly greater video coverage over current airborne capabilities.

The first flight tests of the Autonomous Real-Time Ground Ubiquitous Surveillance Imaging System, or ARGUS-IS, occurred aboard a U.S. Army Black Hawk helicopter. The tests demonstrated the system’s multiple video windows for persistent area surveillance and tracking capabilities for vehicles and dismounted soldiers.

The airborne processing system can simultaneously and continuously detect and track the presence and motion of thousands of small or large targets over an area covering tens of square miles. BAE Systems designed and produced the system’s sensor and processor.

ARGUS-IS will significantly advance the Army’s capability to protect its troops through improved search and surveillance capabilities,” said Dr. John Antoniades, ARGUS program manager and director of remote sensing technology for BAE Systems.

BAE Systems equipment aboard ARGUS-IS consists of a high-resolution, extreme wide-area, real-time video sensor; an on-board processing system; and ground processing for interactive multi-target designation, tracking, and exploitation. “The ARGUS-IS system overcomes the fundamental limitations of current airborne surveillance systems,” said Dr. Steven Wein, director of optical sensor systems at BAE Systems. “Very high-resolution imaging systems required for vehicle and dismount tracking typically have a ‘soda-straw’ view that is too small for persistent coverage. Existing wide-area systems have either inadequate resolution or require multiple passes or revisits to get updates.”

The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA )and the U.S. Air Force Research Laboratory awarded BAE Systems an initial $18.5 million contract to lead the ARGUS-IS effort in late 2007. The system is targeted for use in Department of Defense unmanned and manned surveillance platforms.

BAE Systems has approximately 105,000 employees worldwide, and its sales exceeded $34.4 billion in 2008.

LGS on Lockheed Martin team for $31 million DARPA cyber assurance contract

Published 18 February 2010

LGS selected by Lockheed Martin as a subcontractor for a 31 milllion dollar DARPA-funded contract to develop cyber procedures which will provide military untis with dynamic bandwidth allocation

LGS Innovations, a subsidiary of Alcatel-Lucent, announced that it was named a subcontractor on the Lockheed Martin team that was recently awarded a contract from the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA). The $31 million Military Network Protocol contract calls for Lockheed Martin to develop new cyber assurance procedures that will improve security, and provide dynamic bandwidth allocation and policy-based priorities at the individual and unit levels.

The LGS Internet Research Department will work as a part of the Lockheed Martin’s Infrastructure team whose goal is to define, design, develop, and test the common elements used in the DARPA solution.

Our country’s increasing dependence on information technology has made cyber security one of the most critical challenges facing the U.S. military today,” said Dom Imbesi, director of the Internet Research Department at LGS. “LGS is pleased to be a part of Lockheed Martin’s strong team working to address and solve these challenges.”

In developing this new protocol for military networks, Lockheed Martin’s team will develop router technologies that will include strong authentication and self-configuration capabilities to improve security, reduce the need for trained network personnel and lower overall life cycle costs for network management.

The Internet Research Department is the R&D division of LGS dedicated to the fields of Computer Network Operations (CNO) and Information Assurance (IA). The department has a history of achievement as formerly being a part of the renowned Bell Labs and can utilize the technical expertise and resources of Bell Labs to provide cutting-edge ideas and technology to solve today’s toughest cyber security problems. The LGS capabilities run the full spectrum of CNO activities: Network Reconnaissance, Host Fingerprinting, Attack Planning, Payload Delivery, and Battle Damage Assessment. The department also performs leading-edge Information Assurance research and development with a specific focus on mission assurance, external exposure assessment and predictive analysis.

DARPA looking for military iPhone and Android apps

Published 3 March 2010

Pentagon's research arm is looking for apps to be written for the iPhone or for handsets running Google's Android OS -- "with potential relevance to the military specifically and the national security community more generally"

DARPA has announced that it would like some apps written for the iPhone or for handsets running Google’s Android OS — “with potential relevance to the military specifically and the national security community more generally.”

The Pentagon researchers note that:

In today’s military, handheld systems are characterized by a tight integration of specialized hardware with a narrowly focused software suite. Most of the handheld devices are heavily optimized for a particular task and are ill-suited for general-purpose use. A soldier’s radio, for example, has very limited data capability and essentially no multimedia capability. Current language translation devices support neither messaging nor collaboration of any form …

A transformation in technical approaches and business processes is called for.

Lewis Page writes that it will not be a transformation powered by Windows Mobile. DARPA specifies that “initial interest will focus on apps developed on the iPhone or Android platforms.” The idea is to find apps which will be helpful “especially among the end-users at lower levels in the military echelon.”

There are already apps for the iPhone which can make ballistic calculations for a sniper. Other existing software which would help a soldier could include various kinds of navigation kit, user interfaces for remote drones — several of which are already on offer - and so on.

Page notes that some military hardware, too, has already taken on many of the aspects of a smartphone — for instance, the Land Warrior wearable comm/puter rig. DARPA’s preferences notwithstanding, at least one maker has produced a covert version of military belt-computer software to run on a Windows smartphone.

DARPA, unusually, would seem to be very much with — or even a bit behind — the times on this one. The agency normally prefers to be well into the future.

Full instructions for developers to submit whitepapers to DARPA can be found here.

The last frontier: DARPA wants to make the Earth's crust transparent

Published 10 March 2010

Seeing through the Earth's would allow the development of tools to protect civilian populations from the ravages of natural disasters; these same tools could be used for military purposes against enemies -- detecting, targeting, and destroying hard and buried underground facility (UGF) targets

DARPA, that intellectually restless agency where, according to Lewis Page, they “believe it is better to invent a head-mounted multispectral imaging device than curse the darkness,” is pushing the envelope again. The agency has been interested in mastering — some would say lording over — the nature for years now. The agency talked about planet hacking and influencing enemy climate (aka “weather war”), and the agency still wants to harness the power of lightning.

Katie Drummond writes that this year the agency has an agenda which is no less ambitious. As part of its budget for the upcoming fiscal year, DARPA is launching the Transparent Earth project. The agency will invest $4 million into the creation of real-time, 3-D maps that display “the physical, chemical and dynamic properties of the earth down to 5 kilometer depth.”

Drummond notes that at first, the idea does not sound all that impressive. The earth is more than 3,500 miles deep, from crust to core, so DARPA’s plan would not do much more than scratch at the surface. Geologists and geophysicists, however, still know very little about the day-to-day goings-on underground, even at a depth as shallow as 5 km. The deepest drilling of the planet was a Soviet hole on the Kola Peninsula, which took nineteen years and made it around 7.5 miles into the crust, and even NASA still uses land-based GPS signals to predict volcanic eruptions.

Now, rather than a massive drilling project, DARPA wants to harness innovations in sensor technology to develop a constantly updating model of planetary activity. The project will use sensors to detect “natural indicators of subsurface activity,” and then take advantage of mathematical algorithms designed to estimate various natural earthly phenomena, including geophysical turbulence and shifting tectonic plates.

Drummond writes that algorithms are already used in planetary mapping and predictive science, but adding high-tech sensors would provide a constant stream of new data. “This kind of accuracy could have serious planetary implications: Changes in the earth’s crust can explain and predict volcanic eruptions, earthquakes and even the formation of mountain ranges,” she writes.

After they successfully combine sensors and mathematics, DARPA’s ultimate goal would put even NASA’s satellite footage to shame: A global three-dimensional picture of the earth’s subsurface with variable spatial, temporal, and information resolution, allowing changes at local scales to propagate through both physical models and proximity rules to update the global picture.

So maybe DARPA wants to protect civilian populations from the ravages of natural disasters, Drummond writes. These same tools, however, could be used for military purposes against enemies, Drummond quotes one unnamed geoscientist to say. “All of my ’science is good!’ tree-hugging comments aside, what this program is probably really about is detecting, targeting, and destroying hard and buried underground facility (UGF) targets,” the geoscientist said.

The last frontier: DARPA wants to make the Earth's crust transparent

Published 10 March 2010

Whatever DARPA’s intention, they want their transparent earth sooner rather than later: The agency anticipates that the new 3-D models will be available to the Army, Air Force, special operations and intelligence agencies by 2015,’ Drummond concludes.

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