DARPA

DARPA was created in 1958 as the Advanced Research Projects Agency

(ARPA). The political and defense communities recognized the need for
a high-level defense organization to formulate and execute R&D projects
that would expand the frontiers of technology beyond the immediate
and specific requirements of the Military Services and their laboratories.
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Internet
Stealth Fighter
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The Soviet Union’s launch of Sputnik showed

that a fundamental change was needed in
America’s defense science and technology
programs. DARPA was formed to meet this need
and rejuvenated our defense technological
capabilities.

50 Years of Innovation and Discovery (pdf)

DARPA General Timeline
 From 1958-1965, DARPA's emphasis centered on major national
issues, including space, ballistic missile defense, and nuclear test
detection.
 In 1960, all of its civilian space programs were transferred to
NASA and the military space programs to the individual Services. This
action has allowed DARPA to concentrate its efforts on the DEFENDER
(defense against ballistic missiles), VELA (nuclear test detection), and
AGILE (counterinsurgency R&D) Programs, and to begin work on
computer processing, behavioral sciences, and materials sciences.
 In the late 1960s, with the transfer of these mature programs to
the Services, ARPA redefined its role and concentrated on a diverse
set of relatively small, essentially exploratory research programs.
 In 1972, the Agency was renamed the Defense Advanced
Research Projects Agency (DARPA), and emphasized directed energy
 programs, information processing (the precursor to the Internet or
ARPANET), research in artificial intelligence, speech recognition, signal
processing and tactical technologies.
 From 1976-1981, DARPA's major thrusts were dominated by
air, land, sea, and space technology, such as command, control, and
communications; tactical armor and anti-armor programs; infrared
sensing for space-based surveillance; high-energy laser technology for
space-based missile defense; antisubmarine warfare; advanced cruise
missiles; advanced aircraft; defense applications of advanced
computing; and stealth technology. Integrated circuit research, which
resulted in submicron electronic technology and electron devices that
evolved into the Very Large Scale Integration (VLSI) Program and the
charged particle beam program were also started.
 During the 1980s, the focus was centered on information
processing and aircraft-related programs, including the National
Aerospace Plane or Hypersonic Research Program. The Strategic
Computing Program exploited advanced processing and networking
technologies. In addition, DARPA began to pursue new concepts for
small, lightweight satellites and directed new programs regarding
defense manufacturing, submarine technology, and armor/anti-armor.
 In the 1990s, the Agency developed revolutionary new
technologies, both in products and processes. Starting with basic
technologies such as electronics and materials processing, DARPA
created new computers, sensors, and communications devices;
developed new ways of manufacturing; and applied these creations
using advanced technology demonstrators in operational
environments to affect the total R&D process.
DARPA was created in 1958 as the Advanced Research Projects Agency
(ARPA). The political and defense communities recognized the need for
a high-level defense organization to formulate and execute R&D projects
that would expand the frontiers of technology beyond the immediate
and specific requirements of the Military Services and their laboratories.
67%
A Proud History
Internet
Stealth Fighter
M16 Assault Rifle
 The Soviet Union’s launch of Sputnik showed
that a fundamental change was needed in
America’s defense science and technology
programs. DARPA was formed to meet this need
and rejuvenated our defense technological
capabilities.

50 Years of Innovation and Discovery (pdf)

DARPA General Timeline
 From 1958-1965, DARPA's emphasis centered on major national
issues, including space, ballistic missile defense, and nuclear test
detection.
 In 1960, all of its civilian space programs were transferred to
NASA and the military space programs to the individual Services. This
action has allowed DARPA to concentrate its efforts on the DEFENDER
(defense against ballistic missiles), VELA (nuclear test detection), and
AGILE (counterinsurgency R&D) Programs, and to begin work on
computer processing, behavioral sciences, and materials sciences.
 In the late 1960s, with the transfer of these mature programs to
the Services, ARPA redefined its role and concentrated on a diverse
set of relatively small, essentially exploratory research programs.
 In 1972, the Agency was renamed the Defense Advanced
Research Projects Agency (DARPA), and emphasized directed energy
programs, information processing (the precursor to the Internet or
ARPANET), research in artificial intelligence, speech recognition, signal
processing and tactical technologies.
 From 1976-1981, DARPA's major thrusts were dominated by
air, land, sea, and space technology, such as command, control, and
communications; tactical armor and anti-armor programs; infrared
sensing for space-based surveillance; high-energy laser technology for
space-based missile defense; antisubmarine warfare; advanced cruise
missiles; advanced aircraft; defense applications of advanced
computing; and stealth technology. Integrated circuit research, which
resulted in submicron electronic technology and electron devices that
 evolved into the Very Large Scale Integration (VLSI) Program and the
charged particle beam program were also started.
 During the 1980s, the focus was centered on information
processing and aircraft-related programs, including the National
Aerospace Plane or Hypersonic Research Program. The Strategic
Computing Program exploited advanced processing and networking
technologies. In addition, DARPA began to pursue new concepts for
small, lightweight satellites and directed new programs regarding
defense manufacturing, submarine technology, and armor/anti-armor.
 In the 1990s, the Agency developed revolutionary new
technologies, both in products and processes. Starting with basic
technologies such as electronics and materials processing, DARPA
created new computers, sensors, and communications devices;
developed new ways of manufacturing; and applied these creations
using advanced technology demonstrators in operational
environments to affect the total R&D process.
Pentagon Looks to Breed Immortal ‘Synthetic Organisms,’
Molecular Kill-Switch Included

By Katie Drummond

February 08, 2010 "Wired" -- The Pentagon’s mad science arm may
have come up with its most radical project yet. Darpa is looking to re-
write the laws of evolution to the military’s advantage, creating
“synthetic organisms” that can live forever — or can be killed with the
flick of a molecular switch.

As part of its budget for the next year, Darpa is investing $6 million into
a project called BioDesign, with the goal of eliminating “the randomness
of natural evolutionary advancement.” The plan would assemble the
latest bio-tech knowledge to come up with living, breathing creatures
that are genetically engineered to “produce the intended biological
effect.” Darpa wants the organisms to be fortified with molecules that
bolster cell resistance to death, so that the lab-monsters can “ultimately
be programmed to live indefinitely.”

Of course, Darpa’s got to prevent the super-species from being swayed

to do enemy work — so they’ll encode loyalty right into DNA, by
developing genetically programmed locks to create “tamper proof” cells.
Plus, the synthetic organism will be traceable, using some kind of DNA
manipulation, “similar to a serial number on a handgun.” And if that
doesn’t work, don’t worry. In case Darpa’s plan somehow goes horribly
awry, they’re also tossing in a last-resort, genetically-coded kill switch:

Develop strategies to create a synthetic organism “self-destruct” option

to be implemented upon nefarious removal of organism.

The project comes as Darpa also plans to throw $20 million into a new
synthetic biology program, and $7.5 million into “increasing by several
decades the speed with which we sequence, analyze and functionally
edit cellular genomes.”

Of course, Darpa’s up against some vexing, fundamental laws of nature

— not to mention bioethics — as they embark on the lab beast program.
First, they might want to rethink the idea of evolution as a random
series of events, says NYU biology professor David Fitch. “Evolution by
selection is nota random process at all, and is actually a hugely efficient
design algorithm used extensively in computation and engineering,” he
e-mails Danger Room.

Even if Darpa manages to overcome the inherent intelligence of

evolutionary processes, overcoming inevitable death can be tricky. Just
ask all the other research teams who’ve made stabs at it, trying
everything from cell starvation to hormone treatments. Gene therapy,
where artificial genes are inserted into an organism to boost cell life, are
the latest and greatest in life-extension science, but they’ve only been
proven to extend lifespan by 20 percent in rats.

But suppose gene therapy makes major strides, and Darpa does manage
to get the evolutionary science right. They’ll also have a major ethical
hurdle to jump. Synthetic biology researchers are already facing the
same questions, as a 2009 summary from the Synthetic Biology Project
reports:

The concern that humans might be overreaching when we create

organisms that never before existed can be a safety concern, but it also
returns us to disagreements about what is our proper role in the natural
world (a debate largely about non-physical harms or harms to well-
being).

Even expert molecular geneticists don’t know what to make of the

project. Either that, or they’re scared Darpa might sic a bio-bot on them.
“I would love to comment, but unfortunately Darpa has installed a kill
switch in me,” one unnamed expert tells Danger Room.

Chemical Robots

   
Program Manager: Dr. Leo Christodoulou

During military operations it

can be important to gain
covert access to denied or
hostile space.  Unmanned
platforms such as mechanical robots are of
limited effectiveness if the only available points
of entry are small openings.

The goal of the Chemical Robots (ChemBots)

Program is to create a new class of soft,
flexible, mesoscale mobile objects that can
identify and maneuver through openings
smaller than their dimensions and perform
various tasks.

The program seeks to develop a ChemBot that

can perform several operations in sequence:

 Travel a distance;
 Traverse an arbitrary-shaped opening
much smaller than the largest
characteristic dimension of the robot
itself;
 Reconstitute its size, shape, and
functionality after traversing the opening;
 Travel a distance; and
 Perform a function or task using an
embedded payload.

This program creates a convergence between

materials chemistry and robotics through the
application of any one of a number of
approaches, including gel-solid phase
transitions, electro- and magneto-rheological
materials, geometric transitions, and reversible
chemical and/or particle association and
dissociation.

With ChemBots, our warfighters can gain

access to denied spaces and perform tasks
safely, covertly, and efficiently.

 
Human-Assisted Neural Devices

   
Program Manager: COL
Geoffrey Ling, M.D., Ph.D.

The Human-Assisted Neural

Devices (HAND) Program is
developing the fundamental
research that will enable the
use of neural activity to
provide closed loop control
and restore natural function
through assistive devices.  By
directly harnessing the ability
of neural pathways to operate
natural systems, the HAND
Program seeks to provide
means of restoring the lives of
injured warfighters.  Research
conducted by HAND
performers provides the basis
for devices that will aid in
recovery from short- and long-
term memory deficits caused
by traumatic injury as well as
restoration of functional use of
motor system. Previous work
in the program has formed the
basis for the Revolutionizing
Prosthetics Program, which
seeks to create a dramatically
improved artificial arm for
military amputees.  Moving
forward, the HAND Program
seeks to continue to develop
and characterize the
fundamental processes that
the brain uses to perform
tasks. 

Accelerated Learning

   
Program
Manager: Dr. Amy
Kruse

The Accelerated
Learning Program
will identify the
neural basis of
expert performance
by integration of
behavioral data with
neurophysiological
measures to track
the progression of
novices on the
training path to
expertise. Ultimately,
this research will
provide the
necessary foundation
for how to optimize
task qualities and
learning
environments and to
accelerate the
novice-to-expert
progression.

Today's warfighter is
required to master a
large number of
diverse skills
spanning the range
of cognitive and
motor domains in
increasingly rapid
timeframes.
Historically,
measures of learning
on key skills in the
military environment
have relied on
qualitative and
subjective
assessments, often
post-hoc, with little
opportunity to
redirect a learning
experience mid-
course. Recent
discoveries in the
field of neuroscience,
as well as advances
in modeling and
analysis techniques,
have laid the
foundation for
neuroscience-based
noninvasive
strategies with the
potential to
dramatically
accelerate the
transition from
novice to expert in
key military tasks.
The Accelerated
Learning Program
will develop
quantitative and
integrative
neuroscience-based
approaches for
measuring, tracking,
and accelerating skill
acquisition and
learning while
producing a twofold
increase in
progression in an
individual's progress
through stages of
task learning.

This program will

develop reliable and
quantitative methods
for tracking task
progression based on
noninvasive
measures of brain
activity. These may
include, but are not
limited to,
neurophysiologically
driven training
regimens, neurally
optimized stimuli,
and
stimulatory/modulato
ry interventions.
Complementary
components that will
further attainment of
this goal include the
development of
neurally based
techniques for
maintenance of
acquired skills,
prediction of skill
acquisition based on
real-time neural
activity, preferential
brain network
activation, and
strategies for
understanding the
relationship between
cognition and
emotion in the
domain of skill
learning.

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Cognitive Technology Threat Warning System

   
Program Manager: Dr. Amy
Kruse

The
ability
to

identify threats from a safe

distance is a critical need for
today's warfighter. However,
binoculars in current
operational use have not yet
integrated advances in
technology and biology that
could maximize this capability.
The Cognitive Technology
Threat Warning System
Program will bring together
and further these technologies
to develop soldier-portable
visual threat detection devices.
These systems will provide
greater visual information
about a warfighter's
surroundings while
simultaneously providing tools
to initiate an early response
when threats emerge.

The system will involve the

integration of various
disparate areas of technology
including, but not limited to—

 Flat-field, wide-angle
optics
 Large pixel-count digital
imaging
 Cognitive visual
processing algorithms
 Ultra-low power analog-
digital hybrid signal
processing
 Operator neural
signature detection
processing
 Operator interface
system development

The success of this effort will

provide the development and
demonstration of a composite
software/human-in-the-loop
system capable of high fidelity
detection with extremely low
false alarm rates without
adding additional pack strain
to the warfighter in the field.

Engineered Bio-Molecular Nano-Devices/Systems

   
Program Manager: Dr. Cindy Daniell

The Engineered Bio-Molecular Nano-

Devices/Systems (MOLDICE) Program has
developed and demonstrated novel hybrid
(biotic-abiotic) nanoscale interface technologies
that enable direct, real-time conversion of bio-
molecular signals into electrical signals.
Biological systems exhibit remarkable
sensitivity, selectivity, and efficiency that could
be exploited in engineering systems should
appropriate interfaces become available.
Biological systems have well-defined sensing
units, signal processing units, and actuation
sub-systems that determine responses to
specific stimuli. While significant effort has
gone into understanding the sensing systems
of biology (e.g., receptor and transmembrane
proteins), the intra-cellular signal processing
system is still the subject of many ongoing
research efforts. The objective of this program
is to develop hybrid bio-molecular
devices/systems that use biological units (e.g.,
Protein Ion Channels/Nanopores, G-Protein
Coupled Receptors, etc.) for performing the
sensing function but use silicon circuitry to
accomplish the signal processing. Innovative
ideas will be explored for the development of
interfaces (to ion channels and receptors) that
enable the real-time (temporal) transduction of
molecular (stochastic) events into electrical
signals. A critical focus of this program is the
exploitation of temporal (kinetic) information
 for the real-time analysis and detection of
molecular targets.

Nano Air Vehicle

   
Program
Manager: Dr. Todd
Hylton

The Nano Air

Vehicle (NAV)
Program will
develop and
demonstrate an
extremely small
(less than 7.5 cm),
ultra-lightweight
(less than 10
grams) air vehicle
system with the
potential to
perform indoor and
outdoor military
missions.  The
program will
explore novel, bio-
inspired,
conventional and
unconventional
configurations to
provide the
warfighter with
unprecedented
capability for urban
mission
operations. 

The NAV Program

will push the limits
of aerodynamic and
power conversion
efficiency,
endurance, and
maneuverability for
very small air
vehicle systems. 
NAV platforms will
be revolutionary in
their ability to
harness low
Reynolds number
physics, navigate in
complex
environments, and
communicate over
significant
distances.  Flight-
enabling nano air
vehicle system
technologies
include―

 Aerodynamic
design tools
to achieve
high lift to
drag airfoils.

 Lightweight,
 efficient
propulsion
and power
subsystems.

 Guidance,
navigation,
and
communicatio
n
subsystems. 

 Advanced
manufacturin
g and
innovative
subsystem
packaging
and
configuration
layout. 

Key objectives
include the
development of
conformal,
multifunctional
structural hardware
and strong, light,
aerodynamic lifting
surfaces/rotors for
efficient flight at
low Reynolds
number
(<15,000).  The
program will
advance
technologies that
enable collision
avoidance and
navigation systems
for use in GPS-
denied indoor and
outdoor
environments and
develop efficient
methods for
hovering flight and
deployment or
emplacement of
sensors

Wasp

   
Program Manager: Dr. Leo
Christodoulou

DARPA’s Wasp
micro air vehicle is
a small
(approximately
14-inch wingspan, approximately one-
half pound), portable (i.e., back-
packable), reliable, and rugged
unmanned air platform designed for
front-line reconnaissance and
surveillance over land or sea.  Wasp
serves as a reconnaissance platform
for the company level.  The air vehicle
is capable of loitering in excess of one
hour at 35 miles per hour, and
provides unobtrusive, real-time
imagery from low altitudes.  Wasp’s
current payload consists of two color
video cameras (front and side), global
positioning system sensor, altimeter,
compass, and sophisticated autopilot
enabling hands-free operation. Wasp’s
ground control station is common to
the Raven, Pointer, and Puma
unmanned air vehicles.  Wasp
prototypes have been deployed for
user evaluation by the U.S. military in-
theater. The Wasp family of vehicles
embodies a number of variants,
including an extended range version,
an IR-sensor equipped variant, and an
optic flow collision-avoidance equipped
type.

 Z-Man  
Program Manager: Dr.
Matthew Goodman

The Z-Man Program will

develop climbing aids that
will enable an individual
soldier to scale vertical walls
constructed of typical
building materials without
the need for ropes or
ladders. The inspiration for
these climbing aids is the
technique by which geckos,
spiders, and small animals
scale vertical surfaces, that
is, by using unique biological
material systems that enable
controllable adhesion using
van der Waals forces or by
hooking surface
asperities. This program
seeks to build synthetic
versions of those material
systems and then utilize
them in a novel climbing aid
optimized for use by
humans. The overall goal of
the program is to enable an
individual soldier using dry
adhesive climbing aides to
scale a vertical surface at 0.5
m/s while carrying a combat
load.

Programmable Matter

   
Program Manager: Dr. Leo
Christodoulou

The
goal of
Programmable Matter
Program is to demonstrate
a new functional form of
matter, based on
mesoscale particles, which
can reversibly assemble
into complex 3D objects
upon external command.
These 3D objects will
exhibit all the functionality
of their conventional
counterparts.

Programmable Matter
represents the convergence
of chemistry, information
theory, and control into a
new materials design
paradigm referred to as
"InfoChemistry"—building
information directly into
materials. To achieve the
Programmable Matter
vision, key technological
breakthroughs will center
on the following critical
areas:

 Encoding information
into chemistry, or
fusing materials with
machines.
 Fabrication of
mesoscale particles
with arbitrary
complex shapes,
composition, and
function.
 Interlocking/adhesion
mechanisms that are
 strong and reversible.
 Global assembly
strategies that
translate information
into action.
 Mathematical theory
for construction of 3D
objects from
particles.Of critical
importance are
radical new material
architectures that
maximize the
efficiency of
information
processing/transfer,
and design rules for
the optimal number,
size, and shape of
particles required to
create objects of a
specific size and
spatial feature
resolution.
Neovision

   
Program Manager: Dr. Amy Kruse

Biological vision systems have the

exquisite ability to recognize,
categorize, and learn new objects in
fractions of a second. While animals
and humans accomplish this
seemingly effortlessly and constantly,
computational vision systems have, to
date, been unable to replicate this
feat of biology. 
One reason that this translation
between biology and computation has
not occurred is the lack of
quantitative data elucidating the
mechanisms for visual scene
processing in the brain. The visual
neuroscience literature is rich with
description, but lacks testable, model-
based understanding of the precise
transformations that occur throughout
the visual pathways.

The Neovision Program will pursue an

integrated approach to the object
recognition pathway in the brain. 
This fundamental biological research
will be accomplished using methods
intentionally geared toward
computational and modeling
approaches that are amenable to
hardware- and software-based
implementations.  The success of this
effort will propel the field of visual
neuroscience forward while laying the
groundwork for synthetic visual
systems with drastically improved
speed and fidelity.
Darpa’s New Plans: Crowdsource Intel, Edit DNA

 By Katie Drummond
 February 2, 2010  | 
 6:02 pm  | 
 Categories: DarpaWatch


The Pentagon’s mad science agency has big plans for next year:
crowdsourcing military intelligence, creating an “immune system” for
Defense Department networks, and even research that might one day
lead to editing a soldier’s DNA.

The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, or Darpa, just

released its budget for the upcoming year. And, as you might expect
from the Pentagon’s way-out science and technology division, there are
some wild new projects on tap.
Military analysts are already overwhelmed by too much information.
Instead of training more analysts or handing data over to computers,
Darpa wants to improve how the military uses its intelligence info by
turning it into an open call for contribution. The $13 million dollar
project, called “Deep ISR Processing by Crowds,” looks “to harness the
unique cognitive and creative abilities of large numbers of people to
enhance dramatically the knowledge derived from ISR systems.”

Crowdsourcing is already used among businesses and other government

agencies, to generate more innovative ideas that draw on as many
sources as possible. Darpa wants that innovation to take over individual
analysis and decision-making:

Novel frameworks will be developed to capture the experience base of

users and systems to allow problem partitioning, quantitative confidence
assessment, and validation in environments that may be partially
compromised by adversaries.

When it comes to cybersecurity, Darpa’s taking inspiration from nature,

with “Cyber Immune” — a defense model for the Pentagon’s computing
systems that’s able to detect an attack, fight back and even heal itself
automatically to prevent subsequent infiltration.

The current model for cybersecurity, dubbed “perimeter defense,” uses

firewalls that hackers try to break through. Once they make it inside,
they’ve got free rein, and the compromised system is vulnerable to
ongoing outside attacks until the firewall is rebuilt. Instead of
technicians who patch holes as they find them, Darpa wants a system
with the instincts to go it alone, and that “assume[s] security cannot be
absolute, yet … can still defend itself in order to maintain its (possibly
degraded) capabilities, and possibly even heal itself.”

Of course, Darpa’s also living up to its mad-science rep, with ambitious

plans to fast-track mastery over the human genome. Darpa’s budgeted
$7.5 million in hopes of “increas[ing] by several decades the speed with
which we sequence, analyze and functionally edit cellular genomes.”

Editing DNA could have widespread implications, but Darpa seems most
interested in two: microchip implants that restore senses and movement
in traumatic injury patients, and the ongoing Darpa goal of boosting
troop performance in the field:
On the other end of the size scale, a primary goal is to apply
microsystem techniques to soldier-protective biomedical systems. One
example is an in-canal hearing protection device that will provide
enhanced hearing capabilities in some settings, but be able to instantly
muffle loud sounds of weapons fire. This one example will improve inter-
personnel communications and at the same time drastically reduce the
incidence of hearing loss in combat situations. For these examples and
many more, the goal is to bring exceptionally potent technical
approaches to bear on biological and biomedical applications where their
capabilities will be significant force multipliers for the DoD.

Photo: USAF