DARPA

  • Bill Welser, co-author of \"Confronting Space Debris\" from RAND Corporation joins the Federal Drive with information on how DARPA and RAND are trying to clean the solar system

    January 04, 2011
  • Self-proclaimed \"technogeeks\" at the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, after determining the nature of the cybersecurity threat, have created programs to tackle them and, most importantly they say, surprise would-be cyber crooks. Officials at DARPA say the agency\'s sole mission since its inception in 1958 has been to prevent technological surprises. Two of the agency\'s recent cybersecurity programs, called CRASH and PROCEED, were created for that purpose. CRASH - the Clean-slate Design of Resilient, Adaptive, Secure Hosts program - seeks to build new computer systems that resist cyberattacks. After successful attacks they learn from the attack, adapt and repair themselves. The program evolved from a workshop DARPA held earlier this year that pulled together experts in cybersecurity and operating-system as well as infectious-disease biologists.

    December 27, 2010
  • DARPA Deputy Director Ken Gabriel explains how a new security program came out of a workshop with infectious disease biologists.

    December 21, 2010
  • As part of its Deep Learning program, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (or DARPA) is exploring recent breakthroughs in the ability of machines to learn and assess places and objects. The need for such research is being driven by the vast amount of data that\'s become available to Defense commanders and analysts from new types of sensors. For warfighters, the data has to be quickly and correctly analyzed. Currently, that\'s done by highly trained human operators. But as sensor capabilities expand, DARPA says sophisticated, powerful machines with the ability to imitate, and even surpass, human perceptual capabilities will be needed. They\'re building applications that will allow computers to detect and classify objects and activities. So far, the results hold promise for achieving human-level-or-better analysis.

    November 01, 2010
  • When the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency says it\'s ramping up a new Transformer program, they\'re not talking about transferring AC to DC.... They mean transformers, like the toys, turned movie heroes. Only in the case of DARPA, it\'s flying cars. DARPA says their Transformer program will attempt to combine the advantages of ground vehicles and helicopters into a single vehicle. Six vendors will participate in a 12-month effort to develop a robust ground vehicle that can transform into an air vehicle that can take-off and land vertically. It should be able to efficiently travel 250 nautical miles on land and in the air, or any combination, without a dedicated pilot, while carrying up to 1,000 pounds. The benefits to warfighters would be numerous, including better resupply operations and quicker medical evacuations.

    October 25, 2010
  • The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency is inviting researchers to submit innovative approaches to declassification.

    September 24, 2010
  • Agencies are turning to innovation challenges as a way to solve problems and get people from outside the government involved in coming up with solutions. The White House launched Challenge.gov Tuesday and 15 agencies already are using the platform to hold contests. DoD has four challenges on the platform looking at a variety of issues.

    September 09, 2010
  • DARPA is one agency that recognizes cyber threats are just as likely to come from within the network. The agency has posted a solicitation on Fed Biz Ops looking for what they call novel approaches to insider threat detection. The Defense Advanced Research Agency is looking for a way to increase the accuracy, rate and speed of detection. The Cyber Insider Threat (CINDER) program will stop adversaries from operating within government and military networks before they can get access.

    September 02, 2010
  • One government agency is attempting to re-invent computing. The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency - or DARPA - has started the Ubiquitous High Performance Computing program to create a revolutionary new generation of computing systems they hope will overcome limits to the way computers are evolving now. Increasing the performance of computers has been driven by - what\'s been dubbed - Moore\'s Law, the doubling of transistors that can be placed on an integrated circuit every two years. But, gains in performance will be limited by significantly greater power consumption, and programming complexity issues. The DARPA program will work to develop radically new computer architectures and programming models that are 100 to 1,000 times more energy efficient. The program directly addresses major priorities expressed by the President\'s \"Strategy for American Innovation\".

    August 30, 2010
  • You may have seen or heard about the movie Transformers and the military theme in the movie. It may soon be more than a movie. For several years now the Pentagon has been looking into flying cars. Now they\'re working on a flying humvee. The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) has chosen two companies to participate in project Transformer. It\'s a fully automated four-person vehicle that can drive like a car and then take off and fly like an aircraft to avoid roadside bombs. Lockheed Martin and AAI Corp., a unit of Textron Systems are moving to the next stage.

    August 30, 2010
  • DARPA sets out to eliminate internal cyber threats

    August 27, 2010
  • DARPA has developed a set of privacy principles.

    August 13, 2010
  • Can a thousand people working together design a product better than one person, or a small group of people, could?

    August 03, 2010
  • NIST scientists are currently testing smart phone-based technology to translate information between English and key languages that are short on human translators.

    July 27, 2010