DEFENSE RESEARCH SCIENCES

Abstract

The Defense Research Sciences Program Element is budgeted in the Basic Research Budget Activity because it provides the technical foundation for long-term National Security enhancement through the discovery of new phenomena and the exploration of the potential of such phenomena for Defense applications. It supports the scientific study and experimentation that is the basis for more advanced knowledge and understanding in information, electronic, mathematical, computer, and materials sciences. This Program Element also supports innovation and robust transition planning in the technology cycle by working with entrepreneurs to increase the likelihood that DARPA funded technologies take root in the U.S. and provide new capabilities for national defense. The Math and Computer Sciences project supports scientific study and experimentation on new mathematical and computational algorithms, models, and mechanisms in support of long-term national security objectives. Modern analytic and information technologies enable important new military capabilities and drive the productivity gains essential to U.S. economic competitiveness. Conversely, new classes of threats, in particular threats that operate in or through the cyber domain, put military systems, critical infrastructure, and the civilian economy at risk. This project aims to magnify these opportunities and mitigate these threats by leveraging emerging mathematical and computational capabilities including artificial intelligence (AI), computational social science, machine learning and reasoning, data science, quantum science, complex systems modeling and simulation, and theories of computation and programming. The basic research conducted under the Math and Computer Sciences project will produce breakthroughs that enable new capabilities for national and homeland security. The Electronic Sciences project is for basic exploration of electronic and optoelectronic devices, circuits, and processing concepts to meet the military's need for near real-time information gathering, transmission, and processing. In seeking to continue the phenomenal advancement in microelectronics innovation that has characterized the last few decades, the project should provide DoD with new, improved, or potentially revolutionary device options for accomplishing these critical functions. The resulting technologies should help maintain knowledge of the enemy, communicate decisions based on that knowledge, and substantially improve the cost and performance of military systems. Research areas include: analog, mixed signal, and photonic circuitry for communications and other applications; alternative computer architectures; and magnetic components to reduce the size of Electromagnetic (EM) and sensing systems. Other research could support field-portable electronics with reduced power requirements, ultra-high density information storage "on-a-chip", and new approaches to nanometer-scale structures, molecules, and devices. The Beyond Scaling Sciences project supports investigations into materials, devices, and architectures to provide continued improvements in electronics performance with or without the benefit of Moore's Law (silicon transistor scaling). Within the next ten years, traditional scaling will start to encounter the fundamental physical limits of silicon, requiring fresh approaches to new electronic systems. Over the short term, DoD will therefore need to unleash circuit specialization in order to maximize the benefit of traditional silicon. Over the longer term, DoD and the nation will need to engage the computer, material, and mechanical sciences to explore electronics improvements through new non-volatile memory devices that combine computation and memory, and new automated design tools using machine learning. Other memory devices could also leverage an emerging understanding of the physics of magnetic states, electron spin properties, topological insulators, or phase-changing materials. Beyond Scaling programs will address fundamental exploration into each of these areas. The Materials Sciences project provides the fundamental research that underpins the design, development, assembly, and optimization of advanced materials, devices, and systems for DoD applications in areas such as robust diagnostics and therapeutics, novel energetic materials, and complex hybrid systems. The Transformative Sciences project supports research and analysis that leverages converging technological forces and transformational trends in information-intensive subareas of the social sciences, life sciences, and manufacturing. The project integrates these diverse disciplines to eliminate reliance on foreign sources for critical materials, improve military adaptation to sudden changes in requirements, threats, and emerging/converging trends, especially trends that have the potential to disrupt military operations or threaten National Security. Specific research in this project will investigate technologies to enable detection of novel threat agents (e.g., bacterial pathogens) and maintain warfighter health and improve recovery. This project also includes efforts to create innovative materials of interest to the military, as well as biological platforms for fabrication.

Document Details

• Document Type: R2 Budgetary Justification
• Publication Date: Oct 01, 2023
• Source ID: 0601101E_1_0400_PB_2023
• Change Summary Explanation: FY 2021: Decrease reflects reprogrammings and SBIR/STTR transfer. FY 2022: Increase reflects Congressional adds for ERI 2.0 and AI Cyber & Data Analytics offset by a decrease for Sec. 8027 FFRDC. FY 2023: FY 2023 funding increase reflects the fact that the FY 2022 President's Budget request did not include out-year funding.
• Service Agency Name: Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency

Entities

Organizations

• Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency

Tags

Communities of Interest

• Advanced Electronics
• Autonomy
• Cyber
• Energy and Power Technologies
• Engineered Resilient Systems

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

• Artificial Intelligence
• Artificial Intelligence Software
• Computational Science
• Computer Programming
• Computers
• Data Analysis
• Detection
• Human-Machine Interaction
• Information Operations
• Information Processing
• Information Systems
• Machine Learning
• Materials Science
• National Security
• Neural Networks
• Psychology
• Quantum Computing

Readers

• Defense Technology Research and Development.
• Integrated Circuit Design and Technology.
• Military Science and Technology Research and Modernization.

Technology Areas

• AI & ML
• AI & ML - DoD AI Strategy
• Cyber
• Cyber - Quantum
• Microelectronics
• Quantum Computing