DEFENSE RESEARCH SCIENCES

Abstract

The efforts described in this Program Element (PE) address the Basic Research associated with the Defense Research Sciences Program that 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. This PE 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 PE 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 and information 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 will provide DoD with new, improved, or potentially revolutionary device options for accomplishing these critical functions. The resulting technologies will 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, 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. Additionally, new design and manufacturing advances for three-dimensional microelectronics integration will underpin continued performance improvements as silicon transistor scaling plateaus. Beyond Scaling programs addressed fundamental exploration in 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 life sciences, data sciences, and manufacturing. Innovative technologies developed in this project will address multiple DoD challenges such as identification of and adaptation to emerging threats, access to DoD relevant critical materials for manufacturing and warfighter readiness. Successful programs in this project will integrate diverse disciplines and engineer complex biological systems to detect novel threat agents, accelerate warfighter injury recover, and develop new platform materials and manufacturing processes.

Document Details

• Document Type: R2 Budgetary Justification
• Publication Date: Oct 01, 2024
• Source ID: 0601101E_1_0400_PB_2024
• Change Summary Explanation: FY 2022: Decrease reflects SBIR/STTR transfer and reprogrammings. FY 2023: Increase reflects Congressional adds for Advanced Predictive Analytics for Supply Chain Risk Management and University Partnerships for AI Development offset by a Congressional reduction to Reduce Carryover. FY 2024: Decrease reflects completion of several basic research programs in FY 2023 including Safe Documents (SafeDocs), Learning with Less Labeling (LwLL), Ultra-Wide Bandgap Semiconductors (UWBG), Guaranteed Architectures for Physical Security (GAPS) and Biology for Security (BIOSEC) as well as a shift from development and testing to demonstration and evaluation activities in the Foundational Artificial Intelligence (AI) Science, Guaranteeing AI Robustness against Deception (GARD), Machine Common Sense (MCS) and Rapid Healing for Warfighter Injuries programs.
• Service Agency Name: Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency

Entities

Organizations

• Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency

Tags

Communities of Interest

• Advanced Electronics
• Autonomy
• Cyber
• Electronic Warfare
• Energy and Power Technologies
• Ground and Sea Platforms

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

• Artificial Intelligence
• Artificial Intelligence Computing
• Artificial Intelligence Software
• Computational Science
• Computer Architecture
• Computer Programming
• Computers
• Data Analysis
• Detection
• Human-Machine Systems
• Information Processing
• Information Systems
• Machine Learning
• Materials Science
• National Security
• Semiconductors
• Software Development

Readers

• Economics
• 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