INFORMATION & COMMUNICATIONS TECHNOLOGY

Abstract

The efforts described in this Program Element (PE) address the Applied Research associated with the Information and Communications Technology Program that is directed toward the application of advanced, innovative computing systems and communications technologies. 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 High Productivity, High-Performance Responsive Architectures project focuses on developing the computer hardware and associated software technologies required for future computationally- and data-intensive national security applications. Powerful new approaches are needed to manage the rapid growth in available sensor data, to leverage advances in machine learning, artificial intelligence, and quantum computing, and to maintain the security of DoD information systems. The project therefore aims not only to create new computing platforms to include quantum technology, but also to efficiently extract information out of large and chaotic data sets with embedded and low-size, weight, and power systems. Advances in these areas will allow for DoD electronic systems to collaboratively manage scarce resources, such as the electromagnetic spectrum, and to adapt to new requirements and situations. Further, the resulting technologies, by being accessible to a wide range of application developers, will support new, sustainable computing systems for a broad spectrum of scientific and engineering applications. The Cyber Security project is developing the computing, networking, and cyber security technologies required to protect DoD, U.S. government, and U.S. civilian information, information infrastructure, and mission-critical information systems. Information technologies enable important existing and new military capabilities and drive the productivity gains essential to U.S. industry. Meanwhile, cyber threats grow in sophistication and number, and put sensitive data, classified computer programs, mission-critical information systems, and U.S. economic competitiveness at risk. The technologies developed in this project will enhance the resilience of information systems to current and emerging cyber threats, enable broad situational awareness of the cyber domain, and provide the basis for accurate, calibrated, and safe cyber response. The Artificial Intelligence and Human-Machine Symbiosis project develops technologies to enable machines to function not only as tools that facilitate human action, but also as trustworthy partners to human operators. Of particular interest are systems that can understand human language, extract information, and reliably categorize content contained in diverse media; answer questions, reach conclusions, and propose explanations; and learn, reason, and apply knowledge gained through experience to respond intelligently to new and unforeseen events. Enabling computing systems with such human-like intelligence is now of critical importance because the tempo of military operations in emerging domains exceeds that at which unaided humans can orient, understand, and act. The technologies developed in this project will enable warfighters to make better decisions in complex, time-critical, battlefield environments; intelligence analysts to make sense of massive, incomplete, and contradictory information; software developers and certifiers to design, implement, evaluate, and accredit cyber-physical systems and other complex software-reliant systems with greater efficiency and confidence; and unmanned systems and semi-autonomous agents to perform critical missions in contested physical and virtual environments safely and reliably.

Document Details

• Document Type: R2 Budgetary Justification
• Publication Date: Oct 01, 2024
• Source ID: 0602303E_2_0400_PB_2024
• Change Summary Explanation: FY 2022: Decrease reflects SBIR/STTR transfer and reprogrammings. FY 2023: Decrease reflects a Congressional reduction for Prior Year Underexecution. FY 2024: Decrease reflects completion of the Resilient Anonymous Communication for Everyone (RACE), Active Interpretation of Disparate Alternatives (AIDA), Memory Optimization (MemOp), Cyber-Hunting at Scale (CHASE), Computers and Humans Exploring Software Security (CHESS) and Searchlight programs in FY 2023, and a shift from development to evaluation activites in the Securing Information for Encrypted Verification and Evaluation (SIEVE) and Knowledge-directed Artificial Intelligence Reasoning Over Schemas (KAIROS) programs.
• Service Agency Name: Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency

Entities

Organizations

• Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency

Tags

Communities of Interest

• Autonomy
• Cyber
• Ground and Sea Platforms

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

• Computational Science
• Computer Languages
• Computer Network Security
• Computer Networks
• Computer Programming
• Computer Programs
• Computers
• Cyberattacks
• Cyberspace Operations
• Engineers
• Information Systems
• Knowledge Management
• National Security
• Quantum Computing
• Systems Engineering
• Test And Evaluation
• Unmanned Systems

Fields of Study

• Computer science

Readers

• Distributed Systems and Data Platform Development
• Military Science and Technology Research and Modernization.
• Team-Based Human-Centered Cognitive Task Decision Making and Information Performance.

Technology Areas

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